SANYEEN INTERNET
Chapter 5: Hagia Sofia
Hagia Sofia
(Fourth chapter)
Adam Khan Chughtai and Daowd
Ansari, they arrived Istanbul. They were exhausted, tired and knackered,
especially Adam had headache.
It has been three or four days that they were travelling and Adam hadn't have
tea during this journey. He
had migraine problem since he was little boy. They were unable to understand
that
what they should do.
Adam said, "We should
find some hotel because since we left home i didn't have shower. I want to
brush my
teeth and my clothes are
dirty as well".
Daowd said, "The real
story has started now my love. During the journey you have been talking about
talking
on literature and poetry. Now
you will be entering in the world of illiterate and uncultured people".
As soon as they came out from
the bus, the tourist information centre's people and commission agents of
hotels and cab drivers (taxi
drivers) started bothering them. They said no to everyone.
Adam said, "Yar (friend)
why don't we go to Y.M.C.A. (Young Men Christians Association) hostel or any
youth hostel".
Daowd said, "Are you mad
or twisted. You want that we spend all money in staying in hotels. We aren't in
Pakistan. When and whenever
we need money, we will have it. Now we are foreigner. First of all we will
have to find some agent who
will take us, with his dunkey. (When you cross the border of some country
illegally and clandestinely.
The people who you pay money to cross the border are called agents and in
agents
language this illegal border
crossing is called dunkey). Like this we enter in Yunnan (Greece). It will cost
us
five hundred dollars to one
thousand dollars".
Adam asked him, "i don't
understand what it means, agent and dunkey".
"I told you before that
when someone crosses the border of some country without visa or illegal
documents,
agents call it dunkey.
Whoever takes commission and helps you in legal or illegal things and solve
your
problems that person is
called agent either he is Pakistani or Turkish, French or English. You can find
them in
all nations, races and
religions. May be, one day you will become an agent. You are multitalented. For
your
kind information, if we go to
youth hostel or Y.M.C.A. hostel for that we should have their membership card.
Which you can get from
Pakistan and second thing we need is that we should have youth hostel
reservation of
Yucelt Inter Youth Hostel.
Last time when i came to turkey i stayed there than
I went to Jaggi Dada and
stayed there. During the dunkey he was being copped but they deported us. Some
of
them are still in jail but
you don't worry about it. Someone must be at that place. Now let me telephone
them".
They were unable to contact
their concerned and relevant person. They stayed in a cheap hotel. Daowd
changed some dollars with
Turkish liras. He bought the bus ticket and went to see the relevant person and
reminded Adam that you should
take care of documents and money. You mustn't think that if you lock the
door of your hotel's room and
everything will be safe and sound. Hotel's worker always has double keys or
master key. They come to
change bed sheets, towel and soap and they steal money and documents sometime
Chapter 5: Hagia Sofia
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as well. It doesn't mean that
whatever i am saying will happened but one has to be careful.
First of all Adam brushed his
teeth than he had shower, changed his clothes and went to the hotel's
restaurant
to eat something but he lost
appetite. He took his money and important documents with him just in case. He
came out from his hotel's
restaurant and started walking in the street. All signboards were in English
but when
he tried to read them, the
alphabets were a, b, c but he was unable to understand. It must have been
transliteration or some other
language. He thought about ratta amrall where in the streets people used to
park
their galley and variegated
painted trucks with Urdu calligraphic transliteration of English words like
khan
goods forwarding. He used to
read it khan goduz for wording instead of khan goods forwarding. When he was
bit grown than he got the
real pronunciation. It wasn't goduz for wording it was goods forwarding.
Similarly
he used to do the same
mistakes in Urdu and English as well like Milad Nagar and electric, his
pronunciation
was mela danger and Ali
krack. For him all Turkish sign boards were like trucks Urdu calligraphic
transliteration of English
words. Now he was sure and definite that he was in a foreign country because
turkey
is very modern. It's entirely
different from Iran. People are liberal and open minded. National language is
Turkish but people can speak
German and English too.
He entered in a small shop.
Old man was playing with his moustaches and he was saying in Turkish language
to his customer. As he saw
Adam he said, "What? ------yes"
Adam selected few post cards
of hagia Sofia, Suleimanya mosque, blue mosque etc. At the back of the post
cards it was written in four
languages English, German, French and Turkish. After paying him money he came
out from the shop and again
started walking in the street. One out hundred glanced at him. He was humming
and snuffing
Tera shehr bhi kina ajeeb hay
Koe dost hay na raqeeb hay
Sudharshan Fakhir
Your city is strange; I have
neither friend nor enemy.
Suddenly he looked at a shop
which wasn't restaurant or bar, dhabba or takeaway. An iron rod was full of
meat and it was moving and
parallel to it, there was gas heater which was for roasting that meat. It was
exactly like heater which is
being used in cold weather in houses). A man was cutting the slices of that
meat
with a very sharp and big
table knife and was putting those slices of meat in a Nan, (a kind of chapatti
or roti)
filling it with salad and was
giving it to customers.
