BY AUTAR MOTA
Bobu Ji hukh chhuyi aamut. pataa mokalee . Buthee chhuyee krooth vandhaa” or “ Pandit Ji, Hukh has arrived for sale. It shall be sold immediately. You have to face severe winters ahead.” said Ali Mohd Mattahaanz to my father.
And we went to Kraalyaar Maar (canal ) and purchased about two quintals of Hukh( drifted wood ) for the winter season. Hukh consisted of pieces of drifted wood collected from rivers by a group of the boatmen and then brought to the city for sale in big boats called Bahetch. Hukh Collected from Doderhaama near Ganderbal town was marketed as special ‘Hukh’. It was used for burning in the kitchen hearth during winters. It made the kitchen warm when burnt in Dhaan ( kitchen hearth ) by our womenfolk. I would sit in the kitchen to have my food when my mother burnt Hukh for cooking. She would also burn a stick of willow or some other timber along with Hukh pieces. we used to get a good feeling upon seeing the Hukh burning in the kitchen. In extreme winters, we would come to the kitchen repeatedly to fill our Kangris. The kitchen turned cosy and warm with Hukh burning. Our ladies used to make charcoal from the burning Hukh or firewood in the kitchen. They would keep a Leijj ( earthen pot ) with a lid in the kitchen. Very skillfully, they would remove burning coal heaps from the kitchen hearth and throw them into the Leijj and then immediately keep the lid over it. The burning charcoal would cool down and the fuel so prepared would be used to make the afternoon or evening tea for the family.
In so far as firewood was concerned, its procurement from the government timber yards spread all over the city was a tough job. You had to get up early in the morning and keep your Chendee ( timber cards supplied to each family by the government ) near the window of the Zeun Ghaat ( timber depot ) one over the other in proper order. Generally, milk selling families supplied the labour force at these timber depots. A labourer would carry 100 -120 Kg of timber log on his shoulders. Then he would suddenly throw the log with a bang in the courtyard making windows rattle. Thereafter the Tabardaar ( woodcutter ) would come and cut this log to pieces for ultimate use in the kitchen. We would then carry the pieces for storing them at a safe place. Hatab (timber from False Witch Hazel tree ) was preferred stuff by the Kashmiris. I vividly remember Kashmiris keeping a vigil on the arrival of Hatab at timber depots to buy it. It produced quality heating fuel for the Kangris.
Another fuel with Kashmiris was the sawdust popularly known as Kosh. They would use it in Kangris and more specifically for boiling water to wash clothes. Every Sunday we would use Kosh damchoola ( special mobile hearth made of iron for burning sawdust ) for boiling water to wash clothes. It produced an irritating smoke. The sawdust was also used in Kangris. For bathing, we had a special galvanized iron Hammam which used to give instant boiling water once firewood was burnt inside it. The wastage from Poplar tree wood sold by bandsaw mills was burnt in this Hammam. The wood used as fuel was called Mocha or leftover ( scrap ) by the bandsaw mills where sawing of poplar tree logs was done.
Electric heaters were also used in the kitchen as everyone stole power with the active connivance of the linemen and meter readers. Every Kashmiri ( Pandit or Muslim) had some skill in this field. A direct hook on the main service line or bypassing the electric meter or making meters dead was a usual practice. Right from a petty trader to the top bureaucrat, power theft was relentlessly practised. The field staff in the electric department made extra income from this power theft. They facilitated this theft and provided all type of help to the consumers in this area.
Many families had kerosene stoves. My father had also purchased two kerosene stoves for our kitchen. In Rainawari , Triloki Nath Pandit whom everyone called ‘Treya Tsoor’ ( Treya the thief) and who reportedly had some criminal past in plains of the country, had opened a stove repair shop in Jogilanker Chowk. His shop was near the police station, Rainawari just opposite to the shop of Chuni Lal Watloo. Chuni Lal Watloo had a small chemist shop where Pandits would sit for gossiping. These gossiping Pandits made Chuni Lal Watloo lose all customers. When new chemist shops opened in Jogilanker Chowk, Chuni Lal Watloo shifted his activity to a more lucrative trade and started working as an agent of the police officials in the nearby police station. Any person who needed police assistance had to come to Chuni Lal Watloo’s shop for direct or indirect help.
Now coming to Treya Pandit’s stove repair shop, every time I went with our stove to him, he would just change the burner. He did it to all kerosene stoves coming to him. For him, change of the burner perhaps solved all problems of a stove. He did so even for minor blockages in the kerosene passage of the burners which could be easily cleared by a stove pin. Perhaps he knew nothing else and also it made him earn instantly. His customers paid without any argument.
My father had also purchased a kerosene cooking stove that had thick cotton strap wick. One could adjust the flame by raising or lowering the burning wick strap. This stove produced strange bang like sound at regular intervals when put to use. LPG cylinders in the kitchen is a late story.
To conclude this write up , I add Lines from Padamshri Moti Lal Saqi’s Kashmiri poem.
“Koat gatchhukh subahaai vaeni nai gaash ph’oll
Naag joyi pyaath vothh na vaeni sandhyaai kaa’nh
Masheidi mehraabus andher katiejun nendhar
Dhaan dalas munz geill chha traavithh zeeth lar,
Kulleiy laenjen sosaraai chenna vathharan gatchhaan
Koat gatchhukh ?”
( Moti Lal Saqi )
“Where shall you go so early? It is not daybreak as yet.
None has yet come to perform *Sandhya with Spring Water,
Even the swallows are fast asleep inside the *Mehraab of the Mosque,
In paddy fields, *Gill Birds are still in deep slumber
Leaves of tree branches have not turned restless as yet
Where shall you go ?”
PS
- Rudy breasted crake is Gill in Kashmiri. It is like a house sparrow and black in colour. Mostly seen around paddy fields. After harvest, it flies away from paddy fields.
*Sandhya is the daily religious ritual of Hindus performed at the time of two twilights or the opening and the closing of the day. It is generally performed on river banks or springs or any other source of fresh water or even inside their dwellings. Sandhya was a ‘daily practice’ with elderly Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley.
*Mehrab is the decorative groove in the wall of a mosque, which marks the direction of the Qiblah. The traditional Mehrab is a common element of Islamic mosque architecture throughout the world. During the summer season, swallows would make nests inside mosques, temples and residential houses in Kashmir.
Autar Mota is a blogger, writer for local and national newspapers and magazines
