A FACTUAL TRAVELOGUE
OUR SECOND TRAVEL TO INDIA
NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2012
DATEWISE DIARY OF
INDIAN TRAVEL ON A VISIT VISA OF THIRTY DAYS
BY BASHIR AHMAD KHADIM
Retired Chief Engineer Telecommunications (T&T /
PTCL)
HOUSE No. 226 Street 18 Sector F- 10/2 Islamabad Pakistan
Phone: + o51 2212476 Mobile Phone: +0345 5096929
E-mail address: khadimbashir@gmail.com
PREFACE:
Some of my
friends asked me why I travelled twice to India on a visit visa for thirty
days each time. I told them that I went to India for seeing our birthplace and
that of our forefathers. I also went to see incredible India with its strange
places and people. They asked me how the treatment of Indians to us was. I told
them that it was indeed excellent. They nodded their heads in affirmative but they
did not seem to have believed what I had told them although it was absolutely
true. They did not believe me due to an extreme mistrust between our two
nations. For minimizing this extreme mistrust both the governments of India and Pakistan have recently signed a
treaty to facilitate visa requirements on both sides. I firmly believe that
this initiative would certainly minimize the mistrust although it may not
eliminate it so soon. The mistrust
created over a long time of more than six decades would take sometime to go
away gradually.
When someone
goes to a foreign country he or she wants to see as much as he or she can.
Confining his or her destinations to three or five places does not serve the
purpose of the visit. I hope and wish that both India
and Pakistan
would gradually eliminate the condition of visiting only a few destinations.
This of course would happen as and when the full confidence is restored between
both the nations. People to people contacts are essential for this purpose. The
restrictions must be initially relaxed for the senior citizens of both the
countries. The results would be certainly encouraging without any doubt.
I
am often asked as to what I have seen in my two visits of India India
I
must thank the governments of India
and Pakistan India
Bashir
Ahmad Khadim
Retired
Chief Engineer Telecommunications (Pak. T&T / PTCL)
House
226 Street 18 Sector F-10/2 Islamabad Pakistan
Phone:
+ 051-2212476 Mobile Phone: +
0345-5096929
E-mail:
khadimbashir@gmail.com
Date:
13th of December 2012.
Our
First Trip to India
Our first trip to India
was in November and December 2007. My grandfather and father had tried for many
decades to get the Indian visit visa so that they could see their birth places
but all their continued efforts failed repeatedly. I also tried for many years
but could not get the Indian visit visa for seeing my birthplace in India . Hence
when in early November 2007, I and my wife got the Indian visit visas for the
first time for thirty days our joy knew no bounds. In fact we did not feel like
believing it as it was totally unexpected. We saw our birthplaces and many
other important places as briefly described in OUR FIRST TRAVEL TO INDIA during
November and December 2007.
ONLINE VISIT VISA APPLICATION FOR
OUR SECOND TRAVEL TO INDIA :
We were fortunate again to get
the Indian visit visa for thirty days in early November 2012. Formerly in 2007,
the visit visa application had to be prepared on a downloaded form and it was
very easy to fill it. In 2012, the visit visa application was made online as a
mandatory requirement. It consisted of three pages totally concealed from each
other. Hence the filling of data/information on the online application form had
become very cumbersome. All related data and information had to be kept ready
in advance for filling the three pages of the online visit visa application. If
some time was consumed in finding the data/information to be filled, the online
page vanished and all the effort had to be repeated again. This happened many
times and we got much disappointed.
Finally I got the expert help of
my youngest son, Mr. Eisa Bin Bashir KHADIM and after making many mistakes, times
and again, we were able to complete the online visit visa application forms for
me and for my wife on 17th of October 2012. As per standing
procedure, we had to be informed by the Indian High Commission at Islamabad about the fate
of our visit visa applications through our phones or e-mail. After waiting and
getting no response for quite sometime, I approached the first secretary of the
Indian High Commission at Islamabad ,
Mr. Aquino who was extremely kind to reply instantly through an e-mail instructing
me to deposit the hard copies of our related documents. I did so and finally the
visit visas were stamped on our passports on 25th of September 2012.
We collected our visa stamped passports on 7th of November 2012.
PROCEESING OF VISIT VISA
APPLICATIONS:
To initiate the necessary action
on your online visa application, hard copies of all the related documents are to
be submitted. Some of your blood relations, some authentic organization or
someone else from India
as a regular Indian citizen must sponsor you through a formal
sponsorship certificate to be duly attested by an Indian government officer.
All documents including hard copies of the filled online application, original attested
sponsorship certificates, original passports and the copies of the national
identity cards along with two passport sized photos have to be submitted in
person to the Indian High Commission at Islamabad .
You are suitably examined through cross-questioning thoroughly. Your previous
record of any foreign travels during the last few years is also examined. After
full satisfaction you are given a suitable date for the collection of your
passport with visa stamped on it. The date for collection of your visa stamped
passport may range from one and a half month to two months. For any doubts, the
applicants are advised to clarify them otherwise their visa applications are
straight away rejected.
In our case, the first
sponsorship certificates were rejected as these were not attested by a
government officer. Our hosts at village Isapur/Yousufpur of District Ghaziabad
of Utter Pardesh had to take the trouble of getting the fresh sponsorship
certificates attested by an government officer. After furnishing the related
documents along with original Sponsorship Certificates your visa application is
sent to the Indian Ministry of Interior which carries out detailed
investigations at your specified destinations in India . After satisfactory reports
from all destinations the requisite information is sent to Indian High
Commission at Islamabad which then stamps the visa on your original passport
for your personal collection as per telephonic or e-mail advice. I am giving
these procedural details for the general information and guidance of all
concerned.
GETTING INDIAN CURRENCY TO MEET
YOUR TRAVEL EXPENSES:
Whenever you travel abroad you
need some foreign currency to meet your expenses there. We wanted to take
enough amount of Indian currency to meet our tour and travel expenses. We also needed
some Indian currency for general shopping at the end of our travel to India . We spent
three days at Lahore
for this purpose. With the kind help of my friend Mr. Abdul Karim we could
hardly manage to arrange about twenty five thousand Indian rupees. This was
naturally not enough but there was nothing else we could do. It was later on
found that some of the Indian currency arranged by us through our struggle of
three days at Lahore
was found doubtful. You may have some working knowledge or skill to determine
if your local currency notes are genuine or not but to find out about the
exchanged foreign currency it is absolutely impossible whether the exchanged currency
you got after much struggle is really genuine or not. Having fake currency is
also a serious crime. It is therefore very important to arrange genuine foreign
currency in advance. Any fake currency even if you are not involved in it in
any way is a seriously punishable
crime. Please be very careful about it.
OUR GOING FROM ISLAMABAD
TO LAHORE FOR FLYING TO INDIA BY PIA:
Previously in November 2007 for
our travel to India we had
to catch the Samjhota Express train for going from Lahore
to New Delhi .
This time we had to go to India
by air as my wife was unable to travel by train or bus due to acute rheumatoid
disease. Hence on 11th of November 2012, our youngest son, Mr. Eisa
Bin Bashir Khadim took us to Lahore
where we stayed with our friend, Mr. Abdul Karim at his residence in Ali Park PECO Road Lahore Lahore to New
Delhi by PIA. It is indeed very sad to note that there
are no direct flights from the capital of Pakistan
to the capital of India
and vice versa. This is the cause of big trouble for the passengers of both the
countries. I hope both the countries would take early steps in this connection.
This is already provided in the new visa scheme signed by both the countries.
OUR GOING FROM LAHORE
TO NEW DELHI BY
PIA ON 14th OF NVEMBER:
On 14th of November
2012 we boarded the PIA Flight PK270 flying from Lahore
International Airport
to New Delhi International Airport Lahore at 05:30 pm and landed at New Delhi airport at 06:10 pm. The New Delhi International Airport New Delhi International
Airport
The immigration and customs
formalities were cleared with no difficulty at all and we went out of airport to
see if someone from our hosts had come to receive us at the New Delhi International
Airport Meerut to receive us. They welcomed us and we
thanked them for receiving us at the airport.
GOING TO OUR FIRST DESTINATION AT
VILLAGE ISA PUR/YOUSUF PUR OF DISTRICT GHAZIABAD
UTTER PARDESH:
We started our journey in a grand
car of our hosts. Delhi
is a very big cosmopolitan city scattered over hundreds of square kilometers
with its magnificent suburbs. It is lush green everywhere. Some places are very
dense jungles full of terrific wild animals and dacoits. The dazzling lights
made the city dreamy and very charming. Ghaziabad district Headquarters are
located at a distance of nineteen kilometers only from New Delhi but the
district area is scattered far away over very long distances.
Our first destination at Isapur
village was much closer to the well-known city of Meerut than it was to the Headquarters of
Ghaziabad district. Most of the posh areas of New Delhi called NOIDA and NEW NOIDA fall in
the district of Ghaziabad. In fact very dense population with skyscrapers and
factory/residential buildings is seen on both sides of New Delhi-Meerut
Expressway 58. We reached our first destination at midnight on 14th
of November 2012 where our delicious dinner was ready. We were very hungry as
our PIA crew had given us scare and scanty snacks during our short flight of
forty minutes only. After eating heavily we chatted with our hosts for sometime
and then after saying our night ( Isha ) prayers we slept very soundly.
OUR SIGHTSEEING TOUR ON 15th
OF NOVEMBER 2012 (Thursday):
We woke up early before sunrise
and said our morning (Fajar) prayers. In the meantime our bed tea with dry
fruits and sweets was presented to us. After taking our bed tea we slept again
for sometime to get rid of our tiredness. Then Mr. Parminder sent his driver
with his car to take us to his vast luxurious office which is scattered over
many acres of land at the centre of his very expensive and large housing
project located a the northern outskirts of Meerut City on the Delhi-Deradoon
Road. Built-up finished houses of various sizes are sold at very competitive
prices. Mr. Parminder and his other associates have similar housing projects
located at Hapur, Muzzafarnagar and Deradoon cities. They also develop very
grand farmhouses at NOIDA New Delhi. We had the chance to see these grand
farmhouses which have no comparables in India or anywhere else in the
world. They have specialized in this profitable business.
After taking delicious lunch we
went to village Isapur where we met the respected parents of Mr. Sukesh Malik.
After taking afternoon tea we went to the sugarcane fields and also visited
various forest strips of Sagwan (teakwood) trees planted along the sugarcane
fields everywhere. In Utter Pardesh Province of India sugarcane fields and dense
mango gardens are scattered every where. This is a very fertile province and
relatively much developed as compared to other provinces of India . After
enjoying different fields and mango gardens we came back to village Isapur and
had long gossip with the parents of Mr. Sukesh Malik whose marriage party we could
not attend due to delayed receipt of our visit visas. We were shown the wedding
video which was very thrilling containing exciting dances and lively music of
all sorts. Then we said our shortened Zohar and Asar prayers together. After
dinner we said our sunset (Maghrib) and night (Isha) prayers. We were very
tired by then and hence we had a very sound sleep. Before sleeping we discussed
our tour program for the next day.
.
Parents of Mr. Sukesh Malik live
in the village of
Isapur Helsinki
which is the capital of Finland .
He has been holding very elevated positions in Russia and is equally liked by
Russians, Indians and Pakistanis.
We went on a business trip to Russia for two
months in June and July 2008. We stayed with him in his luxurious bungalow
encircled by a boundary wall containing a fine jogging track. His next door
neighbor on his left is Mr. Vikas who is an Indian nice fellow married to a
beautiful Russian girl. His next door neighbor on his right is an intelligent
Pakistani doctor named Mr. Naveed who is also married to a very charming
Russian girl called Julia. Dr. Naveed and his lovely wife Julia took us to a beautiful
big DACHA (farmhouse) of her parents located in a dense jungle at a distance of
more than one hundred kilometers from Saint
Petersburg . Parents and grand parents of Julia told us
many interesting stories of their childhood and youth during the reign of
Soviet Russia.
The youngest brother of Mr.
Sukesh works as a farmer in his village Isapur. We saw him working in the
sugarcane fields and taking the tractor-trolley full of sugarcanes to the sugar
mill located in the adjoining city of Modinagar .
Elder brother of Mr. Sukesh Malik is a retired pilot and he is managing the A
to Z Housing Project of Mr. Parminder at Hapur City
OUR DAILY ACTIVITIES ON 16th
OF NOVEMBER 2012 (Friday):
We woke up before sunrise and
after saying our morning prayers we had bed tea with dry fruits and salty
refreshments. After taking breakfast Mr. Vinod Kumar alias Pehalwanji came in
his car to welcome us. We wanted to say our Juma (Friday) Prayes at Deoband International
Islamic Centre which is the largest and world famous religious centre of Islam.
We travelled hurriedly along the Delhi-Meerut-Mozzaffarnagar Expressway called
National Highway 58. We had a cup of tea at a Dhaba (simple rural restaurant)
located on Mozaffarnagar bypass. At about one O’Clock in the afternoon we
reached the famous town of Deoband .
The grand mosque called Rasheedia Masjid is located near the grand Islamic
School called Darul-Oloom. The narrow and zigzag congested streets of Deoband
town consumed a lot of time and we missed the Juma (Friday) prayers at
Rasheedia Mosque. However we were fortunate to attend the Juma (Friday) prayers
at an adjacent mosque. After Friday prayers we wanted to see the important
historic places of the town. First of all we went to the famous Eidgah
adjoining to which are located the famous Islamic Madrasa of Hazrat Anwar
kashmeeri and his simple mud tomb. After praying Fatiha at the tomb we went to
see Masjid Rasheedia adjacent to which is located the historic grand religious
Islamic Institute called Darul-Oloom. It is a very large Islamic institution
with numerous integrated and separated parts comprising huge and grand
buildings. We then returned to see the historic and very famous graveyard
called Qasmi Graveyard where the founders of the Grand Islamic Centre of
Deoband are buried in very simple muddy graves with their names engraved on the
marble plates at the head sides of their graves. We prayed for a long time at
the grave of Hazrat Mahmood Hasan and other important personalities who played a
great role in the establishment and development of the Grand Islamic Centre for
the Muslim world. We wanted to return to our first destination as soon as
possible but the memorable history of this sacred town of Muslims was compelling us to stay more and
more. From Qasmi graveyard we went to the nearby bazaar of Deoband town and
bought some religious Islamic books. We also bought a Mosalla (special cloth
sheet used for praying on it). It was getting late and we had to see the historic
Islamic towns of NANOTA and Thana Bhaun. At Nanota is buried the famous Islamic
Scholar called Hazrat Yaqoob Nanotvi. At NANOT town, we tried to locate the
tomb of Hazrat Yaqoob which is situated at three kilometers from the city
centre of NANOTA town along the NANOTA-SAHARANPUR
Road in the north direction. The simple muddy tomb
is located in a deserted mango garden with a fortified enclosure having the
name of the late Hazrat Yaqoob engraved on a stone on the head side of his
grave. There was none from whom we could get some history of this place.