Adam asked, "What is
this"?
"Doner kebab, you
tourist"?
"Yes".
"From"?
"Pakistan".
"Arkadash,
arkadash".
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Adam liked doner kebab very
much. He came back to hotel's room. Everything was okay. He checked. He
checked everything there
wasn't missing anything. After a while daowd came. He was a little bit marry
and
tipsy.
"Yar (friend) i had it
after many days. Raki is very strong beer. After having two tins i am drunk.
You should
drink as well, don't you feel
it's very hot".
Adam was shocked, what is
this, Daowd drinks as well. Anyway it wasn't new thing for him because in Ratta
Amrall people used to drink
alcohol and used to make noise and create disturbance. They used to fall in
drain
lines (nali or badro, it's
the name of drain line Urdu. It's a drainage system which is uncovered. Which
is still
in use in most of Pakistani
cities accept Islamabad. I used drain line for nali). He didn't like it but he
hasn't
said even a single word.
Daowd started prating,
"Bubbly, bubbly you are mine. I will get you and uncle i will become very
rich, richer
than you. Adam you betrayed
me as well. During the journey you chatted with that beautiful girl. If i knew
French, i would have been
talking with her than Daowd slept. These were his last words.
Next morning when they woke
up, Adam repeated the whole story what daowd was saying when he was
drunk. Daowd refused to
accept that he said all this. Adam said, "Forget about it i was pulling
your leg. What
about agent. Did you find
someone"?
"Yes i found one. He is
Indian sardar (sardar is a term used for Sikhs the followers of Baba Guru Nanak).
His
name is Kishan Singh Jutla
but everyone call him Shinda. His one group has gone. We will go next week.
Just
keep your fingers cross that
our dunkey should be successful. I was copped at that time; by the way you are
very lucky and fortunate. We
hadn't had any problem during journey and i hope same in the future".
Adam, "what about
mehjabeen"?
Daowd, "just forget it;
i must have been drunk so I prated".
Adam, "turkey is Islamic
country but alcohol is legal here".
Daowd, "what about Pakistan.
Isn't it Islamic country? Can't you buy alcohol there"?
Adam, "yes you can buy
but openly not".
Daowd, "what's the
difference, openly or secretly; if they stop brewing alcohol in muree brewery
than it will
be more interesting"?
Adam, "you are right but
if they stop brewing in muree brewery than people will start brewing on their
own in
their houses. Still they do
it. It was open during roti, kapra aur makan's (food, clothes and
shelter)period than
surmaywali sarkar (Zia ul
haque used to use mascara in his a lot so people named him surmaywali sarkar)
banned it and people start
smoking heroin and hashish. We had these curses".
Daowd, "just forget
these political things. You had been anywhere or not"?
Adam, "i just went to
bazaar. I had doner kebab and bought these cards".
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Daowd, "what you gonna
do with these cards. Do you know that we will cross the border in pantaloons
and
shirt? We will leave
everything here. You are very extravagance and prodigal person".
Adam, "What about you,
you drink beer and smoke cigarettes".
Daowd, "that i can't
stop. I mean cigarettes and you know beer isn't liquor. I drink quite often
when it's very
hot. It's the essence of
barley".
Adam, "do you know what
is Hagia Sofia or Haya Sofia"?
Daowd, "Adam you are
very strange person. We aren't here for travelling or tourism purpose. You
don't know
that if we will be deported,
people will laugh at us. They will make fun of us, like you had seen in Anwar
cafe, where we met first
time".
Adam, "but we still have
one week".
Daowd, "one week's food,
hotel bill".
Adam, "i am not going to
see them. I am just asking you. Maybe i will get some information or
pamphlet".
Daowd, "and maybe it's
quite possible that during the week we go to Greece".
Adam, "daowd, i haven't
heard azan (call for pray like bell ringing in churches for vesper or
mass)".
Daowd, "no it isn't
true. In turkey it's little bit different than Pakistan. Apart from azan their
all kinds of
prayers are in Turkish
language. My father offers prayer five times a day. As he hears azan he goes to
towards
mosque. He has mehrab (a
black mark on forehead) sign on his forehead. I don't know what he does. He
rubs
more than others when he goes
into sajda (prostrate).
Adam, "so namaz and all
other prayers are in Turkish".
Daowd, "yes of course.
Atta Turk Kamal Pasha, he changed turkey. Before him Turkish used to have long
beards. He modernised Turkish
language. Before they used to use Arabic alphabets, now they use European
alphabets. That's why Turkish
calls him Atta Turk, father of Turks.
Adam, "daowd you are
unknown genius. I never knew that that you know a lot".
Daowd, "what you think
of me. Don't you know that i spent one week and i suffered ignominy".
Adam, "but how we will
go to Greece".
