What’s you’re “Pushtainee” Hobby !?

Chapter 2

“ Pushtainee Hobby “

Oh Gosh ! It’s raining heavily since last night .

Mumbai rains , really outpours all of her heart on Mumbai ! And now what a good news almost all rail lines and roads are chocked up due to rain  , and half of the offices declared holiday . Meanwhile I received 5 calls from my senior , god knows for what , maybe to inform me about “Achanak Mumbai holiday “. This is not new , Mumbaikars are eventually used to it , but gradually am not . Rainy morning are cozy and that is the best part of this season . I wrapped  myself under my  blanket and waited to fall asleep . Par nind aane se rahi . So I dragged myself to kitchen to get myself a mug of Masala Tea  , which is my daily ritual of starting my soulful morning . There is a beautiful window in my kitchen above the gas burner , from where I stalk people following their daily routine and early morning while cooking tea . This window gives me goosebumps as I step into kitchen hefty breeze with baarish ki khoshu rushes in to welcome me .  Aur aaj bhi vohi hawayein aur vohi khoshu se meri din ki shuruwat hui . My masala tea is famous in our society , and everyone was aware of its powerful aesthetic aroma , few people were drawn to my home following the essence of masala’s .  I don’t know how to cook food but I used to prepare tea passionately with adding all world famous herbs like cinnamon  , clove , small and big cardamom , mint leaves , maze flower , ginger , and many more I don’t even know their Hindi and English names . I consumed it sip by sip enjoying my solitude standing in my gallery facing towards Deccan Gymkhana to the left side and beautiful tall buildings to the right side which seemed to be just washed with freshness, so live and so cheerful , that each color seemed to be revealing its best shade enhanced by rainy moisture , experiencing this smoothness in the most fast pace of life gave my day a kick start  .

My great grandparents maternal and paternal both have Pakistani background and they shifted here before Indo-Pak  partition. And traces of Pakistani antique still resides at my dad’s residence and I have heard a lot from mom about it. And I have always been excited to discover them  . And this was the best moment to indulge myself in digging up the history of them . So I decided to it to explore my old house as it was right time . I found couple of stuff right from collection of oldest cameras , suitcases , jewelries to some oldest stamp books which I left behind . Stamps! Meanwhile I was stuck on one thought , not a thought but a memory which was lost somewhere in real time and I failed to consider it . I stopped here , because collection of stamps was the hobby which my great grandfather had in fact pioneered when he was in Pakistan , later it was passed on to my great grandfather II and then to great grandfather III and then to my grandfather and to my dad and this time it was my turn to take it forward .

Stamps

My Great grandfather’s III name was Fakirchand Dhawan from Lahore , used to travel from Lahore to east Punjab (240 km) daily for work , which is now in India . He got transferred to India before the partition of India and Pakistan , and stayed here then forever.  He was a writer and a government employee , so sending and receiving letters and notes were common in olden days  , so he had great collection of stamps , he stored them all and gave it to his son who was typical Indian born Lahori and found of Indo-Pak culture , whose name I fail to recall and he was my great grandfather II who attached them to his stamp book which turned out to be his hobby jo unke dil ke kareeb tha , as it was his dad’s lifetime collection , unke liye yeh Pushtainee jedadh jesse tha . Then he started a custom of collecting more stamps Indian and International , and placing them country wise . Then this legacy was passed to my great grandfather I , who did the same and passed to my grand farther , Subhash Dhawan , who resided in Mumbai . He was a film director but was unable to survive in film industry .  I still remember when I 1^st ever came to India  was 1 year old and running in the doorway passage with mick in hand and singing all over , I requested him to grant me a chance to work in any film because I wanted to an actor , yes this is one of my dream , he was pleased with my innocence . That was the 1^st and last time I met him in my life before returning back to Dubai . He passed away when I was 6 , and I didn’t got a chance to attend his funeral . Dadaji too passed on our family legacy to my dad in his childhood . And later it was legacy which I coined as “Pushtainee Hobby” that was passed on to me by my dad last year , when I arrived to Mumbai for 7 days city tour .

Some stamp books and some that I made stamp books .

Last year , I explored Mumbai , for the first time ever with my dad for 7 continuous days after couple of years staying apart . And the day before my departure from Mumbai dad and me were having conversations over many things , where he explained me his life events and revealed his collection of books which I loved , he gave a big boxes of stamps with a stamp book which belonged to him and following with sets of similar stamps books, some dated 1960 , 1956 , 1949 , 1948, 1968 , 1972 , 1980 and so on  and these belonged to my father’s great grandfather , means my great great great grandfather. This was quite interesting and seemed as if koi series of saga dediye hai muhje . I was excited but I had no time to ask dad more about the series of stamp books. I packed some of them left other half behind so that I will explore them in my next visit so it stays alive and I left for Pune . And this was the legacy that I didn’t attempt to understand or go beyond and discover .  But there was a deep connection and craving to know more about these stamps and add them in stamp books that my dad left incomplete for me to complete it. Stamp collection didn’t felt so fascinating for me , because I was yet to read each book . Then the day arrived I went through each and every book and then realized the how passionately they have been devoted and dedicated towards their hobby with purity , and this was the turning point for my perception towards hobbies .  Deep down my roots were watered so that I could flourish and take this legacy forward to upmost level .

Fakirchand dadaji’s stamp book .

And I decided to research on secret behind dozens of stamp books piled on bookshelf of my library . Next day I went to Collaba , South Mumbai and haunted all around to locate the stamp book shore which was completely out of sight , as it was somewhere far in a remote area with a compact infrastructure . The store was one of the oldest stamp book store in that area . I brought more blank stamp books with some glossy and some matte finishing so that I could place the remaining stamps into that book . And here I started with hobby of collecting and allocating stamps  , which I adopted and accepted as mine . And I have made a special place in my bookshelf for all stamp books . But how have all of my great grandfather III and grandfather collected stamps is still a secret .

Currently completing

We might have heard the concept of generating hobby , but this one for me was passed on to me from multiple generations I belong to . It’s a legacy so I call it Pushtainee Hobby . ‘‘Pushtainee Hobby ’’ is difficult to find these days , but it’s not impossible if you go back in time and spend you’re time with your grandparents you will definitely come up with some Pushtainee Hobbies which will be unique and will have capacity to stand out in crowd , and these hobbies might me waiting for you to discover itself .

Currently working on this stamp book .

“Rediscover yourself by discovering your roots .

Discover yourself by rediscovering your roots .”

~ Tanishka Dhawan

Well , I am currently trying to understand this .