After saying some prayers for us
and for the holy soul we started our journey back to visit the famous historic
mosque and grave of Hazrat Ashraf Ali Thanwi who was the founder of modern
Tableeghee Party (The Preeching Party of Islam). Thana Bahaun city is located
at about fifteen kilometers from NANOTA city in the southern direction. We
reached THANA BHAUN city at about sunset. It was told that the holy shrine of
Hazrat Ashraf Ali Thanwi is located near the railway station in the outskirts
of the city which has very narrow and zigzag dirty streets filled with dirty sewage
water. After a lot of effort we found the holy shrine where a new grand mosque
is being constructed near the tomb of Hazrat Ashrasf Ali Thanwi in a mango
garden with an enclosure around the garden. The tomb itself has another muddy
enclosure. While standing at the very simple muddy grave of Hazrat Ashraf Ali
Thanwi, I had the severest shock of my life. The simplest muddy grave had no
epitaph engraved on any stone or metallic plate to indicate the name of the
holy soul sleeping there. I asked the reason for it from the local gentleman
who had come to guide us from the nearby residence. He told me that Hazrat
Ashraf Ali Thanwi had himself bequeathed that there must not be any indication
of his name on his grave after his death. This was totally unread and unheard
of by me although I had read many of his life sketches. I do not know if the
oldest and most staunch Tableeghees (Islamic preachers) know of this startling
fact. We wanted to say our Asar prayer in the grand mosque being constructed
near the holy grave of Hazrat Ashraf Ali Thanwi but it was locked and there was
none to open it. We followed another return route to avoid the zigzag dirty
streets of THANA BHAUN town.
We wanted to visit the holy town
of GANGOH which
is located at a distance of fifteen kilometers from THANA BHAUN town but the
sun was setting and we had to return to our destination as soon as possible.
Moreover, nothing could be seen properly at night. Hence we decided to miss the
holy town of GANGOH
with a heavy heart. I offered my sunset prayer (Maghrib) in a rural mosque of a
village called Rodhero. There was no proper place for washroom or for ablution.
The water had to be brought from a tank in a plastic container called lota. The
nearby pond full of village sewage waste was very badly stinking although the
mosque was full of persons who gathered there to pray. I wanted to give a long
and harsh lecture on keeping the mosque and its environments clean; telling the
Muslim villagers the most basic theme of cleanliness which forms an integral mandatory
part of Islam. But the time was short as we wanted to return to our destination
as soon as possible. It was dark but the condition of the road was very good.
After about one hour we reached
our destination where the delicious dinner was waiting for our return. We were
hungry. We had our dinner and then said the night prayers. Being extremely
tired we slept soon on our very comfortable beds. Before going to sleep I had
the dim glimpses of what we had seen today and as to what deep effect it had on
me and on the social Islamic life of the Muslims all over the world. Can we
revive our golden past? Apparently there seems no way to do so as our condition
is deteriorating day by day. But the wise say that disappointment is a sin. We
must be hopeful for a better future of Islam and Muslims. The overall
collective condition of the Indian Muslims is really pitiable. I discussed this
sad state of affairs with numerous Muslim communities but the response for any
improvement or reformation was far from any thinkable future. Let us pray for
early improvement in all fields and forms. The Islamic scholars must undertake
serious research to investigate basic reasons and causes of our degeneration
and to find out ways and means for our improvement. Local, national and
international detailed short-term and long-term working plans must be formulated
and quickly implemented to regain what has been already lost in the past. It is
quite possible and very much feasible if we are really determined at all levels
of our life. The starting point is to achieve the excellence in education and
professional expertise in all fields and walks of our life.
OURVISIT
PROGRAM ON 17th of NOVEMBER 2012 (Saturday):
After our morning (Fajar) prayers
we had our bed tea with dry fruits and salty refreshments. Then at about nine
O’clock we took our regular breakfast with fenugreek prathas and mixed pickle.
While we were taking our breakfast it was told to us that Mr. Vinod kumar
Pehalwanji is waiting for us in the adjoining drawing room. He took us to their
grand residential project at Meerut
city. Their office is located in a very vast and beautiful park at the centre
of their residential project. Pehalwanji conducted his usual business for
sometime in selling the beautiful bungalows finished in the most elegant form
while we roamed in the park taking some memorable photographs.
After half an hour Pehalwanji
came to us with his another wrestler friend telling us that we would be taken
to an historic church at Sardhana town which is located at a distance of twenty
five kilometers in the north western direction of Meerut city. The historic church of Sardhana Meerut city. On both
sides of the road very dense mango gardens and sugarcane fields were scattered.
There were some lush green fields of various vegetables being irrigated by tube-wells
and irrigation water channels. I wished to stop and walk through the lush green
vegetable fields but we had a very busy agenda for today. Hence we hurriedly
came back to Meerut
city where the most gracious mother of Parminder, Mandeep kaur and his charming
wife, Monica had prepared dozens of delicious Indian dishes for our lunch. We
hurriedly took our lunch and said our noon ( Zohar ) prayer.
Our trip to Deoband International
Islamic School could not be completed during our hurried visit of last Friday.
We therefore decided to go there once again. Mr. Rahool was deputed as a driver
for us. He is a very lovely young man of extremely good nature. We told him our
intentions and he started immediately and hurriedly. The national highway
number 58 going to Deoband via Muzzaffarnagar is very good and it took us about
two hours to reach Deoband International Islamic Centre. We once again saw the
main Darul –Oloom buildings and adjoining to it is located the grand Rasheedia
Mosque where we prayed our Asar. Many foreign Muslims were absorbed in their
prayers and in the silent recitation of holy Quraan. We came out and went to
the nearby Qasmi graveyard where we prayed at the simple muddy graves of Hazrat
Mahmood Hasan, Hussain Ahmad Madani and Mohammad Qasim after whose name this
old historic graveyard has been ascribed.
We bought some Islamic books written in Gurmukhee text and then went to
pray at the simple muddy grave of Hazrat Mohammad Anwar Kashmeeri near famous
Eidgah of Deoband town. Adjacent to his grave at half a furlong is located the
huge and grand Madrasa of Hazrat Mohammad Anwar Kashmeeri. After our prayers we
decided to come back to our first destination in India for the night stay. Our
lovely driver, Mr. Rahool entertained us with some rare foods and fruits. We
came to our destination at about eight O’clock at night. We had our delicious
dinner and after saying our night (Isha) prayers we went to sleep as we were
very tired due to a hectic tour of today.
It may not be out of place to
mention here that our International Islamic Centre at Deoband is located in a
very congested dirty environment having very narrow and zigzag streets. The sewage
open nullahs for the drainage are stinking very badly every where. I very
earnestly request the Muslim global community to take immediate steps for
widening the streets and making an adequate underground drainage system based
on modern techniques. If it does not look feasible then the entire set up must
be shifted to a suitable place outside the congested town of Deoband . Enough land for expansion during
coming one hundred years must be acquired immediately and various departments
should be shifted there as and when the buildings and concerned infrastructure are
completed there gradually. I hope the international Muslim community shall
attach due importance to my recommendations. I also request the Indian
government to provide sufficient funds.
It would be worthwhile to mention
here very briefly that the Sikh Gurdowaras and Hindu Mandirs are very nicely
cleaned and maintained round the clock. Their grand buildings are much superior
to most of our mosques and Madrasas. Millions of rupees are being spent on
monthly basis for their proper upkeep. Proper food and lodging facilities are
open for any stranger irrespective of his religion or creed. Most of the Muslim
Dargahs are overcrowded with all types of beggars who catch the visitors by
their arms and clothes to forcibly extort some amount from them. Notorious
groups of pickpockets and expert thieves are roaming everywhere in and around
the Muslim shrines. The dirt and dust with stinking smell of waste compel the
visitors to finish their visit as soon as possible. Most horrible are the
numerous forms of Shirk (equating the holy personalities and graves with God
Almighty). Most hateful are also the heinous techniques adopted by the so
called professional followers of these Muslim shrines called Mojawars. They ask
you repeatedly for the forced contribution in the name of these Muslim shrines.
Most of the contributions and donations from Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and other foreign
visitors go directly into the personal pockets of the so called Mojawars at the
Muslim shrines. The management of numerous affairs at these Muslim shrines
seems absolutely pitiable. What a pity for all of us who call themselves
Muslims. It may be of great interest for all the Muslim global community that
for all the diverse forms of mismanagement mentioned above about various Muslim
shrines, there is one exception which is the holy shrine of Hazrat Mojaddid
Alif Sani located at Sirhind Shareef which is very clean and properly
maintained. No stinking smell was found there. Muslim shrine of Hazrat Boo Ali
Shah Qalandar at Panipat is also somewhat better now whereas previous during
our last tour of India
in 2007, it was found in a very bad con dition. I wish and pray that similar
good examples should be strictly followed at all other Muslim shrines in India and Pakistan including the entire
globe.
While saying Fatiha at the holy
shrine of Hazratr Mojaddid Alif Sani, I incidantly met the honorable
gaddinasheen (spiritual leader incharge) of this shrine. His name is Syed Zobair
Farooqui Mojaddidi. We had very useful talk about the pitiable condition of
Muslim shrines and also of the Indian Muslims in general. He told me some
startling sad facts about them which should better remain untold.
OUR ACTIVITIES ON 18th
OF NOVEMBER 2012 (Sunday):
Today we wanted to visit the
newly started grand housing project of A to Z builders owned by Mr. Parminder
and his other associates. This huge and
most modern housing project is located at the most beautiful site of the
historic hill station called Deradoon. Mr. Pankaj and his bosom hansom friend manage
the numerous complex affairs of this huge housing project. Wife of Mr. Pankaj’s
friend is a very charming and talented lady doctor. They all live with the
parents of the charming lady doctor who also runs an English medium School of
great reputation.
Deradoon hill station is located
at about one hundred and sixty kilometers from the famous city of Meerut . We had to go there
and come back to our destination same day. Hence we had our breakfast very
early before sunrise and also took an early start. The road to Deradoon is
excellent and we had an expert driver called Rahool who knew the route very
well. On our way we had to pass by the famous Islamic city of Deoband of which we had a very hurried visit
once again. From Deoband city we went to Roorki city along the bank of a famous
canal originating from the river Ganges which
is considered very sacred by Hindus. We stopped at Roorki city to get some
fruit and medicine for my bruised legs and shoulders. I said my Zohar(midday
prayers in a mosque situated on the Roorki-
Deradoon Road very close to where we were standing.
We again took a hurried start towards Deradoon which is located in the northern
hills at a distance of thirty kilometers only from Roorki city. Mr. Punkaj, his
hansom friend and his charming wife greeted us with great enthusiasm. We were
very hungry and the delicious lunch prepared by the charming lady doctor through
reading books was waiting for us. We hurriedly took our lunch and started for
the historic hill station called Missouri .
Local guide whose name was Mr. Zahoor accompanied us for going to and coming
back from Missouri
hill station which is located at a distance of thirty kilometers from Deradoon
city. We completed a quick tour of Missouri
within half an hour and came back to Deeradoon city but did not stop there as
we had very little time at our disposal and a long return journey waited for
us. After filling our car with enough fuel we started again towards the famous
historic town of Rishikesh which is located on the right bank of holy Ganges .
Without stopping anywhere we
straight away went o the most historic and famous town of Rishikesh
which is located on the banks of holy Ganges
which is rushing down from the adjoining hills. The banks of the Ganges were extremely crowded with visiting men, women
and children of all ages and races. The suspended long swinging bridge over the
Ganges is extremely attractive as it is one of
the world wonders. A large number of foreigners were also visiting this
important place. After a hurried tour of Rishikesh town we took our early
dinner as we were feeling very hungry. After our hurried dinner we went to the
most famous and religiously central town of Hardowar
which is located on the banks of holy Ganges .
We had a very hurried tour of various important historic places at Hardowar.
From Hardowar town we went straight to the Roorki town and from there to the
nearby Dargah of Hazrat Sabir Kaliaree which is located at a distance of seven
kilometers from Roorki city in the north. We had a very hurried visit of this
historic Muslim shrine which was extremely crowded with local and foreign
visitors. The atmosphere at and around this Dargah is stinking with heaps of
dirt, dust sewage overflowing water and wastes of the dirty visitors who are
camping there permanently. We came back
to Roorki city and hurried straight to Meerut
city via shortcut routes very well known to our lovely driver Mr. Rahool. He
traveled a lot today but did not feel any tiredness apparently while we were
dozing sleepily.
We had a very delicious special
dinner once again near a vast beautiful Muslim restaurant of rural simple
design. Such simple rural restaurants are locally called DHABHAS. The road side
urban restaurant called a DHABHA here in the local Hindi language was located
near a village called PHULKA which was reported to be somewhere close to
Deoband. We were extremely tired but our expert driver was very active and
alert. He again took some shortcut routes and within less than an hour we were
dining at the grand house of Mr. Parminder where his respected mother and wife
had prepared a very delicious dinner comprising dozens of famous Indian dishes.
We had already taken our dinner twice but we did not feel like annoying our
respected hosts. So we had our dinner for the third time as well. After taking
dinner we were feeling extremely tired and sleepy. So we hurriedly went to our
comfortable beds where we had a very sound sleep at our first destination. In
dreams I was seeing hundreds of nice places which I had actually seen during
our long and arduous journey of today.
OUR ACTIVITIES ON 19th
OF NOVEMBER 2012 (Monday):
We were too tired to get up early
for our morning prayers. With great painful effort we offered our early morning
prayers after which we slept again for many hours. Our respected hosts tried to
awake us repeatedly but all in vain. Finally at about noon we managed to get up
and take our breakfast. Our bodies were severely aching due to an arduous
travel of the previous day. We took some
pain killers but got no relief. Our hosts advised us to take a hot shower which
proved extremely miraculous. Our hosts offered us a short visit of the historic
town of Jain Hindus called Hastinapur which is
located at a distance of about twenty kilometers from Meerut city. But we had no courage to move
today. After light lunch we again went to our beds and took complete rest for
many hours. At about four O’clock in the afternoon we had our evening tea with
light snacks. Our hosts wanted to know what had happened to us. They offered to
take us to the medical experts for our examination but we refused their good offer
with thanks saying that things would improve gradually with the passage of
time. So practically speaking we did nothing today except taking complete rest
and relaxation which was immensely needed for our too much fatigued bodies.