Daowd, "that's Mr.
Shanda's headache. He will sort out everything. He is very clever agent. He
prepares
dunkey according to the
circumstances and situation. Okay Adam, i am getting late. I must go. I will
see you
in the evening".
Adam said, "And
me"?
"Wait for me, maybe we
will move there at Mr. Shanda's flat. We can't afford this hotel for many days.
It's
quite possible that our
dunkey will late".
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Adam thought, he must collect
some important information. He dressed up nicely and walked down in the
bazaar. Weather was nice so
he kept on walking. He had severe headache, so he was thinking that he should
drink qehwah, beer he never
had. He thought why he shouldn't drink coffee. It contains nicotine and
caffeine
so it will be better for my
headache. He entered in a cafeteria. When he read the name of cafeteria, he got
surprised and amazed,
"Berlin cafe". He came out and sat outside in Berlin cafe's terrace. Waiter
came and
asked. He ordered coffee.
After a little while waiter brought coffee. Adam added two spoon of sugar and
started drinking coffee. As
soon as he sipped it he felt that he had quinine or fruit of margosa but he
hadn't
showed through his face
expressions that he didn't like the taste. This was his first experience of
drinking
coffee; he never had it
before so he added six tea spoon of sugar in his cup and started mixing it.
Adjacent to
him a white man sitting. He
must be in his late fifties. He was buried in thoughts and was looking on maps
and sketches. Adam thought,
he should ask him about hagia Sofia may he have some knowledge about it.
Seems like tourist.
Adam, "excuse me".
Gora, "yes".
Adam, "do you know
something about hagia Sofia".
Gora, "Yes, it's a
historical church".
Adam, "i am sorry. My
name is Adam, Adam khan chughtai and yours"?
Gora, "My name is Henry.
Henry Globjatnikof and I am from States, I mean United States of America".
Adam, "i am from
Pakistan".
Globjatnikof, "Oh
Pakistan, The neighbouring country of India. You have Kashmir problem and
afghan
refugee problem as
well".
Adam, "these are
political stunts; the political tycoons cash every political issue".
Globjatnikof, "well, i
have nothing to do with these things by the way i am restorer".
Adam, "what restorer
does"?
Globjatnikof, "i am
working for byzantine institute of America. Me and my team, we are restoring
byzantine
monuments since 1931. I am
working in hagia Sofia. We are still repairing tapestries, frescos and
mosaics".
Adam, "what are these,
Frescos, tapestries and mosaics"?
Globjatnikof, "I tell
you one by one.
Tapestries: any heavy cloth
woven with decorative designs and pictures.
Frescoes: the art of painting
with water colour on wet plaster.
Mosaic: the process of making
pictures or designs by inlaying small bits of coloured stone or glass
etc".
Adam, "thank you very
much, Mr. Glob---jat---ni---kof. Your name is very difficult. Would you like to
tell
me something about Hagia
Sofia"?
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Globjatnikof, "Why not
with pleasure, I am working there from last many weeks.
It's originally known as The
Great Church. The name hagia Sofia means the holy wisdom of Christ, the
second person of the holy
trinity. Byzantium king Justinian conceived the grandiose project. Construction
work lasted for five years
from 532a.d. to 537 a.d. and on December 27th, 537 a.d. Patriarch Menas
consecrated the magnificent
church. It was great church of Constantinople. Six hundred people were serving.
Eighty priests, hundred and
fifty deacons, forty deaconess, sixty sub deacons, hundred and sixty readers,
twenty five chanters, seventy
five door keepers.
Constantinople suffered in
the hands of Catholics crusaders after 1204. Latin crusaders looted everything
from
the church. Seven embossed of
gold gospels books were looted as well. On Tuesday, may 1453 sultan
Mehmat the conqueror entered
the vanquished city late in the afternoon and rode to hagia Sofia. He was
amazed at its beauty and
decided to convert the cathedral into his imperial mosque".
Adam "thanks Mr.
Globjatnikof. It's very interesting but what happened after 1453".
Globjatnikof, "as i told
you, it became mosque in 1453 with minarets and great chandelier was added. In
the
17th century Byzantine
mosaics were uncovered. In 1847 sultan Abdul majid hired two Italian restorers,
Gasper Fossati and Giuseppe
Fossati, all mosaics were restored. In 1935 it was made into museum. The walls
are still hung with Muslim
calligraphic disks and since 1931; the byzantine institute of America has been
uncovering and cleaning the
Christians mosaics".
Adam, "Mr. Globjatnikof,
last question. At the beginning, you told me, you and your team are restoring
Byzantine monuments. It means
there isn't only hagia Sofia. There are other monuments as well".
Globjatnikof, "there
list is too big but there are twenty five byzantine churches. Many of these are
still in use
as mosques".
Adam, "Mr. Globjatnikof
you live in America but you name is Russian".
Globjatnikof, "Mr.
