Wednesday, May 27, 2009

A Baba divided between India and Pakistan.

There is a religious place called Chamliyal, right on the Indo-pak border in Samba sector of J&K. The place is around five to six kilometers from my house. As goes the story some anti social elements beheaded baba because he used to treat villagers of various ailments with his meditation. Because of spiritual power of Babaji, his head travelled from the place where he was beheaded (now in pakistan) to the village chamliyal (now in India). The soil and water of chamliyal called shakkar and Amrit are still used by various devotees for the treatement of skin diseases.
This border post is manned by BSF and being an ex-defence officer, I had the luxuary of going right upto the border and have a peep into the pakistani villages with the telescope of BSF. My family was with me and ofcourse thrilled to see pakistan from such a close distance.


Every year a Mela is organised at this Peer Baba. Around one week before mela, firing from both sides of the border stops. On this border post, where the roar of guns is a common phenemenon, prevails the peace. On the day of Mela both sides meet and exchange Shakker and Amrit. Since my childhood I have never seen any untoward incidence happening on this religious meet of India and Pakistan. The wholy shrine may bear a deserted look on a normal day but is very crowded on the day of mela. A lot of crowd, mostly villagers from the nearby areas, collect and enjoy the feast of jalabees, Burfi, pakoras and other locally prepared items. Its a much awaited day among the locals.

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