HARKING BACK: Old pastimes that are common the world over

This week I have been going through old photographs and drawings of life in the 1960s in old Lahore, as well as it was probably in every village of the Punjab. Mind you that is half a century ago. I was showing them to that genius of Cambridge, the Honourable James Cormick of the AIIT, whose original name was McCormick. So we compared photographs and paintings of our homelands, that is Lahore and London. My first two pictures were of a traditional ‘kalam’ (bamboo reed) used with a ‘takhti’ (wooden slate). Oh that brought back memories of us brothers having ‘takhti’ fights after school – a ‘taat’ school under a tree in Khushab - but that is before we went to the best missionary school in Lahore, where the Irish priests informed us that using ballpoint pens was ‘vulgar’. Imagine. Even my father disapproved of them.

Now James is an Irish origin Roman Catholic and he told the same about his school. In response he produced an exquisite picture of a feather quill. Our inkpots’ were made of clay, while his of decorated steel. Pencils were the common factor. We both used Z-nibs and holders. So the commonality started. The end result was that students in both places had excellent calligraphic skills. In college we had graduated to pens with ballpoints coming much later.

The next picture was of playing with spinning tops. At St. Anthony’s School almost every student was in awe of Taj Din, the legendary top maker on Lawrence Road, where our school is located. We had top spinning competitions with the winner having the pleasure of damaging the opponents top with ‘junjay’, or hitting the top with the nail on which it spins. So plucky James produced several pictures of them playing with tops. It seemed so similar.

But then not to be overawed, I told him about how we were experts at Yo-Yo at St. Anthony’s. He immediately went to his office drawers and produced a beautiful Yo-Yo. “Majid, did you know that even the Greeks played with yo-yo”, he said. Well, I wanted to tell him that the Greeks also came to our land. But then he opened up his computer and told me that yo-yo were used in Mughal days by the ladies of the harem. “Trust them with nothing better to do”, he said. We discussed the different throws and their names.

Next on the list of common playing pastimes, I showed him a photograph of a woman churning ‘lassi’ and producing butter. He had a good look and went to his library and produced an amazing picture of a wooden barrel with a churn almost like our ‘madhani’ – churner – which, he tells me, can still be seen in a few museums. It was amazing just how similar English village life once was compared to a typical Punjabi one. Yes the weather played the deciding role, at least we agreed on that. I informed him that the ‘patloon’ was a Turkish dress which moved westwards after the Crusades. James agreed and told me that the ‘dhoti’ started east of the Indus and continued till Japan, only its size and shape keeps changing. So we agreed that geography and the weather were the determinants.

Then came playing marbles. “Now don’t tell me glass manufacturing was there in the Indus Valley Civilisation” he said, waiting for a pertinent response. Mind you James is an Indus Valley expert having spent a lifetime with the great Allchin and his wife Bridget. In fact he runs the Trust in their old house. “Well, you know full well that glass was an Indus Valley item as can be seen from many findings” was my response. You never know they might have taught Alexander how to play marbles.

We both narrated our experiences playing with marbles and it was so similar. But then I had to go one up. “We played similar games with walnuts”, I informed him. But not to be outdone he told me about how the English played ‘conkers’ with the fruit of horse chestnut trees. “Oh Yes, we also played with theses when we were in a missionary school in Murree for two years. “I even owned a 20ier”. James was shocked, but recovered to add: “Colonial legacy”, I suppose. “Nothing doing, in our villages it is still played with snail shells and is called ‘concha’, which was basically a damaged ‘damri’ which shopkeepers refused to accept as currency.

So next came a boy riding a bicycle ‘kanchi’ style. Well, said James, bicycles were invented in England, so you could never have seen them before the British came to India. “Wrong, the first bicycle sketch was made by Leonardo de Vinci and the first operating bicycle was manufactured in Germany and France and was called a ‘draisienne’ named after the inventor Karl von Drais, a German. The British copied it in 1818 calling it a hobby horse by a gent by the name of Johnson …now Boris. “I like that one”, he said.

Now came the spicy bit. “Did you know that in the court of Maharajah Ranjit Singh this contraption was produced by Gen Allard who brought it from France before the British invaded”? James let out an interesting sentence: “You pucca Lahori beast, you have all the answers”.

Next came a series of paintings and pictures of ‘roti’ and ‘naan’ being produced in a ‘tandoor’ and on a ‘tava’. “Oh, they look delicious and we have samples of them all the way to central Europe. The English had their loaf of bread, a word from Old Germanic ‘brea’. But this was dangerous territory for grains and water for bread have an ancient origin, for all people ate them to survive. The spread of agriculture almost 14,500 years ago resulted in our different bread varieties. Again the weather and geography played their role, as they still continue to do so.

The purpose of writing this piece is to pay tribute to James who manages to find the ‘impossible-to-find’ books for me. He introduced me to Sanskrit, and the ancient epics and the Veds. “Majid”, he quietly informed me looking around to make sure no Indian heard him, “The Hindu religion and Sanskrit were all produced in the land that is today Pakistan. Your history and culture is much older than that of India, which is where your ancestors chased away the creators of castes and untouchables to”. He had it spot on.

So from old games we moved to the field of ancient manuscripts. I asked him what do you think is wrong with the sub-continent where there is so much hatred for one another. James smiled and said: “Faith brings with it an ingrained rejection of facts, no matter how irrefutable they be. No wonder the word ‘Iqra’ needs to be better understood. That is how the Quran starts”, he said. I was stumped. Shocked. Bowled. James speaks crisp Arabic for he has worked many years in Arabia and Poland and Afghanistan and numerous other places, spending a lifetime teaching … and learning. At his old age nearing 90 he is still learning … and teaching.