Chughtai you live in Pakistan but your name is Turkish-mongoloid. Similarly my
parents
were Jew and they left Russia
due to communism and they were settled in Estonia. When Estonia became the
part of Russian government so
they migrated to states, I was born over there so i am more American than
anybody else".
Globjatnikof just said this
and his mobile phone started ringing. He said excuse me and started talking and
then said, "Mr.
Chughtai, nice meeting you. If you want to see hagia Sofia or more
information's about
byzantine monuments, this is
my card. You don't need to pay the entrance fee. Just show them my card. They
will let you in".
Adam, "thank you very
much Mr. Globjatnikof. If i will have time i will come. I would love to see all
byzantine monuments".
Adam looked at coffee cup and
sipped it but it was as cold as ice. He drank it in one sip. It was still
bitter but
had the taste of sugar as
well. He was feeling nausea after having it. Waiter brought the bill. When he
looked
at the bill he hadn't have
enough money. Waiter called the owner of the restaurant and said that this
gentleman
isn't paying the bill.
Adam said, the rates aren't
much on the rate list and you are charging me that much. Just for only one cup
of
coffee.
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He said that on the rate list
we mention only those rates, the coffee or anything you have at the counter and
terrace where you are sitting
we pay different kinds of taxes for that terrace. So rates are different at the
counter and of terrace. This
bar isn't for beggars. I did hard work in Germany for ten years so that's how i
am
being able to open this bar,
by the way where you from?
Adam said, "jee (yes)
Pakistan".
As he heard Adam's respond he
said, "Arkadash, arkadash. I am sorry. You keep your money. You are our
brothers but next time keep
in mind don't believe in rate list. Please forgive me i was a bit nasty and
harsh".
Adam said, "I will pop
in some other time and i will give you the rest" but he refused to take
it.
He said, "i am getting
embarrass".
Adam had a last glance at
Berlin bar and looked at his watch. It was late. He walked towards hotel
When Adam arrived at hotel
daowd was desperately waiting for him.
Daowd said, "Where were
you? You must have been in some tourist information centre. Pack your baggage.
We are moving at Jutla
sahib's place. We will shift there. From there we will go to our further
destiny".
They did their packing quickly,
took taxi and arrived at Jutla's house, in agent's language adda.
Jutla sahib's house was in
Uskudar area. Mostly Asians live in this area like Iranian, Pakistani,
Hindustani,
Bengali, and srilankan. Here,
agents prepare dunkies for Greece and Italy.
As soon as Adam and daowd
arrived there Jutla sahib was waiting for them. He received them cordially,
"Sat
shri akal, shalama
alaykum".
Adam was being shocked. Slim
and tall, his getup wasn't like Sikhs. He hadn't have Sikhs turban, no beard.
Adam got stunned. During the
Besakhi (it's a spring festival for Sikhs the follower of Baba Guru Nanak. As a
matter of fact baba guru
Nanak was born in Telondi, Nankana Sahib a town which is closed to Shiekhupura.
And there is legend that baba
guru Nanak was coming back from Middle East so on the way back he stopped
at Hassan Abdal which is on
grand trunk road. He had grudge with Baba Wali Qandahari who was meditating
on the hill which was quite
high and he had a spring of sweet water. Baba Guru Nanak was thirsty so he
asked
him for the water which baba
guru refused to give him and said if you power you can ask the water to come to
you. Baba Guru Nanak used his
stick and stroked on the floor and that spring's water came to him and baba
wali Qandahar got angry and
he threw a big stone which baba guru nanak with his single arm and that stone
got the mark of baba guru
nanak. In the memory of that Sikhs made a gurdwaras in Hassan Abdal and placed
that hand mark of baba guru
Nanak in gurdwaras a sacred thing. So this place is called panja sahib. Panja
is
Punjabi word and it means
hand) period he had seen many Sikhs at the Rawalpindi railway station. From
Rawalpindi they go to Hassan
Abdal. On the other hand Jutla Sahib was beyond his imaginations. He never
dreamt about it that he will
see some clean shaved Sikh.
Jutla, "you want to some
coc"?
Adam said quickly, "yes
i will".
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He was very thirsty. His
throat was nearly dry due to thirst. Jutla sahib swiftly took out a small white
packet
from his pocket and made two
lines with that white powder, to make slim lines of white powder he used
telephone card than he made
pipe with Turkish lira and sucked that white powder's line. Then he gave that
Turkish lira's pipe to Adam
and said, "It's your turn. Have some coc".
Adam was surprised and
astonished, "what is this maharaj"?
"This is cocaine. It's
called coc as well".
"Jee! (Yes) i thought
you were talking about coca cola".
After having the second line
of coc Jutla sahib said, "A thing of beauty is joy forever" (Keats)
"Say this city has ten
million souls" (W.H. Auden)
Adam was surprised and
bewildered that what Mr. Jutla was doing but he was only listening and thinking
that
Jutla sahib knows a lot about
literature.
