Based on a random conversation with my father and some uncles. Story of Ghulam Da’en, Golaam the witch, perhaps the greatest three card trickster from Kashmir.
Every month. At the start of every month he would pocket half of my salary. He was a real trickster. No one could catch him. He would clean your pockets with you only complying willingly. And he had all these techniques. Some so obvious. Like at first, after his cries of – Begam ko Pakdo, Begum par Lagao – had your attention and you moved in to see what was going on, why the crowd, you could always see him handing over money, to some lucky winner who had just picked the queen from three random cards. And then another one from the crowd would win. Then another. You would feel lucky. Like this day your luck would hold out against Ghulam Da’en, Golaam the witch. You too would bet. And of course, you win. Your lucky day. Crowd cheering. You bet more. You loose. You bet more. You loose. And soon you realize what happened. That Ghulam Da’en tricked you again. It was a setup. It should have been obvious. Those other winners were of course with him on it. Wearing a fur cap on his head and an old worn pheran, he would do this to random people at Pratap Park and to tourists at Boulevard Road, but his favorite haunt was Karfali Mohal near Sharabi chowk, near Parimoo Chemist, Habba Kadal where even his victims were his regulars. And fast. He could switch cards with a gentle flick of his nails. You wink and you miss. Once while dealing he showed me a deck full of queens. From the deck placed three cards down. Asked me to bet and catch. Of course, I bet and picked a card. And I lost. I lost. Then to rub it in, he turned the other cards too. Not one of them was queen. Not one. He would play you. He would play you like a fool. But some days he would let you win too. Go home with a real winning. He would show you three cards. He would show you which one is the queen. Before the serve, while the cards are still in his hand, you would notice that the queen card has a little tear on a corner, or a fold, or a quirky mark. You would memorize it. This is easy. He would lay the cards. You would place the bet, pick a card. He would flip it and of course, you win. He would give you the money. He would tell you this is your lucky day. You bet to play again. The mark is there. Raise the bet. You win. You start believing in you good stars, in God, in Ghulam Da’en’s bad luck and your smartness. You raise the bet. He tells you not to steal livelihood for a poor man on his bad day. You raise the bet even higher. You want round. There is old debt to be settled. You would clean the house this time. He serves the three cards. You can’t believe your luck. What treachery is this! What witchery! All the three cards this time have the same exact little tear on the corner, the same exact fold, the same exact not so quirky mark. And that is how you would lose half you salary to Ghulam Da’en. Go home to get an earful about it from your wife or parents. And you couldn’t fight him over it. It was all fair and square. You definitely couldn’t fight him. He once pulled a snake on me. He actually had a live snake in his pocket. That Ghulam Da’en, the three card trickster.
“Over the Vitasta this King had the Great Bridge constructed and only since that time the design of such boat bridges become well known.”
– 354, Third Taranga. From Ranjit Pandit’s translation of Kalhan’s Rajatarangini.The king was Parvarasena.
An old photograph of Habba Kadal Zaina Kadal (check the note below) with boat design.
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This bridge cannot be HabbaKadal (2nd Bridge) by any chance . The Tomb of Zain-ul-abdin’s mother/(Sikandar Butshikan’s queen) located in Mazar Salatin is clearly visible in the background and as such the bridge is Zaina Kadal the fourth bridge.
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Update: This is what a boat bridge would have looked like:
Bridge of Boats over Indus at Khushal Garh [District Kohat, now in Pakistan]
Ancient deities at the door – Bhairav(? Update [2017: Vishnu, one face boar, one face lion, similar found from Martand temple]) keeps guard.
Ganeesh of Ganpatyar.
Wish.Threads tied to the window.
Residents.
Ganeesh Ghat School, right side wall of the temple.
Markings on the window indicate that it’s used as a camp by the security people.
I was told my maternal grandfather studied here till his third or second grade.
Right bank of Jehlum as seen from the Ganpatyar temple (also on the right).
Left bank of Jehlum
Jehlum, as it flows through Srinagar, is lined with ancient temples on its banks.
An empty house.
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A security man posted at the gate said he’s from Chandrapur. I know the place, it’s near Nagpur in Maharashtra. In summers the temperature can go up to 47 degree Celsius and burn the skin off your back . He knows why he is here and doesn’t mix words while explaining it to the visitors. He said that the day they are out of here,’ none of this would stand’.
As I looked for the ghat, a Sikh security man explained that the ghat isn’t accessible from the temple.
Some desolate looking old Kashmiri pandit houses and some new houses in the process of build. I knew we won’t be stopping to look at these monuments, we were heading for the temple at Ganpatyaar. So, as the mini-van drove down these ancient lanes of Habba Kadal, I clicked frantically. Terrible thoughts. Everyone glum. Van moves on. Fast. Only good thing: camera had some sort image stabilization that worked, almost.
