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edifice To
a wedding and back on a bus
edifice The sun has just
disappeared behind the mountains. Beneath the long hanging branches of the
old banyan tree, a devotee is sweeping leaves to clean the floor for
worshippers who are expected to arrive in a while. Hundreds of birds above are
chirping before settling down for the night. The fenced lawns outside are
full, with noisy children running around and playing, the adolescent
sauntering on the paved walkways, and their mothers gossiping. These late evening visitors
are usually from the nearby mohallahs who come here to escape power outages
— and take refuge in the Gor Khutree Complex. The colour palette for the
sky is rapidly changing and the light tones of gold are turning into crimson,
and violets merging with dark greys. Calls for evening prayers over
loudspeakers lure males of all age groups to the mosque at the north-western
corner of the Complex. Gorak Nath Temple, at the
Gor Khutree Archaeological Complex Peshawar, was built during the Sikh period
around 1834 to 1849. Their Italian General, Paolo Avitabile, used the Complex
as his residence. The temple is now open for Hindu worshippers who regularly
visit the site to pray to their gods. Just a few yards south,
Kaka Ram, the seyvek, is giving final touches to the preparations in the
Gorak Nath temple. Unlike the marbled floors and numerous fans at the mosque,
his temple has earthen floor and a couple of helpers are connecting a power
cable to the central building to light a few bulbs. Kaka Ram is waiting for
the prayers at the mosque to finish, as some of his guests are Muslim,
colleagues from his office at the secretariat, who will also attend
Sheranwali Mata’s parshad tonight. Six decades back, he was
born in a humble little house adjacent to the temple. Many generations of his
ancestors have served this temple before. His father died when he was seven.
They were expelled from their ancestral house; his mother had fought back
through courts. She won the temple back, in the year 2011, but their home at
the compound is lost, almost forever, and she parted with life on the first
day of last May. According to Kaka Ram, more
than 2000 people attended her funeral, the majority of who were Muslims. He
recalls his childhood times, when the huge well under the banyan tree used to
be frequented by parents with ailing children, both Hindu and Muslim, to
receive ashnans, a sacrament that is believed to cleanse and protect its
receivers from evil spells. His dealings and relationships with Muslim
friends and neighbours are not tainted with biases or discriminations. They
all celebrate Holis and Eids together and there is no purdah among their
families, something reserved only for very close relatives in a traditional
Peshawari society. The Muslim guests have
finished their prayers and are now waiting near the well for the ceremony to
begin. Pundit Gokal has arrived from another temple to lead the prayers, and
the number of worshippers is gradually increasing. The pundit is preparing a
huge platter of fresh fruits at Mata’s mandir while the attendees are
gathering in the arched aisle in the front. Following a few rituals, the
congregation, with equal number of women, and quite a few children, started
chanting the parshad. The sky has turned deep
blue and the banyan tree looks more imposing against it. The birds have gone
almost silent. The visitors outside, in the lawns, are gradually thinning out
and the peace of the night is gradually engulfing the compound, and the
streets around it.
To
a wedding and back on a bus About to embark
Wednesday night on a 16-hour bus trip from Chicago, Illinois, to Durham,
North Carolina in the United States, we all had our apprehensions. However,
it turned out to be quite a delightful journey, a pleasant and memorable
experience. A specially hired bus, with seating for about fifty-five
passengers, easily accommodated our group of thirty adults and eight children
who were either family members or close friends. The length of the journey
became irrelevant in view of the pleasure and warmth of friendly company.
