Jodhpur Dairies-3

Mr. Jhandak's Holy Cow

House-hunt in a small, two-tier city of India like Jodhpur is an arduous challenge. There is no formal, organized market where one can go online and get fair deals. On top of it, people are highly suspicious of young bachelors and outsiders. If one tells about his return from United States then it’s more than enough to worsen his case. He is thought of as a kind of debauch, drunkard and a meat-eating foreigner who will defile the ‘holy soul’ of India. It is very difficult for meat-eaters to rent a house. Hence, my father introduced me to Mr. Jhandak (names have been changed) who helped me yesterday in the house hunt. I have been instructed to feign complete ignorance in the matters of meat and wine!!!

Mr. Jhandak is a local merchant who deals in mining explosives. He is quite a huge personality who is made distinct by his thick-dark complexion, spotless white kurta-pajama and a string of stones in his fingers which includes a precious Safire, diamond and an exotic ruby. He strongly believes that his wealth, power and prosperity emanates from his stones and values. Mr. Jhandak is a very humble, low profile, simple, family-oriented, religious and a vegetarian man. However, he is a shrewd businessman. He is also a prominent politician with the local Congress wing but he is a great supporter of the right-wing Hindu nationalist leader Mr. Narendra Modi who is the present prime minister of India. Despite his proclaimed secular credentials he is a great fan of Mr. Modi for his pro-hindutva views.

In my interaction with him, I discovered many interesting aspects of his life, views, routine and family which enable me to understand India even better. He took me to a construction site where he is building a complex in order to make money from the soaring property rates in Jodhpur. I met a group of workers at his construction site. All of them came from either lower castes or Muslim community. They are mostly migrant workers from Bihar, Bengal and Bangladesh. They get around $8.33 to $15 for 8-10 hours’ work in extremely hot and dangerous conditions. The main architect, which in India is totally different from the university-educated architects of the West, is Hamid Khan. He comes everyday with his father Mr. Salauddin Khan. They are from the caste of silawats who are experts in stone-work.

“Three to four centuries back we were from the Sompura(Hindu stone workers) community before conversion to Islam. We have served the Jodhpur royal family for last three to four centuries.”, said Salauddin Khan. Salauddin Khan sounds very ancient and regal in his tone. He asked his son to fetch Jodhpuri onion katchoris (Indian dumplings) for me, and with that also came a piping-hot over-boiled cup of tea. It tasted like sugar syrup, though it made a great combination with Katchoris.

I am told that Jodhpur has about 40% muslim population. Hindus and Muslims have developed a strong communal harmony and joint culture which is a strange matrix of common rituals, beliefs, business and crime. But Salauddin Khan, being a traditional Muslim is disturbed by the increasing radicalization among the younger generation of Muslims. He said that one can see umpteen numbers of teenage Muslims boys with green pagdis (headgears) going to deobandi madarasaas. He supports modern computer-based education for Muslims. Some recent developments have started affecting the age-old trust based on shared culture and traditions. Recently about 12 local muslim youngsters were arrested by the central intelligence agencies for conspiring to bomb tourist places in Jodhpur. All of them have been found to have links with Indian Mujahiddin which is kind of a feeder organization for Al-Quaida.

Mr. Jhandak informed me that the relations between the two communities have a history of tension and cordiality but after the devastating attack of 26/11 in Mumbai, and a series of blasts in Jaipur and Ahemdabaad a general distrust has emerged. “I stopped selling mining explosives to Muslim merchants after I was investigated by the police in a link-up with the Ammonium nitrate found in a couple of blasts”, says Mr. Jhandak. On top of this increasing friction, Hindu communalism is also on the rise after the victory of BJP in the recent elections.

After the visit to the construction site, he took me to his place. I met his obedient son who is getting married in February, next year. He seemed pretty excited about his marriage. But, Mr. Jhandak seemed concerned over one issue i.e. his daughter-in-law is highly educated. He fears that she will spoil the family values and traditions. He feels that girls should not receive high education as it disturbs the social peace, harmony and family values. He proudly talks about his daughter’s marriage into a super-wealthy family. He believes that his daughter got such a wealthy and nice family because of her family values and not because of the little education which she was lucky enough to get. He also told me that he gave $416,666 in a dowry to his daughter and spent around $900,000 in his daughter’s wedding. But he is not going to take dowry in his son’s wedding. “I want a decent daughter-in-law. I have already earned enough money”, said Mr. Jhandak.