OUR ACTIVITIES ON 20th
OF NOVEMBER 2012 (Tuesday):
After taking complete rest we
were greatly relieved of our excessive fatigue and tiredness of 18th
November 2012. Although we had taken complete rest on 19th of
November 2012 but our bodies still ached to some extent. After some light
breakfast we wanted to take more rest today. Our hosts again advised us to take
a hot bath and we instantly acted upon their valuable advice which brought an
immense relief to our fatigued bodies,
At about midday a very hansom young
man called Manooj came to us and informed that he would show us the grand
Mandirs of Hindu Jain sect. These wonders of the world are located at the most
famous and historic town of Hastinapur
which is located at about twenty kilometers from our first destination. We had
taken enough rest for one and half a day. Our health restoration after repeated
hot baths had been virtually complete. So we decided to get into the new grand
jeep called BOLERO brought by the young hansom young man from our first
destination who was an expert driver and his name was Mr. Manooj. He is a close
relation of Mr. Parminder. We started our journey from our first destination
and went to the historic town of Hastinapur
within one hour passing through a famous village called Ganeshpur which is six
kilometers from Histinapur town. We were extremely amazed on seeing the huge
and grand Jain Mandirs with dozens of modern and ancient structures. So many masterpieces of art and structure can
only be seen here and nowhere else in the world. Incredible India really
has most rare wonders of the globe. This historic town of Hindu Jain sect is the international centre
of Jain saints who are Jain saints were roaming here and there followed by
large number of their religious followers. We had read much about Jain saints
but had seen none so far.
The Jain saints were absolutely naked and were
moving freely in the historic town of Hastinapur .
This was an extremely strange thing for us who had never anything of this sort.
Our driver took a few photo shots of the entirely naked Jain saints who were visiting
this town in hundreds every day. There is extreme cleanliness everywhere. Our
driver took a few photographs of the totally naked Jain saints after paying
them rupees twenty per photo. This payment of twenty rupees per photo to the
Jain saints appeared very ridiculous. We went from Mandir to Mandir and thought
of returning to our destination when the sun was setting down. Our hansom young
driver had purchased some samosa-like spicy products called bhatooras which we
enjoyed at a diesel filling station of Hastinapur historic town. It was dark and
we thought of returning to our first destination in India . It took about an hour or so
to reach our destination where we were being waited at the delicious dinner
especially prepared for us. First of all we said our sunset and night prayers
and then we took our dinner.
On our way back we witnessed a
large number of tractor trolleys, trucks and buffalo driven carts full of
luggage and families comprising men, women and children. I enquired
|
from our driver Manooj about
thousands of the hurriedly going vehicles in the eastern
|
direction. He told me that a
grand fair is starting next day at Kishtwar city located on the banks of holy
Ganges where Hindu families would stay for one week in the open atmosphere
bathing in the holy waters of Ganga
River
On our return from Hastinapur we
visited the newly wed second wife of Pehalwanji. They have a two years old
naughty son who is very shrewd and intelligent. We were impressed by his
extraordinary intellect. Second wife of Pehalwanji was very beautiful and
hospitable. Parminder’s gracious mother
had accompanied us during this social visit. After about one hour we returned
to our destination where we had our dinner. After saying our night prayers we
went to our beds and slept very soundly.
OUR ACITIVITIES ON 21stth
OF NOVEMBER 2012 (Wednesday):
We had been constantly travelling
for the last many days and this had caused us a lot of fatigue. Hence we
decided to take complete rest with some local strolling only. We took our
breakfast at about nine O’clock in the morning and while in our beds we started
updating the recent past news on TV channels. All media and TV channels had
been breaking the news of Ajmal Qassab’s hanging in the Drewara jail of Pune
where he had been buried inside the jail to avoid any protests. Ajmal Qassab
had been convicted during the trial of Bombay
case. It was very strange that neither the parents of Ajmal Qassab nor the
Pakistani Government had made any demand for the dead body of Ajmal Qassab. All
TV channels were broadcasting commentaries on this breaking news.
After watching the news on
numerous TV channels I decided to roam about here and there and do some
shopping of Gurumukhi books. I walked for about five or six kilometers till I
was tired completely. I saw a book store and went inside. After some cursory
glancing I bought a dozen of Gurumukhi books on various topics. They were very
cheap as compared to their prices in Pakistan . I could not find any
sound reason for the huge disparity in prices of the books. After purchasing
books I retuned back. The evening tea with light refreshments was ready. We
enjoyed the tea and snacks on a very long interesting gossip on many topics of
the day. It was time for our evening and sunset prayers. Hence we dispersed and
took some rest after our prayers. After some rest important breaking news on
some TV channels were watched. Very interesting commentaries were running on
some TV channels about hanging of Ajmal Qassab and his burial inside the jail
premises. After taking dinner and saying our night prayers we slept vey soundly
to become fresh and invigorated for the coming program of next day.
OUR JOURNEY TO AJMER SHARIF ON 22nd OF NOVEMVER
2012 (Thursday):
Today we had to travel to Ajmer
Sharif of Rajasthan Province where we had to visit the famous Dargah of Soofi
Muslim Saint Hazrat Moeenuddin Chishti Ajmeri. Our train tickets were booked in
advance by SHTABDI (Century) EXPRESS which leaves New Delhi railway station at 06:30 am sharp
and reaches Ajmer Sharif after five hours stopping for two minutes at Alwar,
Jaypur and some other important stations. Indian trains are very punctual. They
normally do not become late like those in Pakistan . You can invariably adjust
your wrist watches when they start and stop at the specified railway stations
as per their scheduled timings. This may sound incredible to Pakistanis who can
never imagine the punctuality of Indian trains.
We took our breakfast before four
am and after saying our morning (Fajar) prayers we departed from our first
destination to the New Delhi
railway station. Very heavy traffic was running on the Modinagar- New Delhi
Expressway 58. Sugarcane tractor trolleys, trucks and heavily loaded long
trailers were moving on the Expressway. We were very carefully driving along
other heavy traffic. Finally when we reached the New Delhi railway station we were somewhat
late. We had to rush to our reserved VIP A/C compartment which was standing on
platform number 2. We had to climb up the stairs and we walked for more than
one kilometer over the railway bridge to catch our train standing on platform 2.
Our heavy luggage made our walking very slow and difficult although our hosts
had sent two helpers with us. As a result of brisk walking my wife started to
have serious palpitations. Anyway, our Shatabdi Express train was about to
start when we reached it. Our coupa A/C VIP compartment could not be located
easily. We contacted a well-built Sardarji who was wearing the railway uniform.
We requested him to help us which he provided instantly by showing us our
reserved seats in the VIP compartment of the train. We occupied our seats and
put our luggage on the upper berths. The train started moving and bundles of
numerous refreshments started pouring in too. My wife was still gasping with
serious palpitations. She drank a glass of bottled water and felt some minor
relief. In the meantime coffee was served with dry fruits and snacks. I made a
cup of coffee for my wife whose palpitations became worst. She drank many
glasses of water and remained quite disturbed throughout our journey to Ajmer
Sharif.
Charming doctor Bhawna and her hansom husband
doctor Anil Kumar were there at Ajmer
railway station to receive us. They welcomed us and put our luggage in their
car and we were carried to their grand luxurious bungalow located in a posh
colony of Ajmer Sharif. First of all we were served with tea and refreshments.
After sometime the dinner was served. Then all of us started general gossip on
various topics of interest. After some discussion it was decided to visit the
Dargah of Hazrat Moeenuddin Chishti Ajmeri next day through some special
arrangements as the surroundings of Dargah Shrif were extremely crowded. Due to
Moharram and Urs days there was extreme crowd everywhere. Around Dargah Sharif
of Hazrat Khawja Moeenuddin Chishti Ajmeri the streets are extremely narrow and
congested. The encroachments by the market shopkeepers have made the narrow
streets narrower. It is often difficult to pass by another visitor. Crowds of
the beggars have blocked the narrow streets further. There is absolutely no
discipline or order to keep the crowds moving smoothly. The Mojawars and local
followers are busy in fleecing the visitors. The environments around Dargah
Sharif are stinking very badly due to heaps of waste materials and overflowing
open swage channels. Nobody seems worried about the unhygienic conditions.
In view of the above mentioned
sad state of affairs our hosts had made some special arrangements for taking us
into Dargah Sharif under the protection and special guidance of a reputed
Mojawar, Mr. Shams. Dr. Bhawana is the sister of Mr. Parminder. She and her
husband both are reputed veterinary doctors with some rare specializations.
Both are government employees. They have one hansom son who is studying in the
most reputed college
of Ajmer Sharif
After taking some rest we had a
long session of talks on numerous important topics with our respected hosts.
After some time we took hot baths and became fresh. Then some breaking news was
observed on some TV channels. Dr. Bhawna prepared a delicious dinner for us in
the meantime. After taking our dinner we went to our beds and had very sound
sleep. Very interesting dreams were seen during our sleep.
OUR VISIT OF IMPORTANT PLACES AT AJMER SHARIF AND A
DETAILED VISIT OF DARGAH SHRIF OF HAZRAT MOEENUDDIN ON 23rd OF NOVEMBER:
We woke up early before sunrise
and offered our morning (Fajar) prayers. In the meantime, our bed tea with dry
fruits was placed on our side table. We had a summarized overview of our travel
completed so far. Planning for
conducting our coming tours was also made and finalized. After taking our
breakfast we had nothing to do except to take complete rest and watch some TV
channels. It was decided by our respected hosts that we would be visiting the
holy Dargah of Hazrat Moeenuddin Chisti Ajmeri in the afternoon after taking
our lunch.
In view of overcrowding at and
around Dargah Sharif our hosts had made advance arrangements to help us with
the professional guidance of an expert, Mr. Shams, who had been engaged for
this purpose. After taking some rest we started to visit the Dargah of Hazrat
Moeenuddin Chisti Ajmeri. Mr. Shams who is a reputed Mojawar of Dargah Sharif
had been requested to take us with him into the crowded premises of Dargah.
Accordingly he hired a special rickshaw to carry us to the main gate of Dargah
Sharif through very narrow congested streets where we left our shoes with a
caretaker at the main gate and we were very carefully escorted into Dargah
Sharif going very close to the grave of the holy saint where we prayed for
sometime. The visiting crowds were pushing each other very violently. There was
no space for standing peacefully anywhere for even a few seconds. Armies of
visitors, beggars and mobile shopkeepers were making too much noise. Abnormally
excessive deafening noise made it impossible to hear anything intelligible.
Large groups of the visitors were camping inside the premises of Dargah so that
no vacant space was left to walk through them. The bustling crowds pushed each
other to take their way ahead. At a short distance from the grave of the holy
saint, his wife, daughter and other family members are buried. At a short
distance further is located the underground worship place of Baba Fareed
Shakarganj of Pakpatan. After praying hurriedly at the grave of the holy saint and
his family members we moved forward with great difficulty with the help of our
guide Mr. Shams. There was an extreme fear of being trampled down under the
feet of others. Fatal stampedes are always expected at such overcrowded places.
We moved further towards the Jama Masjid where night (Isha) prayer was being
collectively offered. I and Mr. Shams joined the praying mob after arranging a
safe seat for my wife inside a shop. After our night prayers inside Dargah
premises we took her along with us and came out of the crowded premises of
Dargah Sharif. We had deposited our shoes with a caretaker outside the main
gate and it was difficult to find them when we came out. Mr. Shams, however,
traced them easily. We wore them and hurriedly retuned to our hosts who were
waiting for us at about one kilometer from Dargah Sharif. We thanked Mr. Shams
for his guidance and professional help so that we came safely out of Dargah
Sharif. Our hosts took us back to their grand bungalow where we had a deep sigh
of relief on retuning alive to our second destination. We had nice tea and
snacks to celebrate our safe return from the dangerous crowds which could cause
us serious fatal harm due to dangerous stampedes.
It pains me greatly to mention
about the stinking atmosphere and extreme mismanagement in and around Dargah
sharif. Serious widespread fleecing of visitors was going on everywhere inside
the Dargah premises. The narrow streets leading to the gate of holy shrine must
be widened and the encroachments must be removed without any delay. The
prevailing mismanagement must be curbed immediately. Huge amounts of donations
and contributions are pouring in on daily basis round the clock but no amount
seems spent on the cleanliness and upkeep of Dargah Sharif. Who is responsible
for this extreme negligence? Nobody except the Muslim community itself as a
whole and it has to take the entire responsibility. We must make efficient organizations
to take due care of such sacred places all over the world.
We took some rest but the serious
palpitations of my wife were not subsiding. Dr. Anil Kumar brought his
electronic meter to measure the blood pressure of my wife who was feeling much
disturbed. The measurements showed abnormally high readings. Dr. Bhawna and Dr.
Anil kumar advised me to take her to a medical specialist but my wife was
reluctant. I advised her to take complete rest and try to sleep. After some
sleep she felt better and we all were greatly relieved. After taking our
delicious dinner we again gossiped for a very long time. Lady Doctor Bhawna
greatly resembles her gracious mother in size, stature and looks. Her voice
also resembles to that of her mother.
Ajmer Sharif is an old historic
city where the first treaty between the Mughal emperor Akbar the great and East
India Company of Great Briton was signed. We visited the old Akbari Fort where
this treaty had been signed by both the parties in a grand drawing room called
Deewane Khas. The main gate of the fort has a grand gallery upstairs where the
emperor used to hear the grievances of the public at large and passed his
orders. Close to the Akbari fort is located a large market where numerous shops
of jewellery are located along with reputed shops of spicy dishes and special
quality lassi (sweet yogurt solution). We went to these shops where we enjoyed
the rare foods of Ajmer Sharif. Before going to the Akbari Fort we had a round
of the city as a whole. It is a very large old styled city with some new posh
colonies such as Ghandinagar.
After a second general round of Ajmer city we returned to our second destination in India which was
the grand bungalow of Dr. Bhawna and her husband doctor Anil Kumar. Their
bungalow is very well designed making it a masterpiece of architecture. The
finishing of the grand bungalow is extremely elegant. Everything has been
chosen with a high taste. The charming couple has contributed a lot in the
superb design and fine construction of this grand bungalow. The open lawn of
the bungalow has also been very nicely designed. Very rare beautiful plants have
been grown in the lawn and some splendid evergreen plants have been placed in
the huge vases. I have not seen such rare plants in the local nurseries. It is
interesting to note that there is no gardener to take care of their lawn as
they themselves take proper care of it.
