HOTEL LEEWARD (
LIWARD previously ) DAL LAKE SRINAGAR KASHMIR.
All Photographs clicked inside Dal Lake of kashmir
by.. Autar Mota (
2013 series ).
Nobel Laureate Sir V S Naipaul ( Born 1932 ) stayed in this Hotel for
about five months in 1963..His popular book “ An Area Of Darknesss ” was written in
this Hotel only. Aziz, Ali Mohd and Mr Mohd Sidiq Butt were from this Hotel
only. Aziz the clever helper , Ali Mohd the person who brought guests from
Tourists Reception Centre and Mr Butt the owner . Ali Mohd and Mr Butt are no
more . Aziz is alive and an old man who owns the Hotel at the moment . He has
diversified his business..
I quote from Naipaul’s Book "An Area of Darkness "
Naipaul writes that the Hotel Board read as under ....
HOTEL LIWARD
Prop: FLUSH SYSTEM M
.S. Butt
See what Sir Naipaul writes about Mr M S Butt and Aziz
( 1)“ . I was asked by Mr Butt to write a petition to the
Director Transport for more frequent Bus services to Dal Lake
area .I drafted it and typed it . The electric bulb inside the room gave poor
light .I complained about the weakness of the electric Bulbs and asked for one
to be replaced . At this Mr Butt said “ Two rupees ! Three rupees !. You buy ,
I buy , What difference ?” I did not really feel I could object . I bought .”
(2) Both Aziz and
Mr Butt would ask me to speak to tourists who were brought from Tourist
Reception centre to the Hotel by Ali Mohd .I was jealous . I wanted the Hotel
to myself .Aziz understood ,and he was like a parent comforting a child . “ You
will eat first . You will eat by yourself .We give you special .This is not Mr
Butt Hotel . This your Hotel.” Sometimes Aziz would raise one hand and say “
God send customer ”
(3)With summer season, flies too entered the Hotel rooms
.These settled on my hands even while I worked and for several mornings in
succession I was awakened before six by the buzzing of a single FLIT surviving
fly. To this Aziz promised Mosquities .Mosquitoes would rout the flies . To him
fly was an act of God . One afternoon I saw him happily asleep in the kitchen ,
his cap on his face ,black with contended flies .I had asked for Flit and more
Flit but for Aziz Mosquitoes were the solution. Then one day I asked for Ice.
And aziz said
“ Anybody do not like ice . Ice is heating. ”
And this reply led to one of our silences .”
(4) One day Aziz brought a college student to the Hotel and
introduced him as Bashir . Bashir was nineteen . Bashir introduced himself
saying “ I am best sports person . I am best swimmer . I know all chemistry and
all physics . I am inter-dined .” Bashir brought another friend to the hotel
who introduced himself as kadir . kadir had small eyes and a square gentle
face. He was studying engineering and wanted to be a writer .Bashir added “ He
is best Poet ”. The best poet’s shirt was , open at the neck , was dirty .
There was hole in the top of his pullover .
Bashir added “ He is great drinker . Too much of whiskey”
And this was a proof of his talent.
In India
poets and Musicians are required to live the part : It is necessary to be sad
and alcoholic .
I said to kadir “ Do you really drink ?”
“ Yes “ he said .
Bashir ordered him to recite his poem .
Kadir said “ But he will not understand urdu ”.
Bashir said “ I translate ”.
And Qadir recited .
Bashir added “ He talk about poor Boatman’s daughter in the
poem. She give colour to the rose . You get it Mister . Another man would say
that the rose gives her colour . He say she give colour to rose . ”
“That is beautiful ” I said .
The discussion switched over to sheikh Mohd Abdullah .kadir
said
“ I will give you one example of the greatness of sheikh
Mohd Abdullah.One year , you know, the crops failed and people were starving
.They went to sheikh Abdullah and said . “ Sheikh Abdullah , we have no rice .
We are starving .Give us rice.” To this sheikh Abdullah said “ Eat Potatoes ”.
Humour was not intended . The advice was sound ”
( 5 ) “When I decided to go for Amarnath yatra Aziz said
“ You want a cook . You want a coolie . You want sweeper .
