Blog # 68 Dated: 12 August 2023: Ashok Khazanchi (Nanna Jee) Remembered

 Namaskar. It has been a long time since I wrote a blog. I have been mentally shaken ever since last year when I first learned about the recurrence of the deadly health condition of our sister. She fought the battle while we all prayed for her. She lost the battle and we all were left behind to grieve. My mental condition remained clouded and I could not resume writing. Kaki Jee would read my blog every day and she would tell me that she enjoyed reading them. When I came to Mumbai last year to spend time with her, she asked me why I had stopped writing. She wanted me to continue writing. I wrote some blogs recounting her life as I knew it and posted them in January this year. Since then, I could not make myself write again.

When I heard about the passing away of Nanna Jee (Ashok Khazanchi) my fond memories of him surfaced in my mind. I decided to share the same with you all family members.

I am a Hindu and I believe in the Hindu way of life and thinking. I remember that when we were young and living in a joint family in Srinagar Kashmir, we all lived a life based on Hindu rituals, thinking, and beliefs. Our grandparents had four sons. All the sons got married. Soon, the first three sons had children. Those days, children would happen to married couples within a year or two and then on average, each couple would have at least four or five children if not more. The survival rate of children would not be healthy and that was the reason why couples would not be content with one or two children as is normal with us Hindus these days. And then, having children was considered insurance support for old age. In the background of this approach in life, it was worrisome that Baisahib Jee (Our uncle Pandit Saligram Khazanchi) and his wife Roopa Jee did not have a child for many years after marriage. These days, childless couples consult doctors but in those days, visits to faqirs, sadhus, and mazzars were the norm in such cases. The faqirs would give a charm (called taveez) with instructions about how to wear them. And then there was also the custom of tying some cloth bands in the mazzar, temple, etc. This was followed for Baisahib Jee and his wife although I do not remember Baisahib Jee himself doing all this. Others in the family would substitute and a cloth band would be tied as detailed above.

Baisahib Jee, the youngest son, was different in many ways from his brothers. He was very smart. He was a very good-looking and extremely intelligent person. He worked in Forest Department where there would be direct public dealings. It is normal that some members of the public would not get a fair dealing. Maybe during the course of his performance of duties, some injustice might have been unknowingly meted out to some innocent person. It could have caused a broken heart. And broken hearts of innocent people would cause a curse.  This curse could also be due to some past karma (Kisi kee badh dua lag gayi hogi). In the background of this, he became a father in the year 1954 but the male child born was very weak. The child was underweight and very lean in body structure. My mother Prabha Jee would every day message the body of the baby. The baby continued to be weak and it was apparent that he was not normal. He could not stand on his legs. He would not crawl normally. He would not speak either. Here again, we went to the holy places to seek help. I remember going to Khanqah near Hari Parbat and tying a cloth band there. Also, the tongue of a sheep was presented there to invoke the faqir to help the child gain the facility of speech. Pigeon eggs were procured and given to the child but it did not help. While all this was going on, the normal consultation with allopathic doctors and hakeems were done. Had the child been normal, he would have been given the best education and training.

The child was named Nanna Jee. He had a very calm temperament since childhood. He would silently watch us, his cousins, play. We would love him and help him as much as possible. As he grew, he started speaking with broken words and expressions. He started to walk on his feet. He would however remain silent most of the time. He was like a sadhu in meditation. I have a feeling that in his previous birth, he must have been a great sadhu and he might have committed some ‘paap” because of which he had earned a “shaap” in this birth. When Baisahib Jee constructed a house at Balgarden in Srinagar, he along with his family shifted there. Nanna Jee would come to our house in Chinkral Mohalla every day after lunch and spend some time with us. He loved living with all of us in the joint family.

Our grandmother, Adhi Jee, was a great lady. She was authoritative and a controlling person in our big family. No one would have the courage to face her. Baisahib Jee being the youngest was the most favorite son. The birth of an abnormal child to him broke her. She was not the same person after his birth. She lived for another twelve years after Nanna Jee’s birth. She carried the pain till her last day.