Some of the adults and children kept themselves engaged in cards and other
games, while the rest of us enjoyed the large variety of snacks that were
freely available: from salted nuts to tacos, and from delicious
mini-tangerines to a variety of home-made delicacies. Food for the soul in the
form of music and books also kept several people happy, albeit with homeland
nostalgia. We were all in a jolly mood, looking forward to the four-day jaunt
to attend a wedding in the South. The prospective groom being
our nephew Nasir, my husband and I were keenly looking forward to meeting him
and his Korean-American wife-to-be, who were both expected to reach Durham
from their respective cities. Starting the journey
driving through the state of Illinois, the bus was to pass through Indiana,
Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia, before entering North Carolina. It was some time in the
dead of the night, and many of us were dozing, so I cannot be too sure
whether we were in Indiana or had entered Ohio, when we got woken up by
delightful squeals. We saw the dazzling bright flares of a large oil
refinery. It was a sight to behold. Enormous flames were shooting up into the
night sky. It cannot be easy to work there, I thought to myself: a life full
of fires, smoke and the sickening smell of gasoline, with all the pollution
from the oil and gas. But for those few minutes in the night we were truly
overwhelmed by the sight. We passed two more states
before we entered North Carolina midday Thursday. After experiencing the
chill and wind in Chicago, we had moved to the warm and sunny April weather
of North Carolina. I welcomed this change, as I am better used to those
temperatures. The hills and mountains
that we passed were covered with dense foliage. A tobacco and cotton growing
state, North Carolina is heavily forested. We were amazed to see that the
seemingly thin crust of soil covering the mountains could support such tall
trees. Although we saw several signs warning us of deer crossings, we did not
see any deer on our way, although we did see a raccoon darting away. On our arrival in Durham it
was difficult to make out the difference between the city and the forest, as
the entire city is dwarfed and hidden behind the trees. We were all to stay
at the Hilton, where several rooms on two floors had been booked in advance.
With more people arriving by the hour for the two events, the place began to
look like it was exclusively reserved for the hundred and thirty wedding
guests. That evening, we were all taken for dinner at a Mexican restaurant
and had our fill of Enchiladas, Tortillas, Tacos, yummy dips, beans, pasta,
meats and what have you. The following day, a
Friday, a picnic had been planned inside a forest for all of us. So, early
morning we disembarked at the entrance to the forest. Standing under the tall
emerald trees and breathing the fresh air, I took in the scents, which
charmed me immediately. The complete calm that had prevailed was suddenly
broken by our group of picnickers. I felt a little apologetic for disrupting
it. Surrounded by the chorus of
birds and the buzzing of insects, we deposited the foodstuff in a picnic shed
located just inside the forest entrance, and started to explore the trails in
the forest. A small stream ran perpendicular from the trail we started on. I
enjoyed walking on the forest floor, with the soft padding of leaves, chips
of wood and bark, under my shoes. The layers of fallen and decaying
coniferous and deciduous leaves, mixed with soil, other organic matter and
fungi, continued along our trail. We came upon at least two
large beehives, or perhaps one was a hornet’s nest? Some picnickers before
us had built a small tepee with wood, and the children in our group loved
crawling inside it. Somewhat tired after the
walk, which also took us to a picturesque waterfall and an old water-mill,
and having indulged in a hearty picnic lunch in the shed, we rushed back to
our hotel to get ready for the wedding soiree that same evening. The soiree was arranged
inside a large hall that looked exquisite with its all-wood panelling. The
richness of this interior, with its high ceiling, was complemented by the
beautiful table settings. The fifteen round dinner tables each had a square
centrepiece, which had been hand-made with a Banarasi fabric, edged with a
contrasting broad piping and decorated with gota. Half the tables had a
Pakistani doll, while the other half had a Korean doll perched on these
centrepieces. Selected childhood photos of the groom and the bride, all in
identical frames, also adorned each table. It was lovely to see the
couple dressed in traditional Korean clothes. Dinner was also a combination
of Korean and Pakistani dishes. Halfway through the evening, however, the
groom and the bride changed into Pakistani dresses, and then the dancing
began! The climax of the wedding
ceremonies, a cocktail and dinner followed by hours of the most energetic
dancing I have seen in years, took place the following evening inside the
campus gardens of Duke University. Finally, when it was time to leave, we all
stood on the road in two parallel rows holding lighted phuljaris, throwing
out a glittering spray. The groom and bride walked between us through this
luminous shower glowing in the dark, absorbing our wishes for a long and
happy life together. The following day, Sunday,
we got on the bus and, precisely at noon, started our journey back to
Chicago. Sixteen hours again, friendship and food, music and chatter, kept us
awake and engaged, although the spirit of anticipation was now replaced by
the inevitability of a working Monday ahead, for most. What we had passed by
during the night on our journey out, we were now passing by day. And we were
all thrilled to watch a perfect sunset in the openness of a rural
environment, with its clean air, an azure sky, and vast open fields on both
sides of the road. Somehow, it was magical to
view the setting sun from inside the moving bus. As the orange fireball was
frittering away before our eyes, we could see the skylarks and other birds,
having completed another day, rising from the green fields and moving towards
the trees where they would be taking refuge for the night. And we, having
completed our mission, were moving towards our homes, to continue our lives
wherever we had left, hoping to live to see another thrilling sunset one day,
soon.
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