OUR VISIT OF SOME HISTORIC PLACES
AT AJMER SHARIF
ON 23rd OF NOVEMBER 2012 (Friday):
Our main agenda point for
visiting Ajmer Sharif was to pray at all sacred places inside the Dargah of
holy Muslim soofi saint Hazrat Moeen-uddin Ajmeri. We had already completed
this important assignment during the previous day. Today we wanted to visit
other important places. After taking our delicious breakfast we were taken by
doctor Bhawna and her husband doctor Anil Kumar to their offices located far
away from their home. While going to their offices we were again shown various
important areas and institutions of Ajmer
city which is scattered over vast plains and hilly areas. The city is encircled
by many hills and mountains. The city of Ajmer
Sharif comprises old styled and very posh modern
residential and commercial centers.
During the previous day, we had
completed a hurried tour of the historic Akbari fort where the first treaty had
been signed between the Mughal Emperor and East India Company. Important
decisions to undertake numerous attacks against Mughal enemies had been taken
in the grand Deewane-khas. The window of the upper gallery wherein the Emperor
used to sit and make decisions after hearing both parties is located upstairs
in the magnificent gallery located on the main gate.
After visiting the Akbari fort
and enjoying delicious curry and lassi of the adjoining bazaar, doctor Bhawna,
once again, showed us various important areas of Ajmer Sharif. Finally she took
us to a grand museum
of Jain
There is a dominantly visible
Jain Mandir on top of a hill in the western direction of Ajmer city situated on the Jaypur road. Doctor
Bhawna took us there after sunset. The Jain Complex is spread over many square
kilometers of lush green area where most attractive wonders of the world are
found. A huge multi-storied grand Jain Mandir has been built costing millions
of dollars. This is a unique masterpiece of art and sculpture.
The vast lush green park of this
elegant Jain Centre has been very well designed by planting very rare beautiful
plants in the most systematic fashion.
After chatting for sometime we all had the
most delicious dinner. After saying our night prayer we had a very sound sleep.
Many interesting dreams were seen during our sound sleep. We had been very busy
in seeing the holy city of Ajmer Sharif for
which we could not get visit visa during our first travel to India in 2007.
We were very fortunate to get the visit visa this time and we really enjoyed
our journey to the holy shrine of Ajmer Sharif.
OUR DEPARTURE FROM AJMER SHARIF ON 24th
OF NOVEMBER 2012:
It was our third day in Ajmer
Sharif. Today in the afternoon, we had to depart from Ajmer Sharif for New Delhi railway station by Shatabdi Express train which
leaves Ajmer Sharif at 03:45 pm and reaches New Delhi railway station at 11:00 pm. We had
some photography of the beautiful bungalow of lady doctor Bhawna. We took our
lunch at about two O’clock in the afternoon. After saying our noon prayers we
started our return journey to catch the Shatabdi Express train in time. At three
O’clock in the afternoon we left our second destination and our respected hosts
took us to the Ajmer
railway station where we had to wait for a few minutes because the rail
compartment of our reserved seats was still closed. As soon as the compartment
was opened we occupied our comfortable seats. Shatabdi Express train took its
start at the scheduled time of departure. Very close to our seats was sitting a
very hansom American young man. Next to him was sitting his beautiful sister.
They were both busy in playing video games and reading fiction. They had no
interest in the other world around them.
The train had hardly taken its
start when the cold drinks and dry fruits were served to the train passengers.
After some time snacks were served with hot coffee and fresh fruits. After a
few minutes the railway station of Kishangarh came where the train stopped for
two minutes. Kishangarh is located at a distance of thirty kilometers from
Ajmer Sharif. The train again started moving after a stop of two minutes. On
both sides of the railway track were scattered vast fields of wheat. Ponds of
water were also seen at some intervals. Mud and brick houses were also seen
scattered here and there. Large villages also appeared at longer intervals.
There were no gardens seen anywhere along the railway track. Grand Mandirs were
seen on top of muddy hills. Large herds of cows, buffalos and very healthy oxen
were also seen in the open.
When we reached Jaypur city which
is the provincial capital of Rajasthan it was quite dark outside the train. Our
train stopped at Jaypur railway station for about ten minutes. I went out and
saw the large railway station. Many passengers got down and some new passengers
boarded the train here. I got into the train when it whistled. As soon as the
train started we were served with dinner.
The train stopped at many important stations. Finally we reached New Delhi railway station
at eleven O’clock of night and it was almost mid night when our hosts welcomed
us on the railway platform where our train had finally stopped. They took our
luggage and put it in their Bolero jeep which moved over very busy roads of Delhi . Many bazaars and
markets were still open in New Delhi .
The tall buildings were illuminated very prominently. We were taken to a very
beautiful farm house located in a very posh area of Delhi called NOIDA and New NOIDA. But the
water pumping motor of the farmhouse had been burnt today due to some short
circuit in the power line feeding the pumping motor. Drinking water for our
dinner had been brought from the adjoining farmhouse and then we had our dinner
hurriedly. We were taken to another place in New Delhi where we rested for sometime. The
sun rose in the meantime and we had to travel to our third destination at my
native village of Dhanauree located in tehsil Samana district Patiala where I
was born before the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.
OUR DEPARTURE FROM DELHI TO MY
BIRTH PLACE AT VILLAGE DHANAUREE NEAR
SAMANA CITY IN PATIALA DISTRICT ON 25th OF NOVEMBER 2012 (SUNDAY) :
Our driver, Mr. Manooj, started
the journey along the G.T. road. We wanted to see some important places of New Delhi before our departure to Patiala
but our driver, Mr. Manuj had no knowledge of any important places at Delhi . Hence we had no
choice except to go straight to our village named Dhanauree located in the
district of Patiala near Samana city. On our way to Sonipat came the grand
Akhshardham Mandir of great reputation. Dhanauri village where I had been born
six years before partition of India
was our last and third destination of our visit visa where we had to stay
before returning to Pakistan .
Hence our third and last
destination in India
was at my birthplace.
We had passed through New Delhi while going to our first
destination at village Isapur /Yousufpur located in district Ghaziabad of Utter
Pardesh. We had also passed through Delhi for
the second time while going to Ajmer Sharif by SHATABDI EXPRESS train going
from railway station of New Delhi .
On our return from Ajmer Sharif we again passed through Delhi for the third time. It was now fourth
time when we were leaving Delhi for going to our final destination at my
birthplace at our village called Dhanauree which is located in district Patiala
of Indian Punjab. We had hardly seen any important places in Delhi so far. I requested our driver Mr.
Manooj Kumar to show us some important places of Delhi
on our way while going to Patiala but he refused
to do so saying that he had no knowledge of Delhi cosmopolitan city. This had annoyed me
much and I had rebuked him assuming that he was telling lies to deprive us from
visiting historic places of Delhi .
I controlled my emotions of deprivation and we proceeded towards Panipat city
on our way to Patiala
city from where we had to go to our village Dhanauree which is located five
kilometers in the east of Samana city. Dhanauree is my birthplace where I had
been born before the partition of India
in 1947 when we migrated to Pakistan .
In fact the main motive of travelling to India for the second time was the
extreme desire of seeing our birth places once again. This natural desire of
all humans for seeing their birth places cannot be suppressed despite our best
efforts.
.
We crossed Sonipat and reached
Panipat city where we wanted to visit, for a very short time, the famous Dargah
of Muslim saint Hazrat Boo Ali Shah Qalandar. We roamed through the zigzag
streets of old Panipat city and finally found the holy shrine. At the gate of
the holy shrine on the inner left side is the grave of our famous poet named
Iltaf Hussain Hali. We spent only a few minutes praying at the graves of Iltaf
Hussain Hali and Hazrat Boo Ali Shah Qalandar. We restarted our journey towards
my birthplace at village Dhanauree located in Patiala district at a distance of five
kilometer in the eastern direction of Samana city. After crossing Karnal city
we stopped at a rural restaurant where we had our delicious lunch. After taking
lunch and tea we again started our journey to our third destination in India located
at my birthplace village called Dhanauree. We crossed Ambala cantonment and
turned left towards Patiala
city from Rajpura town. Patiala
city is at about twenty six kilometers from Rajpura town. Within half an hour
we crossed Patiala
city and finally we reached Samana city half an hour before sunset. We straight
away went to the famous shop of auto spares shop on Ghagha road of Samana city.
This shop belongs to the family members of Sarpanch Dhanauri Sardar Gurcheet
Singh S/O Baba Santok Singh and to the sons of Sardar Harbhinder Singh. Sardar
Shamsher Singh was sitting on the counter when we reached their shop.
We wanted that our driver and his
companion Mr. Poneet should stay with us at our village but they were very
anxious to return to participate in a famous Hindu fair held at Kishtwar which
is situated on the banks of holy Ganga
River India .
We met all the family members of
Baba Santok Singh and his sons. Baba Sank Singh had become weaker due to aging
effect as he was now completing his century of golden age. He was very active
when we came here five years back. Small children had now grown into young
beautiful boys and girls. Everybody had changed bodily in some way but their
basic features, characteristics, tones and modes of expression did not change
drastically. They all were the same internally. Some changes had taken place in
the shape and size of bungalows. Bungalow of Sardar Atar Singh was under
construction five years ago but now it had been completed into a grand
residential abode. We stayed in his splendid bungalow for the entire period of twelve
days we spent at our final destination at the Namdhari farmhouse of Dhanauree
village.
All the family members of our
hosts at the farmhouse gathered to greet us. It was a sort of jovial fair. Our
talks continued for hours together after our delicious dinner. Everybody was
asking many questions about us and our family members. We were asking many
questions from each one of them. Our dialogues continued till midnight. We were
extremely tired. I requested them to disperse now so that we could sleep after
saying our evening and night prayers. Reluctantly they left us in our bed room
where we had a very sound sleep after offering our prayers.
OUR ACTIVITIES ON 26th
OF NOVEMBER2012 (Monday):
We got up early before sunrise
and said our morning prayers. In the meantime our bed tea with dry fruits and
salty refreshments was placed on our side tables which we enjoyed with great
pleasure while talking about our remaining stay in India . We had to go to the
birthplace of my wife at Chintanwala town located in the western direction at
about thirty kilometers. Five years ago when we went there we could not trace
the house where my wife had been born. She was only three years old when the
partition took place in 1947. Her father, uncle and many other family members
were mercilessly murdered by the Indian army and Sikhs of the surrounding area.
My wife escaped death as she had been buried under the heap of dead bodies
killed by the Indian army.
After taking our breakfast Baba
Santok Singh took me to the adjoining fields of wheat and peas scattered over
many kilometers. We walked and walked continuously for about one hour and
reached the shrine of Saint Nathu Shah situated at the side of asphalted road
going from Guru Gobind Model
School
Sikhs and Hindus offer milk pots every day on
the graves of Muslim saints according to their belief that it increases the
daily produce of milk from their milking cattle. Stray dogs used to drink the
offered milk and make the graves dirty with their filth. I had requested Baba
Santok Singh five years ago to make boundary walls with proper lockable doors
to avoid creation of filth by the stray dogs on the graves of the Muslim
saints. I was extremely glad that Baba Santok Singh and the neighbors of other
Muslim shrines constructed regular rooms over the graves and this keeps them
clean and secure from other hazards. I saw numerous pictures of Hindu and Sikh
saints hung on the inner side of the walls of Muslim shrines. I also witnessed
that numerous Sikhs and Hindus when they visit these graves of the Muslim
saints they bow on earth as if they are worshiping them. I repeatedly told them
at different Muslim shrines that this is called ‘shirk’ (equating the statues
to God Almighty who is alone) in Islam and it is totally prohibited. I was very
glad that my sermons were successful and the wrong habit of bowing was
discarded by the Hindu and Sikh visitors. The milk pots are kept outside the
Muslim shrines which are now invariably locked. I wanted to make the payment
for the construction costs of the regular rooms over the graves of the Muslim
shrines but they refused to take any money from me. This showed great regard
for us and for the sacred graves of our Muslim shrines. I sincerely thanked
them for this noble act.
I must say that mutual dialogues and
understanding creates incredible miracles. Many social problems among different
sects and religions are caused by either total lack of mutual communications or
improper communications. We create conflicting situations which can be often
avoided through amicable mutual communications and understanding.
We came back and had wonderful
breakfast. After taking rest I again went out to see our wells which have been
discarded now and replaced by modern tube-wells having no electric bills
whatsoever in the Punjab province
of India Guru Gobind
Model College
I came back absorbed in my inner
thoughts and recapitulating my old memories of the past. Suddenly two huge dogs
attacked me near our Muslim shrine of Nathu Shah. Fortunately a gentleman
spraying pea fields with artificial manure came to my rescue very promptly. I
was extremely terrified as a similar attack had occurred in Pakistan about one year ago at the
house of my friend Sh. Mohammad Jahangir where we had gone along with other
family members on a dinner. The official dog of my nephew Mr. Khurram Rasheed (who
is an S.P.) had bitten me at many limbs of my body. I had to undergo a long and
costly treatment for the seriously bleeding wounds on my body. I had stopped
going to their house due to the sad incident which has drastically changed my
psychology since then. People say that a man bitten once by a dog gets
terrified throughout his life. I say on oath that this is absolutely true.
On my reaching the farm house I
stopped outside near the field of numerous lush green vegetables grown for the
personal use of the families. I remembered my own vegetables grown by me in my
kitchen garden. I also thought of taking the seeds of some good quality
vegetables and grains. Many local people of the area repeatedly asked me if I
could provide them with some best quality seeds of Basmati rice from Pakistan . I
said yes of course if the governments of Pakistan
and India
have no objection to this. I telephonically talked to my nephew Ch. Mohammad
Afzal who is a very talented farmer of our village called Kot Asaysh near Qila
Deedar Singh of Gujranwala
district. He said that anyone can collect best quality basmati rice seeds
without any cost at all. Some Sikh Yatries from India
were in Pakistan
to celebrate the birth day of Guru Nanak Singh. Their names were dictated to
Mr. Afzal Chaudry for delivering best quality basmati rice seeds as and when
they con tact him. We must exchange persons from all walks of life in India and Pakistan for man to man contacts.
We must also help each other in different forms of mutual needs. This would
create more harmonious atmosphere for building and enhancing mutual confidence.
I hope that this serene advice of mine would be soon implemented by both the
governments. I shall be looking forward for an early implementation of my
proposals. Good quality seeds and plants must be exchanged freely without any
restrictions. This would create an immense good will among us.
I came back when my legs refused to carry me
further although I did not feel like going back to the farmhouse where we were
residing. I abluted myself and offered my noon prayers. Our delicious lunch was
ready. After taking lunch we took rest for two hours. I t was the time of
evening tea and our hosts were anxiously waiting for us to join them on the
dining table. After taking evening tea and dry fruits we became very fresh. I
requested my wife to accompany me to our village of Dhanauree
After saying our evening and
night prayers we relaxed for half an hour. All the family members of our respected
hosts gathered again to listen to us about Pakistan
and India .
