“Bobu Ji Hukh Chhu Aamut. Patta mokalee . Buthee chhuyee Krooth Vandhaa ”
“Pandit Ji Hukh is available now . It shall be
sold immediately . You have to face severe winters ahead” .
said
Ali Mohd Muttah'aanz to my father .
And we went to Kraalyaar M'aar ( Canal ) and Purchased about two quintals of Hukh for the winter season. Hukh consisted of pieces of drifted wood collected from rivers by a group of Boatmen and then brought to city for sale in big boats called Bahatch.Hukh Collected from DODERHAAMA near Ganderbal town was marketed as “ Special Doderhaameuik Hukh “ . It was used for burning in Kitchen during winters . It made the kitchen warm when burnt in DH'AAN ( CHULHAA ) by our womenfolk .I would sit in the kitchen to have my food when my mother burnt HUKH for cooking food . She would also burn a stick of Willow or Conifer or Deodar along with HUKH pieces .Seeing the Hukh in the DHAAN ( CHULHAA ) gave a very good feeling . In extreme winters , We would come to the kitchen repeatedly to fill our Kangris . The kitchen turned cozy 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 DHAAN ( Chulhaa ) and throw them into the LEIJJ and then immediately keep a lid over it. The burning charcoal would cool down and the charcoal 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 in the morning and keep your CHENDHEE ( Timber cards supplied to each family by Forest department ) near the window of the Zeun Ghaat ( Timber depot ) to procure timber at government rates. Generally milk selling families supplied the labour force at these timber depots . A labourer would even carry 100 Kgs of Timber log on his shoulders . Then he would suddenly throw the log with a bang in the courtyard making windows rattle . Now the TABARDAAR( wood cutter ) would come and cut these logs to pieces for ultimate use in the kitchen . We would then carry the pieces for storing them at a safe place .HATAB ( A Variety of Timber used for burning ) was a preferred stuff by kashmiris. I vividly remember kashmiris keeping a vigil on arrival of HATAB at timber Depots to buy it . It produced a quality heating fuel for the Kangris .
Another fuel with kashmiris was the saw dust 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 DAMCHULAA ( special mobile chulhaa made of iron for burning saw dust ) for boiling water to wash clothes . It produced irritating smoke . The burnt saw dust was also used in kangris . For bathing we had a special galvanized iron HAMAAM which used to give instant boiling water once firewood was burnt inside it . Wastage of POPLAR tree wood sold by Band saw mills was burnt in this HAMAAM .. The wood used as fuel was called MOCHAA or left overs ( scrap ) by the Band saw mills where sawing of POPLAR Tree logs was done.
Many families had Kerosene stoves . My father had also purchased two Kerosene stoves for our kitchen . Triloki Nath Pandit whom every one called as Treyaa Pandit or Treyya Tsoor and who reportedly had some criminal past ( in plains of the country) had opened a stove repair shop in Jogi Lanker chowk . His shop was near police station Rainawari just opposite to the shop of Chuni Lal Watloo. Chuni lal watloo had a small drug and medicine shop where pandits would sit for gossiping . These gossiping Pandits made Chuni lal Watloo lose all customers .When Newer Drug and medicine stores opened in Jogi lanker Chowk , Chuni lal Watloo shifted his activity to a newer trade and started working as an agent of the Police officials in the nearby Police station . Any person who had to lodge an FIR or needed Police assistance had to come to Chuni Lal watloo's shop for direct or indirect help from the police .
Now coming to Treyya Pandit's shop of stove repair ,Every time I went with our stove to him, he would just change the burner . He did it to all stoves coming to him . For him change of burner perhaps solved all problems of a stove .He did so even for Minor Blockage 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 arguments.
Now coming to Treyya Pandit's shop of stove repair ,Every time I went with our stove to him, he would just change the burner . He did it to all stoves coming to him . For him change of burner perhaps solved all problems of a stove .He did so even for Minor Blockage 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 arguments.
Then came the LPG Era . Kashmiris immediately shifted to LPG DHAAN (CHULHAAS). We had to face Long queues at Jawahir nagar office of JAKFED wherefrom we would purchase the gas Cylinder refills . Kashmiris quickly forgot the age old trsted and tried fuels like HUKH , HATAB , COWDUNG AND KOSH ( saw dust ) .
I end with a quote of camus :
“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”
(Albert Camus )
So Long so much .
( autar Mota )
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