Again Jutla sahib spoke,
"Oay Prachay, show them their room, where they will sleep".
Prachay took both of them in
the room. There were a lot of pairs of shoes and sleepers on the floor and it
was
full of mattresses. As they
entered in the room, boys started coming back. They were Bengali, Sardar
(Sikhs)
Pakistani for Adam it was
amazing and strange as well. Suddenly a boy came close to them and said,
"Are you
Pakistani"?
Adam responded,
"Yes".
Boy, "where you from my
brothers"?
Adam, "we are from
Rawalpindi and you"?
Boy, "we are from
Sargodha. Do you have any spare miswak (a piece of bough with which Muslim
clean their
teeth. It's the part of
religion before every ablution they use it good if you use miswak otherwise you
can
brush the teeth as
well)".
Adam, "well i have my
own tooth brush".
Boy, "what is
this".
Adam, "it's a brush for
teeth".
Boy, "can i borrow your
tooth brush, my teeth are dirty. I want to clean them".
Adam, "but that's mine
tooth brush".
Boy, "it doesn't matter,
when i will use it, than i will wash it and give it back to you. After all we
are Muslim.
It won't be dirty".
Adam was unable to understand
the situation. He though that he is in fowl's house, Jutla was smoking cocaine,
this gentleman was asking for
tooth brush.
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Daowd said, "How are
you. What about tourism and literature. This is the beginning. You will see
more later
on".
Mattresses were spread on the
floor. All of them were sleeping like dead bodies, Adam wasn't. He was
thinking about past. Whenever
there would have been some wedding and mourning ceremony in ratta amrall,
people used to make
arrangement for the guests like this, most of the time they used to borrow
mattresses.
Adam was trying to sleep but
he was unable to sleep. It was sort of insomnia. He started thinking about the
place where he was. He
started thinking about everyone one by one, Najma begum, Nadia Behram Kharal,
Khaqan Khan Chughtai. He
started thinking, why we all escape. Najma begum, she wants to escape from his
life, even she doesn't lack
anything. Nadia behram wants to escape as well but escape from what. His father
Khaqan khan, he wants to
escape from his kids but why? Human being is running since ages. Parsi
(Zoroasters) escaped from
Iran to India, Muslims from India to Pakistan. Globjatnikof parents escaped
from
Russia to Estonia and from
Estonia to United States of America. Zaheer Uddin Babar left Samarkand and
Bukhara and came to India.
Aryans left Metanic tribes and came to India, Iran and some of them to Ireland.
Why? Why we are running? When
will it be ended this escape and then he fell asleep.
Next morning when he woke up,
he felt the aroma and scent of paratha (a kind of roti or chapatti which is
roasted in oil or butter) and
curry. He was surprised again. He asked Doawd, "We will have tea as well
here"?
Daowd, "Yes of course
but we will not stay here long If our dunkey will be successful than in weeks
time we
will be in Europe. Our next
station or stop is Alexanderapolis".
While they were talking,
Jutla sahib called them.
"Well Pakistaniyo, dod
(daowd) sahib what is your name"?
"Jee! Adam khan
chughtai".
"Chughtai Sahib, i need
your four photos, passport size of both and five hundred dollars each as well.
In five
hundred dollars includes
lodging, food and dunkey charges as well and one thing keep in your mind Jutla
doesn't trust anyone about
money matters. Chughtai sahib you were laughing at me yesterday what sort of
sardar (Sikh) he is. It
wasn't me; my circumstances were unfavourable so i had to change myself".
Adam, "gee, i wasn't
laughing at you i was laughing about my stupidity that i didn't know that
cocaine is
called coc as well. By the
way you like literature".
Shinda (Jutla), "used to
be a literary person. I came to turkey to go to Europe like you people and
since that i
am stuck here. W. H. Auden
was used to be my favourite poet. Now i don't remember anything. Now i snuffle
and hum his poetry sometime.
Two poems are very good. One was unknown citizen and the other is, (after
thinking little bit) oh! Yes
refugee's blues".
Adam, "you were reading
some verses of Keat's odds as well yesterday".
Shinda (Jutla) oh! Yes he
died early but he did his part very well. Dod (daowd) was telling me, you were
studying literature and
philosophy. How did you select this life"?
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Adam didn't believe that he
is talking to Jutla sahib the one who was their agent for dunkey. Yesterday he
wasn't becoming under least
obligation and today he was calling him with lot of respect.
Adam, "well there isn't
any special reason. I was very fed up of my environment. I was feeling
suffocation and
during this dilemma i met
daowd and now i am here".
Shinda (Jutla) you will not
have to wait for long. In one week you will be in Greece. Rest of things god
and
guru knows better. It depends
on their will".
Adam, "since how long
you have been living here? You must be speaking Turkish as well".
Shinda (Jutla), "to be
very honest with you, i am not very good in Turkish but i can speak bangle and
Farsi
(Persian) very well".