He also told me about his back-breaking routine. He sleeps at 2:30 in the night after jotting down the religious word “Ram” in a notebook for about three hours. He gets up at six and leaves his house at 6:30 after a cup of tea. He survives on several cups of tea and tobacco/lime masala (a harmful and throat-cancer causing mixture, immensely popular in Jodhpur) until three in the afternoon when he has his lunch and at 11 in the night he has his dinner. He is 44 years old and is almost free of his family responsibilities.

“I have established good business, property worth millions of dollars, married a daughter and now getting a daughter-in-law. What more I want!!! My son is obedient and a shrewd businessman so I have now worries. I want to spend the rest of my life in religious and socio-political pursuits now”, told Mr. Jhandak.

Jodhpur Dairies

This is my fifth day in Jodhpur and I am missing Ithaca and Cornell even more. I realize that two years of my stay in US has changed something in me which might not be very visible, and existing only in my mental domains, but increasingly it makes me realize the futility of the nations/nationalism, national/regional and parochial identity. I feel a deep disconnect with the material and cultural ethos of the land where I have spent about 20 years of my life prior to visiting US. At times, I feel that my colleagues in my office, and the city itself treats me like an ancient traveler from Greece or China. Sometimes I enjoy it because I get a chance to look at India from a very neutral and objective stand point. The importance of this stand-point is well-realized when once comes across the confusion that India generates in a mind of a lay foreigner. Staying here, in this milieu, one forgets the fact that how confusing and mind boggling India can be with its religious, cultural, social and political practices.

 I got a chance to meet a 75 year old handsome doctor Mr. Oza day before yesterday. Apparently, he seems to be engaged in the routine drudgery of a boring and mundane life of a traditional, feudal, hot and spicy Indian city. His day begins with the local Hindi newspaper called ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ and a spicy concoction of ginger, milk and tea leaves, which is popularly known as masala chay in India. And, the day thrives on the local mouth-watering foods that include katchori(Indian dumpling) and gatte ka saag (local curry made with cubes of gram flour). Finally, it ends with a boring, loud and sensational news story telecasted on ‘Aaj Tak’ (Indian news channel). However, after a conversation of five minutes I found this man to be the most interesting old patriarch in this city. Mr. Ojha in the prime of his youth, driven by the passion and a spirit, thirsty to explore the world, registered himself as a member of the team that was sent by Ministry of External Affairs to Iran at the request of the Shah of Iran.

Mr. Ojha went to Shah’s Iran as a newly married young doctor with his pretty wife. “We enjoyed the pleasantries of Europe in Shah’s Iran. The beautiful, lit roads, bridges and the night walks on the streets of Tehran and Kerman could make one feel as if he was in Europe. One could see pretty Iranian girls dressed in stunning European gowns, scarves, over-coats, hats and trousers on streets. The night life of Tehran was crazy”, says Mr. Oza. Mr. Oza recounts that one could see a distinct French influence in the dressing sense, intellectual circles and the upper elites of creative circles in Iran. I saw his eyes gleaming with youth and a little naughtiness while telling me the stories of pretty Iranian nurses in his hospital and his favorite Kababs.

Two of doctors of their team got married to Iranian Zoroastrian girls, who he calls as “Jardusthi” popularly known as Parsis in India. When Mr. Oza speaks in his fluent and chaste persian he reminds me of my Iranian friend Marjaneh from Cornell. In a picture of his youth he looks like Ahmad Zahir (famous Persian singer of Afghanistan) with his long sideburns and bell bots. He actually started humming ‘laili laili jaan, jaan and for a while he went back to 70s.