Baisahib Jee was posted at Kangan. Nanna Jee was with him. One day Nanna Jee got a high fever. Medicines did not help. He suffered for three days. The temperature did not abate. Nanna Jee was restless. Baisahib Jee came to Srinagar and brought Nanna Jee with him. He was shown to a doctor but that did not help. It appeared that he was affected by unforeseen evil forces. (Those days it was normal to think along those lines when a young person would suffer a high fever accompanied by body convulsions) Prabha Jee accompanied by me took Nanna Jee to the “Jinn Peer” a short distance from our house near Dr. Pran Nath’s residence. The “Jinn Peer” was seated in a room. There were about ten landline telephone headphone microphone pieces hanging from the ceiling. He would say that he used these to communicate with the evil spirits. As soon as he saw Nanna Jee, he spoke into one telephone instrument. Then he informed us that Nanna Jee had been affected by a fowl jinn. (The fowl in Kashmiri would be called “Kokar”. He said that he must have watched a “Kokur” being slaughtered. He asked us to get three eggs, which I purchased immediately. Then he wrote something on each of these eggs in ink. He asked us to wash each of these eggs in water for three days in the morning. The water was to be given to Nanna Jee for these three days three times a day. This was done and after three days, Nanna Jee was normal.  Later we cross-checked and it was informed to us that Nanna jee had watched their servant slaughter a “Kokur” in the compound attached to the house. Such type of slaughter used to be common in the small towns and villages in Kashmir.

Baisahib jee was a very courageous and wise person. He arranged a peon’s job for Nanna Jee in Jammu and Kashmir Bank. He wanted to ensure a better future and a financially independent life for his son. After our forced exit from Kashmir in 1990, he chose to make Karnal his residence to make it easy for Nanna Jee to live and attend office in a smaller place than Delhi where most of us, the extended family lived. Again, another wise decision. Later, when Baisahib Jee was getting old and he thought it best to place Nanna Jee in an old age care home in Pune. It was a tough decision. But he was right. He had done the best in his interest.

Nanna Jee had special names for us. He would call me TV Baiya. He would call Bairaja Jee Diesel Baiya. He would call our father “Gussa Wallah” He would call Bota Jee and Niku Jee Bijli wallah Baiya. He called Boba Jee as Canada Baiya. He called Jadja Jee without modifying it.

When he was working in J&K Bank located at Regal Chowk in Srinagar, I was working at TV Studio Centre about half a kilometer away. Every Saturday at 1 PM (the bank would be half-day closed those days on Saturdays) he would walk to my office. The first time he came there, he found it tough to clear security. He was not able to express himself. While he was seated there in the security post, he saw me walking at a distance.  He rushed out with a security guard running after him. There was a commotion. I noticed the commotion and saw him in the center of all this. I got him cleared at the security. I showed him the studio block. He watched some programme production. Since this one was a discussion programme, he did not like it. Next, I took him to the Preview theater where the next day’s (Sunday) film was previewed. He liked it. He would come every Saturday afternoon to watch the preview of the film that was to be telecast the next day.  Everyone at the TV Center now knew him. The security would now not stop him. This continued for years. The preview staff would keep a seat reserved for him. He would be seated in the same seat every time. The staff would entertain him with tea and biscuits. The canteen manager (Mr. Akbar a very kind and noble person) would never charge any money from him. After the film review would complete, he would come to my room to say bye. The staff would meet him at the bank and he would help each one of them by speaking to the manager. Everyone loved him.

On one occasion, after he had watched the preview, as always, he came to my room. He did not find me there. Someone informed him that I was there at the Transmitter located on the Shankaracharya temple hill. He left the TV Station and walked up the hill to the Transmitter Station. (It must have taken him about two hours to reach the Transmitter Security gate up on the hill. There at the gate, the chowkidar recognized him and brought him to me. I was shocked to see him. He looked very tired. After making him comfortable I investigated the incident and found out the identity of the person who had caused Nanna Jee to climb up the hill.  I chastened him and the staff rebuked him. I advised Nanna Jee never again to repeat such an act.  

Now having come to the end of my narration, I would just make a submission for future reference for everyone. When the sad news of Nanna Jee passing away was posted in the WhatsApp group, some of us responded with RIP or Rest in Peace. This term is usually for those who believe in Christianity or Islam and other religions which do not believe in reincarnation. We, who are Hindus believe in Reincarnation. We believe in Atma which does not die. It is the body that is lost. Then the Atma finds another body. When a Hindu dies, we pray that his Atma finds a place at the Lotus Feet of Bhagwaan Krishna the Lord of Vaikuntha. In Kashmir, we used to always pray for a dead person with a prayer, “Vaikunthas manj aasney jaaiy” In one WhatsApp group of Kashmiri Pandits, I noticed people writing “VMAJ” and OM Shanti. I would repeat these words for Nanna Jee. I would add what our elder brother Bairaja Jee had messaged in Kool Khazanchi WhatsApp group after Nanna Jee’s passing away. “Hope he will be better off there, than here, where he was unfortunate not to have a normal life.”