Adam, "how come"?
Shinda (Jutla), "its
long story, Chughtai sahib come with me. We will sit in a separate room"
he shouted, "O!
Prachay, get me bottle of
whisky ice cubes and glass and for Chughtai sahib coca cola, leave it for him
make
tea with milk. I mean
P.G.Tips (a brand of black tea). He must be dying for nice cup of tea".
Adam, "how do you know
that"?
Shinda (Jutla) come with
me". He took him in a separate room and started telling him his story.
"Adam sahib i belong to
a rich family of Punjab. You wouldn't believe me but Indian government became
against us after the
assassination of Indra Ghandi and Rajeev Ghandi. I completed my masters in
English
literature. My father
disappeared unknowingly although he didn't have any involvement in politics.
One day
he came back but he was very
change.
They heard the footfall,
Jutla said, "Prachay come in, put whisky and tea on the table". He
did accordingly and
went back.
Jutla restarted the story.
"So what i was saying
Adam sahib"? He kept quite than said, "I was the leader of student
union in my college.
One day my father said, my
son, stop these activities. I didn't listen to him and one day i was being
expelled
from college on false
accusation than i was being involved in false cases by the police. My whole
family was
upset for me. So one day i
left them and entered in Bangladesh illegally. I was willing to forget my identity
because me and my family, we
were suffering just because of being Sikhs. Our leaders, Hindus, Sikhs and
Muslims deep down inside they
are all same but youngster like me who know the truth, politicians are afraid
of them. If Hindus, Sikhs and
Muslims they fight each other in India, it's better for politicians. Like
Pakistan
has Shiites and Sunnites
stunt. Politicians they take the advantage of these things. In Bangladesh i had
haircut
and shaved my beard. I stop
following the five basic principles of Sikhs. Which Kach, Kara, Karpan, Kanga
and Kesh (special kind of
underwear which means before marriage one shouldn't use his genital organ for
sexual intercourse and after
marriage he us it only for his wife not for somebody else or he masturbate, it's
metallic wrist band kind of
bracelet, a small dagger to protect oneself, comb to keep combed, hair because
Sikhs they don't cut their
hair, no head shaving or hair cut no shaving they grow their beard and they
don't
even cut pubic hair even of
armpits and around genital organs). And became Mona Sikh (shaved one) but our
guru jee (baba guru Nanak)
knows that his kids they make mistakes.
Chapter 5: Hagia Sofia
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I came to Pakistan illegally
from Bangladesh in a small boat. I spent few days in Karachi than i went to
Quetta
and from Quetta i came to
Iran. I spent three years in Iran. I was working in a Sikh's restaurant.
During the period of mughal
king Aurangzeb Alamgir lots of Sikhs migrated to Iran because Aurangzeb was
very against the Sikhs. He
started killing our gurus. Lots of families migrated to neighbouring countries.
So
my boss's great grandfather
migrated to Iran. I never told him that i am Sikh. Than i got fed up of Iran
and i
came to turkey. I was willing
to go to Greece but we were being copped. Turkish people are very nice but
their police are very bad.
They beat us very badly. In jail i started sucking or smoking cocaine for
tranquillity
because i had insomnia. The
drug which i started for tranquillity and to get some sleep it became my habit
and
my circumstances made me
agent. It would have been such a good thing if we wouldn't have been Sikh,
Muslim or Hindu. We would
have been only human beings, than i would have been living tranquil life. We
weren't involved in Rajeev's
assassination. Chughtai sahib during this period i didn't phone my family and
wrote them any letter because
they tape our telephone calls and censor our letters as well. I don't even know
how they are". And Jutla
started crying and whisky's bottle was empty as well.
Adam stood up and came to
daowd.
"Yar (friend), Jutla
sahib's story is very sad and pitiable".
Daowd said, "you are the
first person to whom he has related his story otherwise he doesn't speak to no
one,
until, unless he needs".
While they were busy in
discussion a guy came and interrupted them.
Person, "Do you know any
barbershop around here. I need to shave my beard".
Daowd, "we don't know
anyone".
Person, "Where you had
yours done"?
Daowd, "We have our own
safety razors, I mean blades".
Person, "you are
barber".
Adam responded, "Yes we
are barber, kammi (untouchable or working class) and you".
Person, "we have marabay
(piece of land equivalent to twenty five acres) not even one, we have four
marabay".
Adam, "why you are here.
You are here to do some welfare and beneficiary work in turkey for Turkish
people".
Person, "well, actually
it isn't like that. We have enmity and rancour in our family. We used to have
quarrels,
wrangles and drubbing every day.
So our father spoke to agent and now we are here. Let's see what will
happen".
Adam, "in your village
how you used to shave, i mean cut your beard".
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Person, "a barber had to
come once a week in our home because they are kammi (working class)
untouchables. For this
service we give them wheat every year, which is enough for one year. And give
them
other food stuff and on our
marriages they deliver messages to everyone in the village".
