By Gopal Kukreja – May 13th 2001
SOMETHING ABOUT KANDHAR.
This is Gopal Kukreja s/o. Late Master Shyamlal Kukreja from Toronto, Canada and I would like to share some information about Kandhar which I experienced by talking to my late father and other elderly persons.
After the II war of Panipat in which Ahmad Shah Abdali known as Baba Ahmad Shah in Afghanistan was a winner, while coming back to Kandhar which was capital of Afghanistan at that time picked up five families of Hindus from Multan (formerly in Hindustan/India) now in Pakistan for rehabilitation in Kandhar especially to teach the Muslim population of Kandhar about the business tactics. Hindus are known to be second in business administration traditionally worldwide whereas the 1st number comes for Jews. Because of the special religious requirements of Hindus, even a separate barber was also brought to Kandhar at that time. Being a Muslim state, at first and upto a very very long period, hindus were asked to wear a rope around their waiste and were not allowed to ride on a horse also which were the signs of being a second grade citizens.
Military service for two years was compulsory for every Afghan citizen at that time but a rich person could send somebodyelse for 1000Afghanis at his place to serve in the military and this rule was terminated during the Zahirshah rule.
Kandhar being a very rich climate city had more than 30 types of grapes and other fruit which are not available anywhere in the world especially so tasty and so natural. Our Hindu community had a very strong role in running the economy of Kandhar as most of the imports of general merchandise and foreign trade was basically set up by Hindus and communitywise also Hindus were very strong in Kandhar.
We had a Pathshala in Shikarpur bazar and its educational standard was once known to be better than the government schools in Kandhar. During one of its’ cultural programmes when the that time governor of Kandhar was the chief guest, he was astonished to see the progress of the school and ordered to keep the school upto 6th grade only instead of upt 9th grade. Our authorities had to accept the ruling. We were proud to have great teachers like Late Jethanand ji Chabra (Sarmalim Sahab), Late Master Shyamlal ji Kukreja, Late Master Kanhaiyalal ji, Master Rattanchand ji, Tarjuman Sahab (English teacher), Master Nandlalji,
Master Kishanchandji and so many other respectable teachers who I am forgetting the names but all of these people had great impact on making our society so cultured and educated at that time and today we pay homage to all these great teachers and also to the unnamed teachers and contributors in making Kandhar’s society so respectable and progressive.
I would also like to name the organisors of the great Pathshala of Kandhar, Late Mr.Niranjandas ji Khatri, Hon.Mr. Hemrajji Khatri, Master Rattanchandji, Late Mr.Kishanchand ji Bhatija, Late Mr.Mohanlalji Kukreja, Mr. Rattanchand ji (master) and all others who contributed in making that pathshala a success of Kandhar. I do not remember probably most of the names but my intention is to pay my respect to each and every person named or unnamed while writing about our Kandhar. All these elderly people had a role in strenghthening our cultural heritage in that country which was our home but most of the times we were considered outsiders. We were considered outsiders in India also and in fact we are born homeless and refugees, but our elders struggled hard in adverse and opposite religious circumstances to give us a prestigious cultural background and established so many mandirs and gurudwaras in that city to keep our religion and culture alive. Let us pay our respects to all our elders today and together.