We were happy to talk to them and we replied to their complex questions as per
our best belief and knowledge. Their questions had no end till we became tired.
We requested to disperse and leave the remaining questions to be answered in
the next session of next day. They reluctantly conceded to our request and
after that we took our delicious dinner. After saying our night prayers we
slept very soundly. Before going to sleep I recapitulated my visit of today to
many fields, shrines, streets and houses of our village Dhanauree. I realized
that I missed many essential places which must be visited next day.
OUR ACTIVITIES ON 27th
OF NOVEMBER 2012 (Tuesday):
We woke up early in the morning and
after saying our morning prayers we took rest for another one hour. We were
called by our respected hosts to take our breakfast. After taking our breakfast
we had to visit Sardar Jagtal Singh who is the father in-law of Sardar Gagan
Singh, the eldest son of Sardar Gurcheet Singh, Sarpanch of Dhanauree. Sardar
Gurcheet Singh had to take us to Nizam Aliwala village where Sardar Jagtal
Singh lives in a grand bungalow surrounded by lush green fields of wheat and
peas. Sardar Gurcheet Singh became busy in some of his urgent administrative
assignments and we had to wait for him. He came at about midday to take us to
Nizam Aliwala village which is located at a distance of three kilometers from
our village of Dhanauree Australia
where she helped her newly wed husband, Sardar Gagan Singh who is the eldest
son of Sarpanch of Dhanauree. She had been topping in all of her examinations
till she finally won a gold medal in her M.B.A. examination. Her name is
Parvinder Kaur. She is extremely bright in all fields of human aspects. I
designated her as a ‘pride of Nizam Aliwala’. God has been very generous in
bestowing upon her heaps of human beauty and grace. We had hardly seated
ourselves when the special gestures of extreme entertainment started. Cousion
of Parvindar Kaur is studying in her plus one class which means in the eleventh
class as per our terminology. She is very active and extra smart. She exhausted
us with her unending attacks of entertainment. Her name is Navneet Kaur We
wanted to take leave of our hosts at Nizam Aliwala which is also called THEIRI by
the local natives. It consumed more than two hours of our scarce time in
getting their permission to leave them for going ahead to see other adjoining villages.
We hurriedly visited Malikwal, Bibipur, Daba, Chaba, Gheora, Ratta Khera,
Shadipur, Usmsmanpur, Ratankheri, Marori, Azeemgarh, Badanpur and Kamaspur etc.
At Shadipur we especially went to
the old mosque where our only spiritual teacher, Maulvi Mohammad Sharif postman
had opened an Islamic School to teach holy Quraan and Urdu books. There was no
school in any other village of our area. He used to spend whole of his salary
to feed his poor students whom he loved from the core of his heart. The old
mosque was deserted completely and many animals like cows and buffalos had
heaped the lawn with their filth. The roofed room was locked and was in a very
shabby condition. A tall hansom Sikh vanished on seeing us entering the old
mosque where now he lived along with his cattle. We assured him that we did not
mean any harm to him or to his family. We informed him that we had come from Pakistan to
visit Shadipur village in general and the old mosque in particular. We told him
that the village of Shadipur was the village where my mother had been
born long ago before the partition of India . I had attended the Islamic
School of Shadipur for a few months perhaps for the fun and not for any serious
studies because I was too small to learn anything.
The Sardarji who was occupying
the old mosque told us that a serious dispute was going on in the civil court
as to which sect of Sikhs is legally entitled to own the mosque. It came to my
knowledge for the first time in my life that Hindus and Sikhs also have many
sects who are fighting with one another. Each sect considers itself to be on
the right path whereas all other sects are considered bogus. This sectarian
grouping and conflict is prevailing in Muslims too. Legal fights and prolonged
litigations are also prevalent in all religions among different sects. This is
unfortunate as it destroys the very spirit of any religion which is primarily for
the harmony among people and not for creation of any hatred. There seem no
serious efforts for the unification and creation of harmony among various
religions of the globe. The sense of amicable co-existence is totally missing.
A young son of the Sardarji
occupying the old mosque of Shadipur was severely chained on a chair and tied
to the mosque window of the front wall. He was twisting his head on his right
and left and shrieking in great pain. Sardarji told us that he is mentally
deranged and retarded. He cannot be let free due to possible damage he can
cause to others. His condition was pathetic. I requested my host to tell
Sardarji for not filling the mosque lawn with the waste and filth of his
cattle. Our host told him politely in dim tones and informed later that he had
drawn the attention of the Sardarji at the pathetic condition of his son which
could possibly be due to profaning the mosque.
The ablution place and the
adjoining old well had been demolished making the vacated land as kitchen
garden where he had grown all types of vegetables, fruits and even sugarcane
for his family consumption. We had very little time at our disposal but I did
not feel like leaving the mosque which had many strange old memories of my
childhood. My grand maternal mother used to love me very passionately. My
maternal uncles also attached much importance to me and my education but I
myself had no concept of getting education due to perhaps my being too young.
Most of the old styled simple houses have been converted into grand bungalows.
The mud streets have been asphalted. Good asphalted roads have been built around
the entire village
of Shadipur Punjab too. Eastern Punjab
has immensely developed.
.
Getting permission from the
Sardarji we moved ahead to have a round of other nearby villages. Old dirty
pond located in front of the house of Ch. Wazeer Ali has been extended much.
Old styled streets and houses have been replaced by new ones. Roads going to
Kamaspur and Usmanpur have been asphalted. The old graveyard of Muslims has
been demolished except a small fortification containing the grave of a Muslim
saint. The old graveyard of Shadipur Muslims has been demolished and converted
into agricultural fields. There are two Gurdowaras in the village of Shadipur
We moved ahead towards Usmanpur
village where Ch. Ali Hassan
and his younger brother late Mr. Farzand Ali were born before partition of India in 1947.
Their old well near the village pond has been replaced by new tube-wells. More
bungalows have been constructed near the pond. There is a lot of expansion
going on. Various development works are in progress. Many people were moving
here and there. Due to lack of time we moved ahead towards Ratankheri which is
at about two kilometers from Usmanpur in the southern direction. Many new grand
bungalows were seen in the village with asphalted roads. The village has
expanded much after partition of India .
After Ratankheri we turned right
in the western direction. After moving ahead along very zigzag narrow roads we
travelled a distance of three kilometers for reaching the Marori village. There
was a newly built grand Gurdowara before the village started. Residents of the
village Marori came out of their village and very carefully watched us from a
distance. I could not understand the peculiar reaction of the local residents
on our arrival there. Sarpanch Gurccheet Singh explained it in detail. He told
me that each house of Marori village has a secret wine factory totally
concealed from strangers. Each bottle of wine is sold at one tenth of the
market price. All agencies of police and armed wings have done their best to
control the illegal production of different wines here but their continued
efforts have utterly failed. When the village is attacked by police or any
other agency the residents of the village flee and hide in the adjacent dense
jungles of willows. When the raiding police or any other agency encircles the
entire village nothing is recovered. This game of hide and seek is going on
since many years. Big factories for the production of different brands of wine in
India
are being damaged due to very cheap products of Marori wines which resemble in
shape and packing to the costly wines but are very cheap.
We met local people and talked to
them giving the complete assurance that we did not mean any harm to them. We
had some photography with local people. Sarpach Sardar Gurjchet Singh told
about us that we were visitors from Pakistan . We told the residents of
Marori that our close relative Ch. Sharif Arrain and our friend Ch. Raham Deen
lived here in Marori before partition of India but there was none who knew
them. They showed complete ignorance. The sun was about to set hence we begged
permission from the residents of Marori village who were insisting to take tea
with them. We retraced our way back to Ratankheri , Usmanpur, Shadipur, Kamaspur and Badanpur reaching
finally our native village Dhanaauree. Before leaving Marori village we had
some photography with local people. It had been a very hectic tour of the villages
surrounding our Dhanauree village. When we came back to the Namdhare farmhouse
at Dhanauree we were told that people at Kherki village are waiting for our
participation in the engagement ceremony of Sardar Mukhtiar Singh’s daughter.
Sardar Mukhtiar Singh is the real cousin of Sardar Atar Singh and Sardar Gurcheet
Singh. Father of Sardar Mukhtiar Singh named Sardar Pyara Singh was the real
brother of Baba Santok Singh and Sardar Harbhinder Singh. We took some rest for
half an hour and then departed from Namdharee farmhouse at Dhanauree to the
Namdhari FarmHouse at Kherki village.
Mukhtiar Singh and his family
members were very anxiously waiting for us. There was a lot of gathering although we had
been told that a very simple function was going to be held. We met some new
strangers who were properly introduced to us. We had good talk for half an hour
and in the meantime a delicious dinner was served. After our dinner some
photography session started. All of a
sudden a group of young charming Sikh girls stood up and started dancing. The
rhythms of music and dancing were very loud. The zeal and enthusiasm of the
dancing girls was enchanting. The floor of the house seemed vibrating as if an
earthquake had befallen. The loud thumping of the dancing legs and loud
rhythmic tones of the music made everyone intoxicated. The charming dancing
girls were very young college and university students. They were perspiring
severely but there seemed no fatigue at all on their faces although more than
one hour had elapsed.
All the men had gathered in the
adjacent drawing room. They asked me very complex questions to which I could
not reply in simple straightforward words. All of them wanted me to arrange
best quality basmati rice seeds from Pakistan . I contacted my nephew Mr.
Afzal Chaudry and made him to talk to them on phone. He was ready to supply
best quality basmati seeds but he did not know how to send them to India . Some
Sikh visitors were in Pakistan
participating in the birthday function of Baba Guru Nanak. I requested my hosts
to ask their relations to contact Mr. Afzal for arranging best quality basmati
seeds. His telephonic contact number was also given to them.
Parents of Mr. M. D. Shad
advocate belonged to Kherki village. His father Ch. Mohammad Ali was a famous
wrestler of his time before partition of India in 1947. I asked Mr. Mukhtiar
Singh to talk to M.D. Shad on phone. Many others also talked to him asking the
details of his forefathers. All were very happy after making long calls to Mr.
M.D. Shad. Some of the old people of Kherki village knew the forefathers of
M.D. Shad.
I wanted to get permission for
going back to Dhanauree where I had to sleep for the night. I suddenly got up
and came out of drawing room. The charming college and university students were
still dancing and singing some special exciting songs. Apologizing from all of
them I interrupted the dancing girls begging their permission to leave the
function and go back to Namdharee farmhouse at Dhanauree village. Some of
dancing girls dragged me inside their dancing group. They asked me to dance and
sing with them. I had to regret them very politely saying that I neither knew
dancing nor singing. After a lot of struggle I got myself released from their
tight grip. I immediately requested Mr. Atar Singh to take us to Dhanauree
where we wished to sleep. Not Mr. Atar Singh but his brother Gurcheet Singh
took us back to Namdharee farmhouse of Dhanauri where we slept without any
delay. All night I had been haunted by the terrific dance and music of Sikh
girls. Many dreams of being dragged by the dancing Sikh girls terrified me. I
awoke many times at night and slept again dispelling my fears of dragging.
OUR VISIT OF CHINTANWALA TOWN
It was an important day as we had
to find the house of my wife in Chintanwala. During our last visit of India five
years ago we had tried our best twice for many hours together to find the house
where the parents of my wife lived before partition. We had failed and it had
made our first visit of India
somewhat bitter. We were determined this time to search for and find the house
of my wife where she had been born three years before the partition of India in1947. Our
hosts at the farmhouse of Dhanauri village had assured us that they would
certainly find the old house of my wife at Chintanwala town.
My wife was a little angry that
we did not go straight to Chintanwala as we did in our last tour five years ago
in 2007. She became very happy to learn that we are going there the next day. After
taking our breakfast we departed for Chintanwal with Baba Santok Singh, Atar
Singh, Jagtal Singh, my wife, wife of Atar Singh, Parwinder Kaur, who is also the
daughter-in-law of Sarpanch Gurcheet Singh. We adopted the route via Samana
city, Bhawanigarh town, Nabha city and then reached Chintanwala town. Mr. Atar
Singh took us directly to the house of Sarpanch Chintanwala who was not at home
but his brother was. He greeted us with great enthusiasm and opened his drawing
room for us. After sitting there we told him about our agenda for coming to
Chintanwala town many times before but without any success for finding the
house of my wife. He listened to us very attentively and called a very old man
who was about eighteen years old at the time of partition in 1947. He had very
sharp memory. He remembered all essential details of this town of Chintanwal at and before
partition. After taking tea and some dry fruits we started our search under the
guidance of the old man. He took us to a particular place. There was the
boundary of a demolished mosque and a very huge neem tree near the old well
close to the gate of the demolished mosque. He then took us to the rear of the
mosque in the west where the house of my wife was located most of which had
recently been demolished and replaced by a grand bungalow. Two old rooms still
existed with old styled small Mughal bricks, wooden roofs and arcs. All these
characteristic features of this house matched with that of the old house of my
wife. After seeing the still existing two rooms, my wife agreed that it was
indeed her own old house. We were all very happy since we had finally found the
house of my wife which could not be traced earlier despite our repeated
efforts. Present owner of the house was a very nice Sikh who invited us all on
a cup of tea. We all agreed to this good offer. The wife of the Sikh hurriedly
prepared Pakoras and brought home-made sweets for us. We all enjoyed the tea
and spicy pakoras along with sweets. Dozens of the local residents of
Chintanwala town had joined us in our search of the old house of my wife.
At our departure from Chintanwala town the old
man who had guided us to the house of my wife offered twenty rupees to my wife
who accepted this boon with extreme gratitude. After expressing our sincere
gratitude to all of them we begged their permission to go ahead. We moved
towards Maler kotla city where the camp of Muslim refugees had remained for
many months before they were finally sent to Pakistan . Before reaching Maler
Kotla via Bagrian town we were to cross Sirhind Canal
After passing the railway
crossing we moved ahead towards a famous Gurdowara situated near Shergarh
village. Present gaddinasheen (occupant) of this Sikh shrine is Professor
Sukhveer Singh who is very highly educated and a very witty gentleman. He told
us very terrific incidents of partition. This Gurdowara has been named after
its founder Sardar Sadhuram. Baba Santok Singh narrated many useful quotations
from the holy Granth and Professor Sukhveer Singh appreciated the depth of the
lessons learnt from them. Charming Parvinder Kaur had been wittingly named as
the girl of” Nizam Aliwala”. He showed great love and affection to her. At the
end I asked some serious and complex questions from Professor Sukhvir Singh who
after some thought replied very wittingly to all of my questions. He is indeed
a very wise philosopher. He expressed the hope that we would soon meet again.