Adam, "why don't you buy
a disposable razor from the bazaar and shave you beard"?
Person, "how can we go
to bazaar and buy that thing. We can't speak their language. Why don't you come
with us"?
Adam, "Nor do i speak
and understand their language".
Person, "but you must
know English, don't you"?
Adam responded in a way that
he wanted to get rid of them, "but they speak Turkish or little bit
German. My
English will not be
useful".
Person, "do you have
their currency because we don't have it".
Adam, "you must have
dollars".
Person, "we do have
dollars but our father told us, you shouldn't spend them. I have only hundred
dollars;
anyway i don't need any
money. Everything is paid. Our payment is up to Greece. One our kammi's
(working
class or untouchable) son is
in Greece. He will take us when we will arrive in Greece".
Adam has given him Turkish
liras and said, "Take these and go to any shop or kiosk and indicate or
show him
that you need this".
He took the money and had
gone. Adam said to Daowd that malik sahib is going to Europe and he left his
marabay (25 acres land) on
the disposal (behalf) of their tillers and cultivators. They are going to whom,
to
their kammi's son. They will
stay with him.
It must have been passed few
moments that guy came again and he had disposable razor in his hand.
Person, "will you shave
my beard".
Adam, "i forgot my
instruments and tools of barber and you don't have towel either".
Person, "it doesn't
matter. You can use your towel. We are Muslim brothers. You aren't kafir (the
one doesn't
believe in one good). It
doesn't matter you are kammi (working class) you are massali (cleaner any lower
job)
or mirassi (musician or
entertainer of village)".
Adam had to listen to all
this because of his own mistake because of his sense of humour. That gentleman
was
thinking that Adam is barber
in real life. This is his profession. Anyhow Adam gave him his towel and said,
"Malik sahib you should
cut your moustaches as well because in Europe you will find most of men clean
shave, if someone have
moustaches just for fashion".
Person, "what are you
talking about. Moustaches are sign of masculinity".
Adam got confused and
embarrassed because of all these things and said, "Daowd what is
this".
Chapter 5: Hagia Sofia
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Daowd said, "What is
this? This is the beginning my dear. You will see more interesting things in
the near
future".
Ibtadae ishq hay rota hay
kiya
Aagay aagay deykhiye hota hay
kiya
Mir Taqui Mir
(This is the beginning of
love story and you are crying. It will be worse. Let's see what will happen)
All of a sudden they heard
uproar and tumult.
Person 1: "malka what
you did".
Person2, "you know that
babbo (gentleman) sahib who is sitting in the room he said that i should cut my
moustaches. So i did it. Here
no one will see".
Person 1: "so i shall
cut them as well".
Person 2, "go ahead, my
razor is still there".
Adam, "you both are
brothers"?
Malik, "yes like
brothers"
Adam, "what do you mean,
like brothers? Aren't you brothers"?
Malik, "in our village
first cousins are like brothers. We don't pronounce them cousin".
Adam, "what is your
name"?
Malik: "jee (yes) Malik
Lehrasab".
Adam: "and other Malik
Sahib".
Lehrasab: "jee (yes)
Malik Gustasab".
Adam got shocked that both of
them have very difficult Persian names.
Adam, "malik sahib, your
name, isn't it difficult".
Lehrasab, for us they aren't
difficult. I call him Lehro and he calls me Gusto. What is your name"?
Adam, Jee, Adam khan
chughtai".
Lehrasab, "and your
other companion, what is his name"?
Adam, "Daowd
Ansari".
Chapter 5: Hagia Sofia
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Lehrasab, "what were
your activities in Pakistan"?
Adam, "i was studying. I
was completing my masters; i mean i was in final year".
Lehrasab, "there is no
advantage of education. You only did your masters but out tehsildar's (revenue
and
administrative official in
charge of Tehsil and Tehsil is division of District) son is more educated than
you. He
did his graduation and got
admission in police. That poor chap is S. P. (superintendent police) now. Our
other
relative, he is only
intermediate and he is big officer. He is S.H.O. (station head officer). In
fact a master is
higher education and sp is
very high official rank but for villager' S. P.'s rank is lower than S.H.O. and
B.A. is
higher education this is
their innocence).
Adam was laughing at their
stupidity but internally and kept quite.
Next day Jutla sahib called
them and said, "Your dunkey is ready. I got the signal. You will leave
today but
before leaving all of you
have to listen and follow my instructions. You are six people who are leaving.
Malik
sahib i got your phone call
from Yunnan (Greece). As soon as you will be Yunnan (Greece), i will get the
money and you daowd and Adam
you give me money now" than he said something in bangla language to two
Bengalis and started giving
them instructions.
None of you will smoke and
drink alcohol.
A Turkish person will be your
guide. He doesn't know your language and you don't know his language. So he
will use sign language,
indications.
