That Almond Tree at Khonmouh

 

My wife has been feeding me five soaked and deskinned almonds every morning for past couple of months – having read somewhere that such therapy shall benefit my health! Well, am not sure how much impact the therapy shall have on my fossilized brain at this age but it sure stirs up childhood memories, every morning! I recall two tall,elderly gentlemen, dressed typically in an attire common to all Kashmiri Pandit elders those days(1960s) – white Kameez Payjama and a ‘dastar’ (turban or pagri), would occasionally visit our house in Budhgir, Alikadal, downtown Srinagar! On their coming, I would invariably be tasked with getting fresh water for their jajeer(hookah) from the tap in our courtyard (aangun in Kashmiri).

 The two gentlemen were real brothers, named Pt Nilkanth and Pt Sirikanth and they were cousins (mentor buoy) of my grandfather! They would invariably bring some almonds in a cloth bag with them, converse with my grandfather and his younger brother – ours was a joint family, have lunch and sheery chay(the typical Kashmiri salt tea) and then take leave! My grandfather would accompany them up to Zaina Kadal from where they would take a tonged to Amira Kadal and then, a bus to their village Khonmouh, near Khrew, in Srinagar District! One summer Sunday, my grandfather asked me to get ready for an excursion! We were to visit Khounmouh, his Matamal (Mama’s house)

 I would have been 5-6 years old at that time and the news filled me with excitement! We started out by 9 am from our house, took a Tonga to the bus stand, then a bus ride up to the village. At Amira Kadal, before boarding the bus, my grandfather went tohis favourite sweetshop – M/s Sant Ram& Sons, Koker Bazar, near the Old Amira Kadal bridge, to purchase a box of sweets! The distance between Srinagar and Khonmouh would not be more than 15-20 kms but the journey took us almost 2 hours – the bus frequency probably was very limited. Last leg of the journey entailed walking over dusty, unpaved roads so typical of rural Kashmir in 1960s! On reaching a tall gate in a mud wall, we entered a huge courtyard at the end of which stood a nice, three storied ‘mud n brick’ house, very neat and elegant.

Our arrival caused quite a bit of commotion in the placid atmosphere – men and women of various age groups came to meet and hug my grandfather! A few shy kids were gaping at us curiously till my grandfather brought out from his carry bag some fruits he had purchased for them – that helped create bridges between us and the kids! After a sumptuous lunch, my grandfather invited me to visit the ‘badam-vaer’ (almond orchard) of the family! Surrounded by a barbed wire, a large piece of land had been converted into an Almond Orchard! It probably had a hundred trees - almond harvesting season being over, the trees had a shorn look! My grandfather took me by hand and led me to a particular tree towards a corner of the ‘badam-vaer’, which bore a mark.

My grandfather reached out to touch and fondle the tree, as if shaking hands; his eyes became misty! He then explained to me that the tree had been planted by his late Mama Ji (father of Pt Neel- kanth and Pt Srikanth) several years back and was bequeathed to him, he being the first male child of his sister! He had left instructions that the produce of this specific tree was not to be sold – it was to be kept for my grandfather and those almonds were dutifully delivered at our house in Srinagar by his cousins, even after his Mama Ji left this world! I do not remember most other details of the trip except that we returned to Srinagar with yet another bagful of almonds that evening.

My father was transferred out of Kashmir in 1966 and I too got relocated. My grandfather made up his mind not to live in Kashmir post 1967 Parmeshwari Agitation that stirred the peaceful KP samaj into anger against the shenanigans of political animals that ruled Kashmir post 1947; it was a feeling of helpless disgust and revulsion against blatant discrimination, against being treated as second class citizens in our own homeland! My grandfather never lived again in Kashmir – barring some brief occasional visits to participate in family events. My late grandfather was my first tutor, my friend and mentor! He often told me stories about his life and struggles. One day, the memory of our visit to Khonmouh came into discussion; as I asked about his cousins, he had tears in his eyes. Appears he lost touch with them once he moved to the plains! He had learnt about the unfortunate demise of his cousins from the weekly letters he received from his Srinagar based younger brother.

 Contact with the rest of the family at Khonmouh gradually withered away! Such is life! Those were times with limited communication options – mostly, people would communicate through letters. I remember the ‘In-Land’ envelopes my grandfather would receive from his younger brother – once a week. The letters would be in green ink, in chaste Persianized Urdu and the format was standard – “Kya azeezan Bittu Ji razi khushi hein? Madrasa jaya karts hein?” In the words of. Henry,” It was an unerudite letter, full of crops and motherly love and farm notes. It chronicled the health of the pig and the recent red calf, and asked concerning Robert’s in return.

It was a letter direct from the soil, straight from home, full of biographies of bees, tales of turnips, peaans of new-laid eggs, neglected parents, and the slump in dried apples.” The letters were direct from the heart, full of reverence and respect. We would, at times, request our grandfather to read the letters aloud, laughing at the unusual choice of language, not understanding, at that age (10-12 yrs), the depth of sentiments those letters would carry! Those certainly were very different times – those were a different set of people; they had values and stood by them. If Pt Nilkanth and Srikanth’s father asked them to save the produce of one almond tree and hand it over to my grandfather, they obeyed his instructions without a grumble or a crease on their brows till my grandfather was in Kashmir! They were simple people, upright in their behaviour and had value for relationships! Life probably was simpler, less complicated! What a change from today’s complications, personal, social, and economic! I continue to follow my wife’s prescription for good health, diligently deskinning almonds every morning for the two of us! Yet, in my mind’s eye, I visit that almond tree at Khonmouh, daily!

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Courtesy: SANJEEV MUNSHI  and  Spade A Spade-June 2025