15th May, 2013. Kochi. |
Kashmir had Khar, T’char, Wattil and Kan’hapin, it was in Jammu that I first saw a Jugnu. But the only Jugnu story I know comes from Kashmir and has been told once too often to me by mother. Kashmiris have been telling venerative stories of thieves for ages but this one is more recent.
There once was a thief in Kashmir who took his name from Dharmendra’s film titled Jugnu (1973). Inspired by the film he took to leaving letters at crime scenes, all of them marked ‘Jugnu’. It is said, one night he climbed into a house and not finding anything else worthwhile, served himself dinner, eat and left. Next morning the victims found a letter in the kitchen. It went something like this:
Jugnu aya
Gad’e Khaya
Bahut Maza aya
Jugnu came
Had fish
Relished
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