If you will be copped, will
not mention my name and clue about agent otherwise you will not get your money
back.
You shouldn't have anything
which shows that you are coming from Turkey like cigarette lighter, cigarettes,
shopping bags, Turkish liras,
telephone cards.
Your all documents like
passports, identity cards, bus passes. You will have to leave here under my
custody.
Any telephone number,
telephone dairy, you will have to memorize your important and useful numbers.
Especially before crossing
border, you will have to recheck your pockets. Sometime it's the mistake of
only
one person and ruins the
whole group. The people who do this business, i mean illegal border crossing
they
are very expert in their
profession. I am only a sub-agent, a collaborator.
No one needs to be scarred of
anything and has to help each other. When one of you will in need than pray to
Allah, Bhagwan, Eshwar and
whatever you call him. When you will be in Yunnan (Greece), Yunnani agent
will take you to
Alexanderapolis. He will leave you there than you go where ever you like.
Adam was looking at postcards
with wistful and pinning eyes. Neither has he seen hagia Sofia and
Suleimanya mosque nor blue
mosque. He was feeling sorrow that he hasn't seen these. He had longing to see
them in his heart. He was
happy and grumpy as well. He didn't know what will happen. None of them was
aware that what will happen.
Chapter 5: Hagia Sofia
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At midnight six of them came
out of their flat. A station wagon was waiting for them in parking. A man came
and gave them signal and all
of them moved quickly towards car. He stuffed them in the car (station wagon)
like sheep's and goats and
started the car. He gave them signal with his finger that keep quite. Car had
wireless system, with that he
was having update in-formations. He was speaking Turkish or Greek language.
Car was moving. They didn't
know where he drove. After a long time Adam read a sign board, Terirdag but
car was moving then Kesan
came. As soon as they cross kesan their car entered on un-metalled road. After
passing through this
un-metalled and un-even road, their car stopped in a very small town. The
houses were
made of clay, earth and stone
a kind of rubble masonry. Driver gave them signal so they came out of the car
and entered in the house. All
of them were following his signals and indications like someone moves puppets.
During that none of them were
talking to each other. All of them were being brought in the basement of that
house and light was being
switched off.
It must have two 'o' clock in
the morning. Someone opened the door, switched on the light and indicate them
to keep quite. He explained
them with signs, indications and in fractured English that you shouldn't have
any
kind of Turkish documents,
any paper or thing which has written Turkish language. He searched them
properly and took all foreign
currency which they had and indicated them to go towards car. This was another
station wagon. Driver ignited
the car again. He drove them into a dense forest. It was nearly dawn so due to
light they were able to see
images and things around them. It was summer season. Car driver sent message
through wireless and got the
okay report and indicated them that follow him. They were following his
instructions and were moving
like flock of sheep's. Their heads were down and they were advancing like
commandos and it was like
that that commandos are exercising for war.
Border police changes early
in the morning and you have to do everything during this period. Turkey and
Greece's border is called
Evros. It's the name of canal or you call it small river. If you cross evros,
it means
that your dunkey is
successful. If you are copped in Turkish territory, you will be badly punished
and if you
are copped in Greek territory
than you can claim political asylum.
The guide, whom they were
following, indicated them to stop and started talking on wireless. Evros was in
front of them. They were
looking at its water.
Their guide, he took off his
shoes, tied the laces of both shoes and hanged them around his neck than he
took
off his trousers and tied it
around his neck and wireless set was in his mouth. He stepped in Evros and started
walking according to the flow
of river. All boys copied and imitated him like monkeys.
Adam was first than daowd and
respectively everyone did the same. Evros's water very cold, they were
scarred of water flow and
they were not scarred that they will run out but they were worried about being
copped. They forgot, water
was cold, even though the river's current were agreeable. They were across the
evros. Their dunkey was
successful. Guide wore trousers quickly and put on his shoes and again started
running like army man. Boys
did the same. He took them in dense brambles and bushes. They heard the voice
of some car. They were hidden
in the bushes. Their guide indicated them and guided them up to the car. All of
them sat in the car as quick
as possible. It was straight car. One was at front and rest of them were at the
back
seat. Car started. Driver
accelerated the car but Adam was still trying to read the sign board. In Turkey
he was
able to read but over here
all signs and alphabets were different, Adam knew alpha, beta, gamma, and
epsilon.
He read the name of city. It
was something like EPE which was actually FERES and car was still moving.
Their car entered in a small
village than they saw signs of city, cars, building. Driver's mobile phone was
ringing. He started talking
and Adam was trying to understand but he guessed like that that he was saying
"mission
successful". Their driver parked the car in a big parking. There were
loads of cars. They came out
from the car one by one.
Driver started the car again and without saying anything he went away. Now six
of
them were in Greece, they
were in Alexanderapolis.
Chapter 5: Hagia Sofia
SANYEEN INTERNET
Chapter 5: Hagia Sofia
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