That top floor is a dub construction – in which you get extra floor space.
Cry rings out: Batte ghar. Batte ghar. Gatkaar
House next door.
Another dub. More floor space. Great joy sitting at the window on a warm and sunny winter day.
How do people manage to take wire free photographs. You won’t see them here.
Two houses in intimate conversation. Last night food had no salt. When he enquired, she told him, “Old fool, you have lost your mind. Just Eat.” So how was your last night. No they don’t share bed anymore. So how was your last night.
Old style brick work.
See how the bricks fall in place and window fit in.
On way to Ganpatyaar temple, traveling in a mini-van, spotted a signboard with a pandit name – Dr. S. Raina. M.B.B.S. M.D
I pointed it out. They missed it. I was told it’s just a signboard – there is a greater chance that no pandit actually lives there, the locals have just left that signboard be. Show.
But it didn’t seem like an empty house.
Some how it all seemed strange and the signboard seemed out of place.
Photograph of a Security man posted on Habba Kadal.
Count the number of street lamps and the number of security men, if the security men out number the lamp posts, you know you have set foot on a troubled street.
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On way to Gulmarg, I saw a security man standing, on duty, alone, in the middle of a vegetable field, shooting. He was taking pictures using a digital camera.
Photographs of Bhagwaan Gopinath Ji Ashram situated at Kharyar near Habba Kadal, Srinagar, Kashmir. (Dated June, 2008)
A recently re-built ashram of Bhagwaan Gopinath Ji in the premises of the Durga Mandir at Kharyar.
A Kashmiri Pandit family has donated its house to be used as an ashram.
I was told that a Haenz Bai, a Muslim fisher woman, started to take care of the ashram when the situation was really bad in Kashmir.
An old desolate looking house to the left on entering the ashram.The house right in front of it is used as a guest house for pandits families who might want to stay at the ashram for a couple of days.
View of the opposite bank of Jhelum as seen from the ashram.
Habba Kadal as seen from the ashram.
Boats on river Jhelum near the ghat next to the ashram.
Houses (mostly pandit) right next to the ghat.
The central hall on the first floor of the ashram housing the statue of Bhagwaan Gopinath Ji.
The original marble statue of saint was installed in June, 1972. Similar statues are now placed in the ashrams located at Jammu (Udaiwala Road, Bohri) and Delhi (Opp. D-43, Pamposh Enclave, G.K-I).
View in front of the statue
View from the left window of the hall on the first floor of the ashram.
The house is used as a living quarter for the security men guarding the ashram. Interestingly the presence of security men here is not overbearing as against the situation at the nearby Ganesh temple of Ganpatyaar
View to the right and from the top floor of the ashram.
Dinanath used to live at Habba Kadal. It is said, once in a while, on some mornings, a leaf or a flower – any flower, any leaf – in hand, he would walk up to the house of his botanist neighbor and ask him to check the caffeine content of the specimen. This was Dinanath’s private quest for a caffeine free tea. But, people didn’t get his private quests.
Dinanath was a professor of mathematics. Sine, Cos, Tan – that’s all he understood. But people didn’t understand him, they thought him strange. Calculus was his only love and reason. And for this people named him ‘Deen’e Phila’safar‘, Dina the Philosopher.
A happening in a morning from his life is still quite a popular anecdote among the people.
On that morning, while taking a walk on the old Habba Kadal bridge, as was his wont, contemplating – as it is said – whatever it is that great people contemplate – Dinanath stopped right in the middle of the bridge, slowly moved close to the rusty railing, and looked down deep at the cold, brown m – it was still late summer – murky waters of Jehlum. A man, just a random guy who recognized Dinanath and saw him walking to the edge of the bridge, shouted out, ‘Haya! Deen’e Phila’safara,’ and walking towards Dinanath from the opposite side of the bridge, with a movement of eye that could be mistaken for a wink, but may well have been an involuntary twitch, in a mischievous tone added, ‘are you thinking of jumping into the river?’
It was the morning of Dinanath’s beautiful proof. Dinanath remained unmoved, caustic agent seemed to have had no effect. The other man must have thought of saying something more but then in a sagely heavy voice, Dinanath replied, ‘Why should I jump off the bridge and into the river when I am already in the river!’ The other man was perplexed even if he was hearing this from the Deen’e Phila’safar himself. To this man’s astonishment , Dinanath added, ‘If we think about it, if I may point out, even you are right now down in the river’. And then, Dinanath produced his legendary ‘Man in the river’ proof. It went something like this:
If, A= B and B = C
then, A=C is always true
Similarly, if Man is on the bridge and Bridge is on the river
then,
Man is on the bridge
————————- Bridge is on the river
Bridge-Bridge cancel out..Now that the bridge is out of the equation, now that there is no bridge, without doubt, man is in the river.
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Image: An illustration and the view from the railing of the new Habba Kadal bridge.
