|
 My first visit to Haridwar took place in the year 1972. I was a trainee officer at the Mussoorie National Academy of Administration. At that time the Kumb Mela, which takes place once every twelve years, was taking place at Haridwar. The district Collector of Haridwar had asked for volunteers to come from the Academy to learn about the Mela Administration during the Kumb. Kumb Mela sees the largest gathering of human mass at a time in a particular place as everybody wants to have the holy dip in the Ganges at the auspicious time, which can result in accidents and stampede. I volunteered along with twenty other officers and thus obtained my first lesson on the glory of Ganges.
My next visit took place when my young
twenty-three-year old sister-in-law Manju died in 1979, in an
accident, leaving a three-months-old child who is my son now. It
was one of the greatest tragedies to strike our family. Both my
younger brothers were coming to immerse her ashes in Ganges and
they were so wrought with sorrow that I thought it necessary to
accompany them. This was a very painful visit for us, but we found
a lot of solace after bathing in the river. It was an
extraordinary experience while in a state of grief. I remember the
moment I took a dip in the Ganges and the water flowed over my
head I felt that tons and tons of weight had been removed from my
head and all the pain and suffering had been extracted away from
my soul. I saw another miracle happen. My brother Inder, who had
lost his wife, had not touched a drop of water or a grain of food
for five days. If any food was placed before him he used to push
it away. But lo and behold the glory of Ganga! As soon as he
emerged from his holy bath he straight went to the nearest
restaurant and started eating. For me it was not less than a
miracle.
Again in the year 1981, my husband Dr.Rajkumar
and myself went on a pilgrimage to Haridwar and Rishikesh. When I
went to take leave of my father he requested me to call on a
Kashmiri Panda while I was in Haridwar. When I said "how
could I locate him?" my father said it won't be difficult -
ask any rickshaw wallah. He also mentioned that the Kashmiri Panda
had been keeping the records of all the visit of our ancestors to
Haridwar which took place in joy or in sorrow. In his lifetime, my
father had made several visits to Haridwar. The last one was in
1956, when he took the ashes of his father to be immersed into the
Ganges. I was about eight when the mortal remains of my
grandfather had arrived through a cousin from Kashmir. They were
hung on the Margosa tree in the compound of our house in Delhi,
(as ashes of the deceased are not normally kept inside the house)
till the date of journey. My mother, father and my younger brother
Inder had made the journey and immersed the ashes of our
grandfather Haldar Joo Garyali into the holy waters of the Ganges.
My father would look at the tree mournfully in
the evenings and cry. He could not imagine his father, a profound
scholar of Sanskrit and Persian, reduced to a little parcel hung
on a tree. My father was a very brave man. He was a wrestler and a
swimming champion. He received his first swimming trophy from the
Maharaja of Kashmir at the age of seven for being the youngest
child to jump from the third bridge (Fateh Kadal) into Vitasta (Jehlum)
river and swimming the span of river through the entire city of
Srinagar. I have never seen him crying except on that occasion. My
father had made an earlier happy visit when he had taken his
father and mother on the pilgrimage, perhaps around 1930. They had
travelled from Srinagar in Kashmir in a horse-driven carriage to
Lahore, crossing jungles and braving thieves and robbers. From
Lahore they had taken several trains and other means of transport.
He remembered this journey very fondly as he had then performed
his duty as a son and fulfilled the desire of his parents to go on
a pilgrimage. He said both these visits were duly recorded and I
could see the handwriting of my grandfather in the records kept by
the Panda. So myself and my husband decided to make a wild goose
chase for Kashmiri Panda after arriving there.
After reaching Haridwar and having a holy bath
in Ganges we asked a rickshaw wallah to take us to the Kashmiri
Panda. Not very far, at Ganga Talkies we found the old house where
Panda sits and meets his clients (the Jajmans). The family
occupation is shared by his brothers and cousins. We were met by a
young and handsome man called Pankaj Ji. When I told him my last
name (Gariyali), he immediately dug out the concerned register and
showed me my father's remarks written in calligraphic Urdu and
signature of my mother Indira beneath it in Hindi. The entry also
described the occasion of visit and all those who accompanied
them. I also saw the record of his earlier visit with my grand
parents. The register is something like a merchants Bahi (account
book bound in red cloth) which follows an alphabetic indexing
system. Pankaj Ji was very prompt in recording my visit also. An
entry was made which was something like this. "Shrimati
Chandler Kanta Gariyali of Delhi, earlier belonging to Maharaj
Ganj at Srinagar Kashmir, and now residing in Madras, at No.9, 3rd
Main Road, R A Puram, daughter of K.N.Gariyali and grand daughter
of Haldar Jo Gariyali, sister of Shiv, Inder and Ravi Gariyali and
mother of Siddharth and Priyadarshini, accompanied by her husband
Dr.Rajkumar Bhatt, visited Haridwar in joy". We spent some
time with Pankaj Ji, had a cup of tea, paid him a small Dakshina
(ritualistic fee) and left. However, many a time I felt that I did
not spend enough time with him to know a little more about the
institution of Panda. I hope in future I would get a chance to do
so.
|