You want seven pony. ”
And Each pony came with its owner . This would make fourteen
of us altogether , Not counting animals , with Aziz in charge .
I began pruning “ No Cook “”
Aziz said “ He not only cook., Sahib he guide .”
The cook was Aziz Protégé . The cook had revealed to me that
he could not walk and he needed a pony. He had also sent a word from the
kitchen through Aziz that he also needed a pair of New shoes for the journey.
In the meantime Mr Butt had summoned an English knowing scribe from the lake
who had prepared rough estimate for the Yatra. It was a remarkable document ,an
unfamiliar language and an unfamiliar script and most of its approximations
understandable . Too understandable . I was being overcharged .
1 From Srinagar
to Palguime boy Bus Rotine Rs30=
2 Roding Poine Rotine Rs150=
3 Pakige Ronie Rotine Rs100=
4 Tente a kachen Rs25=
5 Tabel chare bed Rs15=
One Colie Rs30=
6 Sweeper Rs 20=
7 Extre Loding and Noey Lodin Colie Rs20=
8 from 11 august to 17 august 7 day
Conteri food Rs161=
__________________________________________________
_________________________________Total______Rs551___________
If you are going Bus
for Imri Nath then is last 100 Rs.......
(7) On my departure day , Mr Butt assembled the servants for
the tipping ceremony. Ali Mohd , Aziz , The Gardener and the cook ………….. The tonga
roof sloped low . We had to lean forward to see the lake and the mountains .
The town was awakening from minute to minute and the Tourist Reception Centre ,
when we got to it , was infernally alive.
“ Three Rupees .” The Tongawala said .
I paid two. The Tongawala refused to touch the notes. I
offered no more . He threatened me with his whip. I seized him by the throat.
Aziz intervened
“ He not Tourist ”
“ Oh, ” said the Tongawala . He dropped his whip and I
released him. Our own seats had now been secured and out bags placed below the
Tarpaulin on the roof of the Bus . We shook hands with Aziz and Ali Mohd and
went inside .
“ You do not worry about Tongawala sir. I settle . ” said
Aziz.
There were tears in his eyes. The engine started .
“ You do not worry sahib. Correct fare three rupees . . I
pay. ” said Aziz .
The driver was blowing the horn.
“ Correct fare . Morning fare sahib. Two rupees three rupees
, What difference .? Good bye . Good Bye.”
I dug into my pockets .
“ Do not worry sahib. Good Bye . ”
Through the window I pushed out some notes . He took them .
Tears were running down his cheeks . Even at that moment , I could not be sure
that he had ever been mine . ”
And NAIPAUL, with his
sharp observations, describes the life of lake dwellers ( Dal lake ) in
such a manner as is easily identifiable for any person who has moved inside
the this lake . I quote
(1 ) “ The Hotel stood on one of the main Boat lanes ,the
silent Highways of the lake .In the morning the flotilla of grass laden boats
passed , paddled by women sitting cross legged at the stern , almost level with
the water . ”
(2) “The clouds fell
low over the mountains ,sometimes in a level bank
and sometimes shredding far into the valleys . The temple at the top of
the Shankarcharya hill , one thousand feet above us , was hidden . We would
think of the lonely Brahmin up there ,
with his woolen cap and small charcoal Brazier ( Kangri ) below his pinky brown blanket ”.
(3) “ The lake was rich . It provided for all. It provided
weeds and mud for the vegetable plots ……..A boy twirled his bent pole in the
water , lifted and he had a bundle of rich dripping weed . It provided fodder for animals .It
provided reeds for thatching .It provided fish , so numerous in the clear water
that these could be seen just below the steps of the busy Ghat…….On some
days the lake was dotted with fishermen
who seemed to be walking on water : They stood erect and still on the edge of
their barely moving boats , their Tridents raised , their eyes as sharp as those of the kingfishers on the willows .”
“ AN AREA OF DARKNESS
” By Sir V S Naipaul is RECOMMENDED for enjoyable reading .More than 50% of the
book is on Kashmir of 1963..
( Autar Mota 16.05.2014 )
CHINAR SHADE by
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