After getting his permission we retraced our route for going back to Maler
Kotla city where we straight away went to the famous and reportedly the largest
Eidgah of Asia. It indeed is a masterpiece of art and structure. I and my wife
offered our Zohar and Asar prayers together. After our prayers we took some
photographs and met many local people.
After seeing the masterpiece of
Art and structure called Eidgah of Maler Kotla city we retuned further to a
very famous historic place where sixty six Sikh martyrs from namdhari sect were
mercilessly killed by the English ruthless rulers of pre-liberated India through cruel
gun firing. A museum has been constructed at this site of merciless killing to
show the history of sacrifice by Sikh freedom fighters. A masterpiece of
metallic structure as a memorial monument has also been erected at this site.
The Administrator of this historic place entertained us with Chata which is a
unique form of delicious tea mixture. After seeing the historic place where
foundation of our freedom had been laid down by the sixty six Sikh freedom
fighters we returned to Dhanauree where our delicious dinner was waiting for
us. After taking dinner and saying our prayers we went to sleep as we were very
tired.
OUR HURRIED VISIT OF LUDHIANA CITY
It had been already decided that
someday we would be taken to Ludhiana
city where the lovely daughter of Sardar Gurcheet Singh had been married to an
able advocate. Ludhiana is a very reputed
industrial centre of India
and a very large city. It is located on the G.T.road midway from Amritsar and New
Delhi . We had been invited to attend the marriage
ceremony of Sardar Gurjeet Singh’s daughter but we could not get the written
invitation in time so that we could apply for the visit visa for this purpose.
Hence we were unable to participate in her marriage party.
After our breakfast we started
our journey along with Baba Santok Singh, wife of Atar Singh, my wife,
Parwinder Kaur who is the daughter-in-law of Sarpanch Sardar Gurcheet Singh. We
went to Ludhiana
city via Bagrian town and Maler Kotla city. We bought some fruit for us and for
the daughter of the Sarpanch. It took us about two hours to reach Ludhiana city where we
spent about two hours. We took our lunch there and waited for the husband of
Sarpanch’s daughter but he was perhaps too busy to meet us. We had lunch with
his mother and offered our Zohar and Asar prayers. After taking fresh fruit
plucked from their vast grand lawn we had delicious tea with dry fruits. After
that we took their permission to leave them and come back to our destination
via G.T. Road .
We passed by the cities of Khanna and Sirhind Sharif and then turned right to
go to Patiala
which is at about twenty five kilometers from Sirhind Sharif. We reached Patiala city at about
eight O’clock in the night. We stopped for half an hour at the grand flat of
Shamsher Singh who is the real son of Baba Santok Singh. There we also met the
son and daughter of late Sher Singh whose wife and children live together with
the family of Shamsher Singh. They offered us delicious fruit cream. We also took
tea with dry fruits and left their grand flat going back to Dhanauri farmhouse
where our dinner was ready. After taking our dinner we offered our evening and
night prayers. Then immediately we went to our beds as we were very tired due
to an arduous tiring tour of many places.
WE PRAYED JUMA AND VISITED
PANJPEER AND FAMILIES OF BALWEER SINGH AND BHOOPINDER SINGH AT SAMANA CITY ON
30th OF NOV. 2012:
Before sunrise, Mr. Atar Singh took me to Mavi
Sanpanwali and Gajaywas Chatehra where their five acre wheat fields had been
over-irrigated due to an unattended electric tube-well inundating the adjoining
wheat fields of the neighbors too. After coming from their wheat fields we had
our breakfast and then we went to meet Sardar Kartar Singh at his farmhouse
near Rajla village. He was basking the sun and he greeted us warmly. We talked
to him and his family members. His wife had recently died and we condoled over
her untimely death. Sardar Kartar Singh is a great scholar. He has learnt by
rote many parts of holy Quraan and poetry of Allama Mohammad Iqbal. He recited
many poems of Sheikh Saadi in Persian language.
His son took us in his BOLERO
jeep to Samana city where we met Dr. Tony in his clinic situated on the Post Office Road of
Samana city. His talented cousin Sumti Sagar died last year. He was a very
learned gentleman. We stayed at his home for a couple of days during our visit
of India
five years ago in 2007. We wanted to condole for his untimely death with his
wife, two daughters and a son. Dr. Tony told us that they had sold their old
house and have shifted to some other place. He sent with us a boy who took us
to their big shop in the Dhaniram Bazar. We met the son of late Sumti Sagar and
requested him to take us to his new house where his sisters and mother lived
now. We went to the new house of Sumti Sagar’s wife who was busy in washing the
clothes. Her daughter Lila was also there. We recalled the old sweet memories
of my late friend for a long time.
It was Friday and I had to say my
Juma (Friday noon) prayers in the mosque where collective prayers are offered
by the Muslim community of the area. The servant of late Sumti Sagar took me to
the mosque where I met many Muslims before and after the Juma prayers. We
exchanged our views on numerous important topics. We also visited and prayed on
the graves of many Muslims buried in the graves adjoining the Main Mosque where
parents of our High Court Justice Babbar Hussain are also buried. Religious
leader of the mosque met us at the house of Mr. Shahid Anwar and his brother
Mastan. We exchanged our views on many issues. After sometime the mother of
Shahid Anwar joined in our dialogues. Finally I bid them farewell and came back
to the new house of Madam Shashi who is the widow of late Sumti Sagar. We had
brought a dress suit for her younger daughter Bhawna who had gone to some other
town on that day. After taking lunch with them we went to the adjoining market
to do some shopping for our family members in Pakistan . Madam Lila who is the
elder daughter of our late friend SUMTI SAGAR accompanied us to the market and
helped us in the bargaining of some purchased articles. We waited for the
arrival of our host Sardar Atar Singh.
Mr. Atar Singh came to take us to
the house of Sardar Bhupinder Singh situated in the Partap Colony of Samana City India
five years ago in 1947 he had advised us to go directly to the farmhouse of Sarpanch
Dhanauree, Sardar Gurcheet Singh. He and his lovely wife insisted to take kheer
(a very tasty dish made of milk and rice) and sweets with dry fruits. We had to
agree to what they wanted us to do so that they become happy with us. We had
lively talks with them for about half an hour.
After leaving Sardar Balweer
Singh and his family we went to the grand bungalow of Sardar Bhupinder Singh
whose wife is the real sister of the wife of Sardar Atar Singh. We had a long
lively talk with the family members of Sardar Bhupinder Singh, his neighbor
Pandit Lubhaya and Madam Sarbpreet Kaur who had joined us with her sweet kids
on my specific request. She had presented a very nice book on “Sikh Sdhant” written
by Baba Iqbal Singh during our last tour of India in 2007. She once again
presented us many valuable books this time too. We first took tea with dry
fruits and then we had a very delicious dinner. Baba Santok Singh had been with
us throughout the day and he seemed to be very tired. We were ourselves very
tired by now. Hence after getting permission from our hosts we left Samana city
and came back to Dhanauri village. After saying our evening and night prayers
together in the short form we went to our beds where we had very sound sleep at
night.
WE VISIT DARBAR OF MOJADDID ALIF SANI AT
SIRHIND SHRIF AND ALSO ATTEND THE BURNING OF DEADBODY OF AN ELDERLY SIKH LADY
AT BASI PATHANAN NEAR SIRHIND SHRIF ON 1st OF DECEMBER 2012
(Saturday):
As per our scheduled program, we
had to visit today the Sanaur village, Gurdowara Shaheedi at Sirhind Sharif and
Darbar Hazrat Mojaddid Alif Sani. But suddenly an urgent information was
received from village Qari of Sirsa Rania that some important guests are coming
from there to the Namdhari farmhouse at Dhanauri for the engagement ceremony of
Sardar Antar Singh who is the youngest son of Sarpanch Gurjeet Singh. Under
these circumstances our hosts could not leave their homes as they had to
receive their important guests to celebrate the engagement ceremony of Sardar
Antar Singh.
After taking our breakfast we relaxed
on our beds for sometime and after taking some rest I went out of the bungalow
of Sardar Atar Singh where he was planting mango trees with the help of some agricultural
experts who had come there with a large number of good quality fruit plants
brought from the Agriculture Research Centre of Lucknow.
Some hot discussion was going on when I joined them suddenly. I asked
them many complex questions to which they had no direct answers. A lively
discussion started between me and them. They very attentively listened to my
observations regarding fruit plants in
I and my wife (Second and third from
left) meet Mr. Mahaveer Singh (Second from right) and his wife at their house
in village Isapur of Disrtict Ghaziabad of Utter Pardesh.
The fruit trees brought by the experts
of Lukhnow Agricultural Research Centre included all varieties of common fruits
and each fruit plant had a cost of two hundred fifty rupees. After prolonged
discussions with the agricultural experts I moved towards the shrine of Baba
Nathu Shah I prayed fatiha. There were many pictures of Hindu and Sikh saints
hung on the inner walls of the shrine. I had requested them to remove these
pictures from the Muslim shrine but no action had been taken so far. It pained
me much.
I moved further and went into the
Model College of Dhanauri where boys and girls study together. The Co-principal
of the Model College India . He
offered me a simple cup of tea and we talked for about one hour on many topics
relating to the development of their Model
College
First of all I very briefly
introduced myself. Then I told them what is education and how it should be
obtained. I stressed on vocational education emphasizing on the importance of
expertise and specialization. I briefly told the students how to choose their
professions based on the inherent aptitudes. I also told them briefly as to
what the modern challenges of life are and how best we can meet them. I told
them the difference between good and bad habits and what values should be
preferred in our short life. My lecture exceeded for more than one hour and
finally I thanked them all for giving an opportunity of talking to them. They
all wanted that I should take their respective classes for short periods of
time as I had done earlier during our last visit five years ago. But I had no
time for that and I apologized. I, however, promised to try for sparing some
time to visit the Model
College Model College college of Dhanauri
Leaving the Model
College I went to the nearby shrine of
Hazrat Bakhay Shah at a distance of one furlong from the Model College Mavi
Sanpanwali-Dhanauree Road and moved towards our
old village for about one furlong when a Sardarji and his wife came out of
their grand bungalow. Initially I did not recognize them from the road but when
they came vey near to me I found them to be the daughter of late Sardar Pyara
Singh named Manjeet Kaur and her husband Harjander Singh. They took me inside
their grand bungalow where I was served with hot milk and dry fruits. I
requested them to call Sardar Awtar Singhwho is their neighbor and who had
taken us to Chintanwala during our first travel to India . Many people of the
surrounding farmhouses also joined us.
In the meantime Mr. Atar Singh
Singh came there in his Bolero jeep and took us to their Gurdowara at Dhanauree
village which has been constructed at the demolished mosque of our old village.
We had some photography there and came out of the Gurdowara of Dhanauri. We saw
our old streets and houses most of which have been replaced by new ones. We
talked to the occupants of our old houses.
Sardar Atar Singh received an
urgent telephone call to inform us that the guests from village Qari of Sirsa
Rania have arrived at the Namdharee farmhouse and we have to welcome them there
immediately. We therefore rushed back to Namdhari farmhouse and greeted the
honorable guests. We had detailed talks with the guests who were new to us.
After about one hour the dinner was served to all of us including the guests
from Sirsa Rania. We took their permission and came to our bed rooms where we
offered our night prayers and then slept very soundly.
WE VISIT DARGAH OF HAZRAT
MOJADDID ALIF SANI AT SIRHIND SHARIF AND ATTENDDED THE BURNING OF DEAD BODY OF
AN OLD SIKH LADY AT BASI PATHANAN ON 2nd OF DECEMBER 2012 (Sunday):
We woke up early to offer our
morning prayers when it was informed to us that the mother-in-law of the
daughter of Sardar Harbhiner Singh has died at Basi Phatanan town which is
located ten kilometers ahead of Sirhind Sharif in the north eastern direction.
We all had to go there to attend the “SASKAR” which is burning ceremony of the
dead body. The time for the burning of the dead body had been fixed at ten
O’clock in the morning of today. All adults took their early start but were
delayed as we had to go with Sarpanch Sardar Gurjeet Singh who was not feeling
well. We hurriedly went to Sirhind Sharif and just in front of the shrine of
Mojaddid Alif Sani Sardar Gurjeet Singh stopped his car. His wife had to go to
the wash room located in their Dharamshala situated nearby on the other side of
the road.
I very promptly got out of the
car and entered the Dargah of Hazrat Mojaddid Alif Sani fearing that this might
be the only chance to see it. After about ten minutes I went back to our car
where they were very anxiously waiting for my return. We again started our
journey towards Basi Pathanan where we had to attend the ceremony of burning
the corpse of the late dead body of the old Sikh lady. We reached there in ten
minutes and it was learnt that they already taken the dead body to their
SHAMSHANGHAT where ceremony of burning would take place. We hurriedly went
there and found that a large crowd of men and women had gathered there. After
some time a heap of wooden piles was arranged and the dead body was placed in
the centre of it. Then some dry grass was placed on the wooden piles. Then some
small drums of desi ghee were poured on the wooden pile and then the fire was
lit. The flames of the huge fire raised ten to fifteen feet high in the sky and
a very peculiar smell of flesh burning scattered everywhere.
We had seen such burning
ceremonies in the India
picture many times but we thought that this was a dramatic presentation and
nothing of this sort actually happens anywhere on earth. When we saw this
terrific scene through our own eyes we became very sad. A religious Hindu or
Sikh leader was reciting some verses which could not be understood by us. When
the burning wood subsided many kilos of sugar were poured on it and the dim
flames again rose to sky. This horrible
scene was watched by all of us for more than half an hour. The mob then
dispersed and we all went to the house of the dead lady where her blood
relations had gathered. Simple lunch was served to all the participants of
burning ceremony. After that the participants dispersed going back to their
homes.
We retraced our journey and came
back to the shrine of Hazrat Mojaddid Alif Sani. Sardar Gurjeet Singh stopped
his car at the main gate of the shrine and I, my wife and the wife of Sardar
Gurjeet Singh went into the Dargah of the holy Muslim saint. I and my wife
first of all went to the adjoining mosque where we prayed our Zohar and Asar
prayers together. Then we went into the grave room of the saint where many
visitors were silently praying. We also remained absorbed in the prayers. I
asked a gentleman how and where I could meet the honorable incharge of the
shrine. He told me in low tones that I could meet him right at the grave. He
had pointed his finger to the bearded gentleman who was reciting holy Quraan
next to me. His name was Sahibzada Syed Mohammad Zobair Mojaddadi. He was a
very nicely built hansom gentleman of about forty years. I had very politely
requested his name and had closed the holy Quraan and attended to me. I told
him that I and my wife have come from Pakistan
on a visit to India
after five years. We had visited this shrine during our last tour five years
ago when we had met the gaddinasheen (incharge) of this shrine whose good name
was Syed Mohammad Sadiq Raza. He told us that he is not available at present.
