Settling down at Noida, after retirement in 1994, a two-line ad in the Times of India caught my attention: Want to know about Islam? Write Post Bag No. 102, Daryaganj, Delhi-6.

My curiosity and love to know about world religions -- I’m a very secular man and have equal respect for all religions – prompted me to drop a postcard. Soon, I got a consignment of three booklets. One was written by some Prof. Rao and the other two about the introduction to Islam.

Prof. Rao sang paeans about Islam. And I gave full-throated appreciation for giving an opportunity for learning Islam by sending the books. Like that, they sent 3-4 books subsequently highlighting the salient features of Islam. Every time while returning the books I commented favorably on each.

The last book was the biography of Hazrat Muhammad. It was a very well-researched and well-written book. Lot of facts I could gather about the prophet and as usual, while returning I thanked them profusely. But – in the last line, added: the only thing, I failed to appreciate is the demolition of temples of idol-worshippers of pre-Islamic Arabia, under his leadership.

Since then, I didn’t receive any further books.

Much later, I switched to the internet for more information on Islam.