Mr. Oza then told me about the times of Khomeini. The spies of Khomeini were everywhere and people were scared even to talk about Shah and his golden days. The intelligence network of khomeni was superb. Everything changed. Night life came to a dead end and the Europeon outfits were replaced with hijabs and burqas. It was an era of fatwas. But still, our life was not interfered with. I was making beer in my house and organized lavish parties even in Khomeini’s times”, tells Mr. Oza. Finally he tells about the trial which he had to face because of his open support and praise of Shah’s Iran. He defended himself in chaste Persian in the courts, without any help from lawyers. After that episode, Mr. Oza came back to India. He wanted to continue his journey of exploring the world but the family circumstances confined him to Jodhpur and he never moved out. But, even now he talks to his old Iranian friends and is eager to know about the people who called him “Aghajaan-e-doctor”, “Azeez-e-Doctor”.  Recently, he went to the film festival and watched Iranian classic, “Children of heaven”.

First day in the Sands of Thar

9/18/14                     

3:40 PM

I am sitting in Jal Bhagirathi Foundation’s (JBF) office at Bijolai Palace of Jodhpur (India). JBF is an innovative and philanthropic initiative led by the king of Jodhpur, His Highness Maharaja Gaj Singh Ji. He has been the king for last 50 years after an untimely death of his father Maharaja Hanumant Singh in a mysterious plane crash near Sumerpur (Rajasthan). This is my first day in JBF as a Program Specialist for a EU funded project on water security and climate change. This project is in Thar deserts of Rajasthan, which is the world’s most populated desert. The region has a history of devastating famines releasing untold miseries for the common people. Life is full of hardships, and spotting women walking 10 to 12 kilometers for drinking water is a common sight. His Highness Gaj Singh Ji’s vision is to revive the traditional water conservation and harvesting systems, which have been more or less lost because of the official apathy and retrograde red-tapism.  The ground-breaking work which JBF is doing reflects a Maharaja who at his heart so much connected with the people and still revered by the local population with more or less a Godly status. He is known to have a mild, humble and quiet disposition. Besides, he is also famous for his class, elegance and charisma. He is equally comfortable with the nobility from Europe on one hand and poor sudra peasant from a small place like Bayatu.

I am here after spending two years in the world of NYC and Washington DC. Ithaca, where I was studying public policy at Cornell, had minimum temperatures of -25 degree Celsius in winters and about 15 to 22 degree Celsius in summers. Jodhpur temperatures in summer soar as high as about 49 degree Celsius.  It is a journey from the Frigidaire to frying pan.  Bijolai palace is located about 10 kms outside the main city of Jodhpur. On my way, I saw houses of red Jodhpur stone, which is a sign of royalty here. Cows can be seen partying on the roads in different moods. I see a big group of elderly cows discussing some strategic matter concerning either their owner or their herd !!!!.  There is a local raika(local herdsman) with almost a meter long mustache and a turban weighing at least two and half kgs grazing a herd of about 500 sheep.  He is herding them with a complete poise and state of absolute detachment, occupying the entire width of the road. The trucks, cars are honking or rather trumpeting like a mad elephant but he does not seem to bother. Alongside the trucks I also see a group of five elephant brothers with five sadhu mahauts riding them. I find a strange understanding or a symbiotic arrangement between the mankind and the animal kingdom over sharing of the state owned road infrastructure. These animals are using the roads with an elegance and understanding of a very high order.

At Bijolai palace, my office is surrounded by water, water-borne diseases and scorching sun and an assortment of various species of animals which include merchant like monkeys, venomous, shiny and black water-loving cobras, chameleons, wild boars, and the most beautiful and colorful grasshoppers. My project director asked to be mindful of my steps as there are a good number of cobras here. I am told that the monkeys are the biggest threat to internet connectivity here. A few days back the management had installed machines to scare away monkeys which produce strange sounds to scare them. But, the merchant-like monkeys finally understood the trick and smashed the machines. Today, the accounts officer was summoned to answer the monkey-machine fiasco.

I hope there is a lot more to explore in this new world and I believe I will surely have some sort of enlightenment staying in this wilderness with the cobras, chameleons, monkeys and most importantly the ‘WATER’.