We came out of the hly grave room where many others were reciting holy Quraan.
We had a very interesting talk on numerous issues of the Muslims in general and
the pitiable condition of the Indian Muslims in general. He told me many bitter
facts which he asked me not to write in my travelogue. We were busy in our
talks and my wife was reminding me repeatedly to go back to our car where
Sardar Gurjeet was very angrily waiting for us. Reluctantly I got the
permission of Syed Zobair Sahib and apologized for the inordinate delay.
We again started our journey back
towards Patiala
city which was only twenty five kilometers away from there in the south. After
about half an hour we came to the grand flat of Sardar Shamsher Singh at Patiala . We stayed there
for half an hour and met the family of Shamsher Singh and the family members of
his late brother Sher Singh. We had fruited ice cream and after that hot milk
with dry fruits. Sardar Gurjeet was not feeling well. We therefore got their
permission to return to Namdhari farmhouse where our hosts were waiting for our
dinner. We took our delicious dinner and then we went to our bed room where we
prayed our evening and night prayers together. After that we slept very soundly
as we were very tired.
WE VISITTED GHARAM AND PANJPEER
DARGAHS WITH GURCHEET SINGH ON 3rd OF DECEMBER 2012 Monday):
We rose early before the sunrise
and said our morning prayers. The bed tea with dry fruits came in the meantime.
We talked about our completed tour of India so far. We also discussed
about our remaining period of our visit visa for thirty days of which only five
days were remaining. In the meantime the second wife Sarpanch Dhanauree came to
us and told that someone wants to talk to me on phone. On attending the phone
it was learnt that Sardar Gulcheet Singh and his father-in-law, Sardar Mohar
Singh are coming to meet us within half an hour. Sardar Mohar Singh is the
lumberdar of Samana city and we had met him and his wife during their visit of
their shrine at Panja Sahib of Hasanabdal three years ago. We took our
breakfast and got ready to meet them.
They came after half an hour as
they had told us on phone. We told them that we have to seek the permission of
our hosts for going with them to Samana city and Gharam Mandir. They requested Sardar Atar Singh to permit us
to go with them and Sardar Atar Singh willingly agreed to their request. We
first of all went to the grand bungalow of Lumbardar of Samana city, Sardar
Mohar Singh. We met his wife and other family members. One of his sons is a
saint and very religiously following the orders of his religious Muslim saint
who died many years ago. Many Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs come to him for seeking
his blessings to heal their old chronic diseases. He is often meditating at the
grave of his Muslim spiritual leader who is buried in the grave of a separate
room. He met us with great zeal and enthusiasm.
After having spicy hot pakoras
and dry fruits we moved towards the famous Dargah of Bheekam Shah at Gharam via
Samana–Cheeka-Gula highway going to Delhi
through the famous towns of Peehowa, Dand and Neelokheri located on the G.T. Road near
Karnal city. We turned to our right at New Gaon and passing through many
villages we reached the shrine of Baba Bheekam Shah. We had a detailed tour of
the old well and the mosque which has a big pond of water for ablution. We climbed
up the stairs to go to the roof of the grave of Bheekam Shah to have a general
overall view of the area. After that we climbed down and met Baba Meeranji who
is presently the spiritual leader of this famous place. He was basking sun and
a very large crowd was sitting on the floor besides him. He greeted us and we
had very interesting talk with him through a long session of questions and
answers. He replied very shortly and simply to all of my difficult questions.
We were offered hot glasses of milk with sweets. After one hour of our
interesting dialogues we dispersed from there to meet the intelligent lady who
is the spiritual leader as well of this shrine. She was very kind and very well
remembered our short tour of our last visit in 2007. She offered us glasses of hot milk and heavy
bundles of sweets to take home. We thanked her and left the shrine of Baba
Bheekam Shah. Gharam is famous for a demolished seven storied fort and for the
birthplace of Ramchander who is a very famous saint of Hindus.
From the shrine of Bheekam Shah we
went directly to the house of a close relative of Sardar Guljeet Singh who
lives very close to the shrine. He has built a very vast bungalow around which
is located a large kitchen garden. We sat at their house and after taking hot
milk and dry fruits we moved forward towards the famous Gurdowara of BHAULI
where we had some photography. From there we moved ahead to the village called
DEVINAGAR beyond which at three kilometers is situated the nine yards long grave
of a Muslim saint named Peer Baba Syed Jamaluddin Shah. We prayed there for
sometime and then returned to Samana city via the old village of my aunt Noori.
This is located on the left bank of River Ghaghar and it is called Hansiali. I
had lived here for a few months before the partition of India in 1947.
There used to be very dense jungles full of fierce wild animals particularly
very poisonous snakes. We chatted with some local residents of Hansiali village
and took some photographs. This village falls in Hariana province and it is
still undeveloped as before the partition of 1947 but there are neither dense
jungles nor wild fierce animals now. The native villagers of Hansiali village
insisted for our entertainment with hot milk and dry fruits but we had no spare
time for this purpose. We therefore regretted their kind offer. After crossing Ghaghar River India in
2007. I requested my companions to spare
some time so that we could visit Sardar Tasrame Singh in his house at Yagana
Balwera but they did not agree as we were very late and some of our urgent
agenda points were still pending.
We moved ahead to Samana city to
visit the historic shrine of Panjpeers which is situated near the grain market on
the Samana Bathinda Road .
We were quite late and it seemed deserted. We met two caretakers who were very
nice and showed us various important places of this Muslim shrine where the
famous Muslim saint named Imam Aliwali Mashadi is buried. It would be worthwhile
to reproduce the quoted text from Districts and States Gazeteer of the UNDIVED
PUNJAB Volume IV page 238 published by the Government Press Lahore in 1925
given below:
“At SAMANA is the shrine of
Aliwali believed to be the grandson of Imam Musa Raza, whose tomb is at Mashhad . He accompanied one of the earliest Mohammadan
invaders of India
and fell in the battle. His shrine, a fine building, is said to be destroyed by
Sh. Ababuddin Ghauree (11th century). It is believed that a tiger
visits this shrine every Thursday night to worship the saint which is locally
known as Mash-had wali.”
According to another local story SAMANA
was the name of the grandmother of Imam Aliwali Mashhadi in whose name this
very old city was established centuries ago.
At the end of our tour the
caretakers of this Muslim shrine connected us with Professor Dr. Nashir Naqvi who
is the Head of Urdu and Persian Departments of Punjabi
University at Patiala city. We talked in detail for a long
time and he gave us very valuable information. He invited us to Patiala city for giving
us more written documentary information about this old historic Muslim shrine.
We very much wanted to meet him at Patiala
city but we could not do so due to lack of time. After our detailed visit of
Panjpeer shrine of Samana city we returned to the grand bungalow of Lumberdar
Sardar Mohar Singh where we had our delicious dinner and tea with dry fruits.
We asked the permission of Sardar Mohar
Singh for going back to our headquarters at Namdharee farm house of Dhanauree
village. We thanked Sardar Guljeet Singh and his lovely wife who spent their
whole day to show us many important historic places. After offering our evening
and night prayers together we went to our beds for having sound sleep.
WE VISITED SAMANA CITY
After offering our morning
prayers we recited the holy Quraan and after that we basked the sun listening
to the spiritual journey of Baba Fareed Shakargunj of Pakpatan as narrated by
Santok Singh. After that we visited the fields of wheat and peas. Then I sucked
pona (soft and extra sweet) sugarcane and ate the newly plucked guava fruit.
After that we went to see the family of Sardar Harbhinder Singh in the adjoining
Bungalow. They served us with hot milk and dry fruits. We had a long talk to
all the family members of Harbhander Singh. He is the real brother of Baba
Santok Singh.
After that, Sardar Atar Singh
took us and his wife to Dhanauree village at the house of his sister. We met
Sardar Shisha Singh who is his brother-in-law. Daughter-in-laws of Shisha Singh
were preparing SAG of Sarsoon, fenugreek, spinach and BATHU. This dish is my
favorite. We told Sardar Shisha Singh and his family members that on our return
from Samana we would enjoy our dinner with them. They were very happy to hear
it. From their house we went to the adjoining shrine of Dada Peer Saeed Shah
who had been the founder of Dhanauree village. A new room had been constructed
over the grave of Baba Saeed Shah. There were many statues and pictures of the
Hindu and Sikh saints hung on the inner walls of the room. I told them not to bow
very lowly before the graves of Peer Babas and not to hang pictures of any kind
on the room walls. I also told them that entry of the dogs must be blocked into
the shrines of Muslim saints. They all agreed to abide by my instructions. They
asked some questions to which I replied at the spot.
After taking permission from
Sardar Shisha Singh and his wife we went to Samana city where some medical
tests of Mandeep Kaur, wife of Atar Singh had to be conducted. We went to see
the newly purchased residential plots of Baba Santok Singh family in the very
fine housing scheme near the new Tehsil office. About six miles ahead on the
same road of Samana-Patran we went to Mavi Kalan where two Muslim brothers, Mr.
Shauk and Mr. Harvinder are making the best harvester named ” HARVINDER” with
old conventional techniques. They were happy to see us. They took us to their
house in the centre of Mavi Kalan village. We met their family members who were
very simple and lovely. It was the time of our noon prayers. We asked the
direction of our Kibla i.e. the holy Mecca
city towards which all Muslims must turn their faces while praying. They did
not know anything in this respect. I further enquired from them about the regular
five daily prayers, the fasting of Ramzan and the pilgrimage. They were totally
blank. I asked if anyone of them could tell our kalima. They were again silent.
I asked them if anyone of them could recite holy Quraan. They replied in
negative. I asked if they had any type of holy Quraan. They kept silent but after
sometime they brought a wooden box containing holy Quraan over which inches of
dust had accumulated. All of this pained me much and I delivered a stern
lecture on ignoring the teachings of Islam. The very fundamentals of Islam had
been totally forgotten. It was strange to note that they have highest
reputation all over India .
The production of their harvester has been booked for the many coming years due
to their honesty in dealings. Their young ones are going to the English medium
schools in the same city of Samana
where the education of holy Quraan and other Islamic teachings is available.
But they were ignoring Islam and its teachings whereas they were attaching due
importance to the modern worldly teaching. I censured them bitterly and they
admitted their negligence. They promised to pay proper attention to Islam and
its fundamental teachings. I was very glad that they had realized their negligence
so soon. I am very sure that they would compensate very quickly what has been
lost in the past.
We returned to Samana city from
where the medical reports of Atar Singh and his wife had to be collected. The reports showed no abnormality. We met the
brothers of Mandeep Kaur who is the wife of Atar Singh. Their names are Sardar
Awtar Singh and Sardar Gulzar Singh. Mr. Atar Singh asked Gulzar Singh to go to
Delhi with us
on sixth of December 2012. He knows Delhi very
well and his expert knowledge of Delhi would
help us in visiting various important historic places in Delhi . He promised that he would be ready to
go with us to Delhi
on sixth of December 2012.
After that we moved towards
Mahmoodpur near MYSIR Mandir. After visiting the MYSIR MANDIR of Jain Sect we
came to Mahmoodpur to meet Professor Talok Mir. He is a very reputed Homeo
doctor and a famous poet. He met us very warmly. We exchanged our views. He
offered us hot milk and home made sweets. We requested him to examine us
medically. He prescribed many Homeo medicines some of which were given to us at
the spot. He gave me five books on his poetry called “the translation of pains
“. He did not give us his poetry book titled as “SHABDAN DI AWAZ” which can be
translated as “the voice of words”.
We got his permission and came
back to Dhanauree where Shisha Singh and his family members were very anxiously
waiting for us on the dinner prepared for us. After taking our delicious dinner
we went to the Namdhari farmhouse where we slept after saying our evening and
night prayers.
OUR LAST DAY AT DHANAURI VILLAGE
ON 5th OF DECEMBER 2012 (Monday):
It was the last day of our tour
at Dhanauri village as we had to leave it the next day going to Delhi for our return to Pakistan on 8th of
December 2012 by Pakistan International Airlines. Sardar Atar Singh had very
kindly promised that he would not only take us to Delhi
in his car but he would show us all the important historic places of Delhi . Our visit visa of India for thirty days was at its last legs but
we had hardly seen any important places of the Indian Capital, Delhi .
During our visit of India five years ago in November/December 2007
we were some what confused as we knew nothing of India and its charming people and
places. But this time we were very confident as we had enough information of
all essential things we wanted to see during our visit. We very proudly say
that we were given the best possible treatment by the Indians wherever we went.
At some odd moments, particularly at the hard and difficult situations, the
timely and willing help rendered by the India people can never be
forgotten. We are very grateful to them.
I strolled over the vast fields
of wheat, peas and vegetables and then went to the shrine of Peer Baba Hazrat
Nathu Shah where suddenly two lion-like fierce dogs attacked me. Fortunately a
farmer in the adjoining fields saw me being attacked by the fierce dogs. He
came to my recue very promptly. He called his dogs in a peculiar loud voice and
the fierce dogs rushed to him leaving me safe and sound. I was however gasping
with terror. Finally I entered the holy shrine of Peer Baba Nathu Shah where I
prayed very solemnly for the last time. This Muslim shrine had been given about
five acres of agricultural land as a trust by the forefathers of Ch. Mehar Din
Arrayeen. There was a boundary of bricks made before the partition of India in 1947.
A very dense jungle full of wild animals surrounded this shrine. There is no
boundary or any dense jungle now. Some statues and the pictures of some Hindu
and Sikh saints have been hung on the inner walls of the room constructed
recently over the grave of Baba Nathu Shah. This pained me much. I had requested the caretakers of this shrine
not to put any statues or hang any pictures on the walls of this Muslim shrine
but no action had been taken.
I moved towards the Guru Gobind
Model College of Dhanaure situated on the Dhanauri- Mavi Sanpanwali Road at a
distance of one furlong from the Muslim shrine of Baba Nathu Shah in the western
direction. Co-Principal Mr. Jasbeer Singh welcomed me and I was offered a
simple cup of tea. We talked for about half an hour about numerous topics
relating to the improvement of the Model
College
After seeking his permission I
straight away went to the nearby Muslim Shrine of Peer Baba Bakhay Shah which
is located in the south at a distance of one furlong at a few yards off the Mavi Sanmpanwali-Dhanauri Road .
