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Herath File

It has become a festival of sound. Right now, I  await a sound from Jammu. A phone call. My grandmother will declare that the pooja is over and that dinner can be had. The festival begins. ‘The’ festival. Right now, I see people searching for audio of ‘Vatak Pooja’. They search for a sound. Instructions. I know the sound. Now too familiar. they search of unfamiliar instructions. I know how the scene will play: one controls the tape, one serves the gods, one manages the family, one plays the funny guy. No ordinary marriage this. The Ashen Mad god gets married. I pick this book, by someone who thinks he probably saved something. I read this ditty, explaining 15 days of Shivratri. Something survived. I know these sounds. Okdoh, Mavas, Herath, Vagur…

Akh tI akh Kho’daya,
One and One is God
ZItI zin gyaDIra
Two is bundle of firewood
Trayshkal  Duna
Three faced perfect Walnut
Tsor kunj alam
Four cornered world
PAntsh gAyi PanDav
Five were Pandavs
She’tI’she Re’shi
Six were Reshis
Sath ZalI satam
Seven are Jwala’s flames
ATh Huri ATham
Eight, Her day. Ragnya’s day.
Nav tsitIr navam
Nine, we meditate (rest)
Dah dya’rl aAhAm
Ten, money flows
Kah gaDi Kah
Eleven, let’s eat fish
VagIri bah
Twelfth, god’s messenger Vagur is here
He’rItsI truvah 
Thirteenth, Herath is on thirteen
KralI tso’dah
Fourteenth, pay the potters
Duni mavas
Fifteenth, let’s eat those walnuts
SozIni okdoh
One, send out those walnuts
Wah BAli Wah ti wah Bali wah 
Dance, little girl! Dance!
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And this is how it actually goes. Made this recording a couple of years ago at home. It is delightful madness. If it is Herath and you are missing the sound. Do tune in. Play around with the play button. And Herath Mubarak.

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Guide To Kashmir, 1954

I knew it was vintage. But the description on ebay offered no date, it just said ‘Guide to Kashmir’, old, very old, or something like that. Once I bought it and went through it, finding the date proved to be fun little exercise. Clues: In which year a double room at Nedous Hotel cost Rs. 40 a day, a month in a Five room ‘A Class’ House boat cost Rs.800, Ahdoos was still there, there were only three Film theaters in the city and visitors needed permits to bring firearms into the state…in which year?

I talked around but got only approximations. In the end the fact that it was published The Tourist Traffic Branch, Ministry of Transport New Delhi proved to be vital. Searching the web led me to the listing for this booklet available in the National Library of Australia [link]. The match on the number of pages proved to be the clincher.

I present to you: Guide To Kashmir, 1954. Enjoy!

Update:
January 22, 2014

Uploaded the book to archive.org
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Ismail remembers Shammi

Mohd. Ismail is probably the biggest Shammi Kapoor fan from the state. Ismail spent most of his life doing odd jobs at Pahalgam, Gulmarg and other tourists spots that were popular with Bombay filmwallas. He met lot of stars, had himself photographed with quite a few of them. But Shammi Kapoor remained a lifelong favorite. While most of Kashmir Media was a bit quite on passing away of Shammi Kapoor, Ismail was publishing Remembrances. Ran into Ismail at my sister’s wedding reception. He was supplying water.

Savoy Hotel Jammu. February 2012.
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Why we are Pandits

Pandit Nehru on his Mekhal,
 carrying a Mulberry stick 

This is a ‘Did you know it was all thanks to Bhan Saheb!’ post.

[…] the circumstances under which the Brahman Bhattas of  Kashmir came to be called Pandits. Briefly, it would seem that, after the incorporation of Kashmir into the Mughal empire, quite a few of those Brahmans who migrated out of Kashmir attracted attention and even rose high at the imperial court, first in Agra and then in Delhi. In recognition of their sevices to the emperor or their scholarship, or both, suitable titles were conferred upon them. These were similar to those conferred upon distinguished Muslims. One such successful emigre, Jai Narain Bhan, was elevated to the status of a Raja. It was he who reportedly asked that Kashmiri Brahmans should be addressed as ‘Pandit’ and not by such honorifics as ‘Khuajah’. The request was granted by emperor Muhammad Shah (1719-49) (Sender 1988: 43 [Source: Henny Sender’s The Kashmiri Pandits: A Study of Cultural Choice in North India (Delhi, 1988), the name is given as Jai Ram Bhan]). Subsequently, ‘Pandit’ became established as the community name of Kashmiri Brahmans living outside Kashmir. In more recent times it has emerged as on of the ethonyms of the Bhatta of Kashmir.

~ from The T.N. Madan Omnibus

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Tinsel Workers. Kashmir-Jammu.Then-Now.

“Photograph of tinsel workers in Jammu & Kashmir in India, taken by an unknown photographer in the 1890s. This image shows three seated workers with the tools of their trade. The tinsel wires are made of silver, or silver coated with gold leaf, and made into a bar in the shape of a candle, which is then forced through a series of holes on a steel plate to obtain increasingly fine-gauged lengths. Traditionally the wire was then wound onto a reel, as seen in the photograph, attached at the other end to a jantar, another steel plate, which allowed for futher refining of the gauge, and wires no thicker than a hair were obtained this way. A tola (180 grains of metal) usually produced 600 to 1,200 yards of wire.”
via: British Library

The frilly things seen dangling  in the above photographs are the Atahoor worn by Kashmiri pandit women in their ears (more often around the time of marriage festivities). These are not usually made of metal wires anymore, instead they are now made of synthetic (Sulma/Tilla) threads. And since there aren’t many Atah wearing Pandit women left in valley anymore, the trade of these shiny things (along with some other shiny things like ‘shiny golden’ Kangri, employed for some ceremonies during marriage rites) has now moved to Jammu.

2012. Link Road. Jammu.

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