I prayed there for the last time with great enthusiasm. I recollected my
childhood when my fraternal uncle Mohammad Yousuf used to carry me on his
shoulders to this shrine every Thursday night. There was a small mosque and a
well close to this Muslim shrine. My uncle used to pray all the nightlong and I
used to sleep besides him on the floor of the mosque. At sunrise my uncle used
to carry me back to our village Dhanauri. There is no dense jungle and there
are no wild fierce animals now. My uncle Mohammad Yousuf died twenty years ago
but his sweet memories still haunt me every night. May God Almighty bless his
holy soul.
I moved further with a heavy
heart towards Dhanauri village to see it for the last time. I had hardly walked
a furlong on the road when a Sikh couple saw me walking from a distance. The
woman was the lovely daughter of late Sardar Pyara Singh of Kherki and she was
accompanied by her husband. They took me to their newly made grand bungalow and
served me with hot mug of milk and dry fruits. I came back to our headquarters
at the Namdhari farmhouse where Baba Santok Singh was taking out the nursery of
onions from earth to plant it at some other place. I went to see our old well
of Peeruwala which is situated in the south at a distance of one furlong from
Namdhari farm house. I got absorbed in my old sweet memories of this important
well. This well was used as our rural headquarters before the partition of India in 1947.
There was a bricked room constructed at a distance of one furlong from this
well. The well is no more operational. It exists in a damaged condition and new
tube-wells have replaced it as the subsoil water has gone to the depth of two
hundred feet. There used to be a huge banyan tree near this well over which
hundreds of naughty monkeys lived. The old giant banyan tree has been cut and
removed. The bricked room has been demolished and its place is being used as a
Shamshanghat (graveyard) where the dead bodies of Sikhs are burnt. I saw this
important place of Sikhs where they burn their dead bodies.
From our old well of Peeruwala I
moved further through the vast fields of wheat scattered over long distances.
After two furlongs from our Peeruwala well I met a healthy Sardarji sitting
besides his tube-well. I asked him about the local affairs of the area. He told
me that they had purchased three acres of agricultural land at twenty seven lacs
of rupees per acre about five years ago. They live in Patiala city from where he comes here every
day to take care of his fields. I asked him about the proper way going to
Nizamaliwala village. He told me that there was no way going straight to
Nizamaliwala. Hence I had to go through the wet fields of wheat where I fell
many times. Finally I reached the village
of Nzamaliwala
WE FINALLY DEPART OUR DHANAURI VILLAGE
We took our bed tea after
offering our morning prayers. After taking lunch we met all the family members
of Baba Santok Singh and Sardar Harbinder Singh. Packing of our shopped and
gifted articles was a big headache. Our hosts helped us in this respect. We had
brought some gifts for our hosts from Pakistan and in turn they loaded us
with ten times of what had been brought by us. We requested our hosts not to
load us with so much of their valuable gifts but they very vehemently insisted
to accept their gifts to serve as a memory. We had no alternative except to
accept the gifts from our hosts and the luggage weighed more than fifty
kilograms. We thought that our total allowance was forty kilograms only for me
and my wife but it was learnt later that it was sixty kilograms instead of
forty kilograms as we had thought.
The time of our departure from
the Namdhari farmhouse was a very emotional moment. Our hosts wanted us to stay
more and we also wanted so but the rules of the Indian government did not allow
us to extend our visit. We had to leave India before the end of thirty day
visit visa expiry. PIA has only two flights per week. We had booked our return
flight on 8th of December 2012. Any extension in the visit visa
period means serious violation of the rules and regulations with severe penalty
of going to jail. We had no such idea of ending our marvelous tour of India in such a
bad fashion. We explained our compulsions to our hosts which were very amicably
accepted.
We departed from Dhanauree
farmhouse to the nearby village called Gheora where mother-in-law of Sardar
Atar Singh and brother-in-law Sardar Gulzar Singh live. We took Sardar Gulzar
Singh with us to New Delhi
as he had to show us important historic places there. We followed a short cut
route to New Delhi
via new Gaon, Cheeka, Gula, Peehowa, Dand and Neelokheri which is located on
the G.T. Road ,
a few kilometers before Karnal city. We enjoyed fresh citrus juice at Karnal
city on the road that leads to Meerut .
From Karnal city we went ahead for some distance and stopped at a group of
modern Dhabas (rural restaurants) which were very grand. We took some snacks
with hot tea and restarted our journey towards New Delhi . It was dark and after crossing
Panipat and Sonipat cities, the dazzling lights of New Delhi blinding our eyes were visible.
We reached the house of late
brother of Gulzar Singh at Kalyan Vihar housing Society of New Delhi. It is
located at the centre of New Delhi .
We were tired and hence first of all we relaxed for some time and then took hot
coffee with spicy refreshments. We were introduced to the widow of Gulzar
Singh’s widow and his son who is doing his chartered accountancy. He is a very
smart intelligent student who studies all the night long. His mother is a wise
and rational lady with wide experience. The only son of Gulzar Singh also lives
with them. He is a student of plus one. He guided us during our tour of Delhi .
After about one hour we took our
delicious dinner and said our night prayers. We exchanged our views on numerous
important topics. We reviewed our entire visit of India covered so far. It had been
excellent in all respects. Only one day was left and we wanted to make the best
use of it. Sardar Gulzar Singh was very confident that he would be showing us
all important historic and religious places of Delhi . After a lot of discussion as what to
see and what to omit we went to our beds and had very sound sleep.
ON 7th OF DECEMBER 2012
(THURSDAY) WE VISITED IMPORTANT HISTORIOC AND RELIGIOUS PLACES IN DELHI AFTER
CONFIRMING OUR PIA FLIGHT PK271 GOING TO LAHORE ON 8th OF DECEMBER
2012 (Friday):
We woke up early before sunrise
at 4 am. We said our morning prayers and after taking our bed tea we slept
again as we were very tired. At about 8 am we took our breakfast and started
our trip for visiting various important historic and religious places of Delhi . First of all we went to the Delhi University
After visiting Rajghat we went to
Nizamuddin via Purana Qila, Zoo and Humayoon tomb. Our hosts parked on the road
and I along with my wife went to see the shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin and Amir
Khusro. The shrine was overcrowded with men, women, children and innumerable
visitors. Armies of beggars had made the shrine unable to walk It was the Juma
(Friday) prayer time. I took my wife to the enclosure of women. I sat for
offering my Juma prayers after the ablution. After the Friday prayers I visited
the grave of Hazrat Nizamuddin. The crowd of visitors had made it impossible to
take a step forward. After my visit of the grave of Hazrat Nizamuddin I took my
wife closer to the grave where she prayed. Women are not allowed to enter the
graves of the Muslim saints.
We went further to the grave of
Hazrat Ameer Khusro and offered our prayers there for some time. After that we
went to the adjoining grave of.Hazrat Hameeduddin Nagori on the top of a hill
located nearby. Hazrat Hameeduddin Nagori was the teacher of Hazrat Nizamuddin.
We visited other parts of this shrine and came out of it to meet our hosts. We
suddenly remembered that we had forgotten to visit the grave of famous poet
called Asadulla Ghalib. We went back and prayed on the grave of the famous
poet. Our hosts were annoyed for their long tiring waiting for us.
I requested
them to go to the Muslim shrine of Hazrat Bakhtiar Kaki located in Mehrauli
which is located at seven kilometers from the shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin. There
was a jam of traffic at many places. We also missed the right route and
therefore we took more than one hour to go to the shrine of Hazrat Bakhtiar
Kaki. All of our hosts and my wife were tired and bored with the traffic jams.
They parked their car at a safe place and asked me to visit the shrine of
Hazrat Bakhtiar Kaki alone. So I went alone and hurriedly completed my visit of
this sacred place. I had a serious fight with the Mojawar of this shrine who
was forcibly getting heavy donations from the visitors. I bought the holy
Quraan with pronunciation in Hindi language. I came back and joined my hosts
who were very anxiously waiting for my return.
I requested them to take me to
the shrine of Hazrat Naseeruddin Chiragh Dehlvi but they were all reluctant to
go there due to their tiredness. We were also hungry as we had taken nothing
after our breakfast. This had been done to save time for visiting as many
historic and religious places as possible. Having no alternative I agreed to
return to our house at Kalyan Vihar. During our return we saw a very large
grand circular market called Cannaught
Place which is famous for its commercial centers.
On the way back we had to pass by
the grand Jama Masjid constructed by emporer
Shah Jahan. There was no place to park our car at this place. So we had
to go ahead to the Chandni Chowk for parking the car. The parking place was
full and there was no space left to park our car. I and Sardar Gulzar Singh got
out of the car and made our way on foot to the Urdu Bazar which was located
beyond Jama Masjid at a distance of two kilometers from where we parked our
car. Sardar Atar Singh and others remained seated in the car so that police may
not lift the car with their fork lifter. We walked and walked till we were
extremely tired. My friend, Dr. Rafi-udd-din Hasmi had phoned me to bring two
books on Allama Iqbal supposed to be available on some book shop of Urdu bazaar
at Delhi . We
made all efforts to get these books but failed. Finally one book could be found
and it was bought instantly. For getting the other book we had to contact its
publisher on phone. When contacted he said that their office had closed and he
did not know if any one of the book volume is available. I earnestly requested
him that I am from Pakistan
and I must get one book. He asked me to hold on phone. After asking me to hold
the phone he told me that only one piece is left which has been reserved as a
reference for its future printing. I requested him to give the book to me as
the master reference piece must be available as a soft copy on their computer.
After some reluctance he told us to come to him at his office located in the Ansari Street near
Golcha cinema. We took a man driven rickshaw and went there but his office was
locked. We were extremely disappointed. We went upstairs and knocked the door
in front of us. A Youngman appeared and we asked him to give us the book he had
promised on phone. He was surprised at our demand. He told us that he was a
student and he did not know any publisher. He advised us to phone the publisher
who may be available inside his locked office. We climbed down the stairs and
phoned. To our good luck a sturdy man came out. We reminded him of our
telephonic talk. He pointed us to come into his office. He gave us the book and
we came out of his office very quickly fearing that he may not take the book
back. The rickshaw driver was waiting for us. We asked him to drive us to the
Chandni Chowk where our car had been parked along with our hosts who were
extremely happy to see us after two hours. We had missed about one dozen of our
important agenda points due to the time consumed in getting the books for our
friend Dr. Rafi-udd-din Hashmi. To buy something from a crowded bazaar of Delhi means spending too
much time for it. Even after spending a lot of your precious time you may not
get what you wanted. Hence you must have enough spare time at your disposal to
buy something.
We rushed straight away to the
house of our hosts at Kalyan Vihar of central Delhi where they had been anxiously waiting
for us. There was a serious traffic jam on the roads of Delhi . It had taken more than one hour to
reach our destination at Kalyan Vihar. We were very hungry. We requested our
hosts at Delhi
to serve us our dinner without delay and they were very kind to do so. After
dinner we had very delicious hot cups of coffee. A lively talk was then
started. Our host lady asked me if we had completed all of our agenda points
for today. I told her that yes of course except a dozen of them. She asked me
asked me again as to how many of the total agenda points of today had been
completed. I told her that only four agenda points had been completed. She was
extremely surprised at my reply and she did not feel like believing me although
I had told the absolute truth. However, I did not explain my reply. After some
time we went to our beds as we were very tired. I thought at night before
sleeping that I must come to India
for visiting the remaining important historic and religious places at Delhi .
WE LEAVE INDIA BY PIA ON
8th OF DECEMBER 2012 (Saturday):
We got up very early in the
morning and offered our morning prayers. After taking bed tea with dry fruits
we slept again as we were very tired. We had learnt a lesson that traveling in Delhi is totally
unpredictable. A normal distance which can be easily covered in ten minutes may
take more than one hour due to unpredictable traffic jams. For this important
reason we decided to start our journey to the Delhi International
Airport
We loaded our luggage in the car
and asked the permission to leave our hosts at Delhi . We took our start at about eleven
O’clock and had to face many traffic jams on our way to the Delhi International
Airport Delhi International
Airport
After handing over our
unaccompanied baggage with the PIA staff we proceeded ahead for our visa
control formalities. It did not take any time as the counter was occupied by a
very good natured Sardarji. After that we went to the Indian custom counter
where I was asked to open the bag carried on my shoulders. They asked me if I
was carrying any weapon or medicine. I told them that I was carrying a very
small shaving scissors and some medicines used for cancer treatment. They asked
me to take out both of them which have to be forefieted. I requested them to
allow the medicines for the treatment of cancer whereas the scissors could be happily
forefieted. The cancer medicines had been urgently purchased by us on our
arrival at Delhi
and we wanted to send them by the courier but it was not allowed. Respected
Salahuddin for whom we purchased these cancer medicines had expired in the
meantime. They agreed to my request of allowing the cancer medicines and I was
cleared from the customs counter. We went to the departure lounge and did some
window shopping. It was announced that the boarding had started. We moved to
the gate number 6 which was very far away and there was no wheel chair for my
wife who was suffering from serious rheumatoid disease. We reached our plane
only two minutes before its taking off. My wife was gasping. I gave her a glass
of water and her serious palpitations subsided soon. We were relieved.
It hardly took forty minutes for
our air journey to complete. An officer of Pakistan Airport Securitynamed
Shafqat Hussain was travelling with us next to our seats. He helped us for the
clearance of our passport and customs formalities. We wanted to take a taxicab
from Lahore airport to Islamabad but their rent was exorbitant. Our
friends, Mr. Abdul Karim and Sh. Mohammad Jahangir had come to the airport to
receive us but we preferred to go straight to Lahore . Hence they made arrangements for
booking by Daewoo Bus service going to Islamabad .
Mr. Kamran Rasheed was very kind to take us to the Daewoo Bus stand. He had
also brought very delicious food packed for us. We were very hungry. We ate the
food and sat in the comfortable bus of Daewoo Company which brought us to its
Rawalpindi Bus Stand where our youngest son, Mr. Eisa Bin Bashir Khadim
received us at about two O’clock after midnight of 9th December
2012. Within half an hour we came to our house in Islamabad where all of our family members
were waiting for us. They briefly asked us about our second travel to India . We
briefly told them all about it. It was quite late at night and we were very
tired. Hence we slept immediately. Next day we narrated briefly various
important events of our second travel to India . They were surprised at what
we had seen during our brief period of thirty days.
Bashir Ahmad Khadim, Retired
Chief Engineer Telecommunications (Pak. T&T / PTCL)
House 226 Street 18 Sector F-10/2
Islamabad Pakistan .
Phone: + 051-2212476 Mobile Phone: +0345-5096929
E-mail:
khadimbashir@gmail.com Dated 13th
of December 2012.
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