COMING BACK TO BADIYAR BALA DEWAN KHAN

A great self taught. He had a command in Kashmiri, Urdu and

English.Another person I wish to make mention of and whose memories are very vivid in my mind is a gentleman, who was our neighbour at BADIYAR and happened to be a 

Frequent visitor to BOBJI ‘S DEWAN KHAN in the later years.

He was a batch mate of my uncle, Prof. M.K.Raina and a friend of Jawahar and Tej, he would come to our place for interaction with all. He would be a part of some meetings inside the Dewan-Khan . By this time, I had also grown up and consequently became privy to all that was happening around..
I vividly remember this man opening his palms the way I had seen the Directors directing their actors before a shoot. This man would address my uncle sitting in a chair and say,

“ I will say ZOOM then you start speaking and in the end I will DISSOLVE. ”

I knew that some Television programmes were being made with my uncles. I took all these activities casually because such activities were daily routine activities in DEWANKHAN. Later on I realized that those activities were not to be taken casually .The gentleman I am talking about is Sh. CHAMAN LAL HAKHU( Born 1938)

Chaman ji , as my uncles called him fondly called him , was born to Late Pt. Raghu Nath Hakhu ( Badiyar Bala, Srinagar) and presently resides at NOIDA U.P.He graduated in Mathematics from Amar Singh College in 1958 and later did his Masters in Hindi from the Kashmir University in 196o .Later he did a Professional Courses in TELEVISION PRODUCTION(New Delhi) in 1972 and ADVANCED T.V PRODUCTION COURSE from Zenderfrieze, Berlin, West Germany in 1981.

Mr. Hakhu has authored many books. Amongst his published books are;

NANGA PATHAER, Kashmiri Novel –2005
VALLEY OF NAKED, English Novel –2006
VASTURVANUK SAEH, Kashmiri Novel—2013
JALOOSAN HUND SAHAR, Kashmiri Stories—2014
FILLING BETWEEN GRAVES, Factual stories and analysis of Kashmiri Pandits migration---2015
ON THE BALCONY , Novel in English.
His Novels under printing are ; ODE TO VINES IN MY BACKYSTD ( Novel in English) and DARLING OF THE RUSSIAN SOLDIER’S WIVES ( Novel in English)
His published Novels have been very well received in literary circles and highly acclaimed.

Mr.C.L.Hakhu started his career as TEACHER in Roopa Devi Sharda Peeth Mahavidyalaya in 1960. He did a brief stint with J&K Minerals Ltd. as Sr. Assistant.
From 1966 to1972 he worked as SCRIPT WRITER_COMMENTATOR with Films Division, Bombay where after he joined Doordarshan as producer and worked at Srinagar , Jalandhar and New delhi Kendras . He lso did a stint as ART CRITIC with The Times Of India, Bombay( 1968-1971 ). Finally he superannuated from DOORDARSHAN as EXECUTIVE PRODUCER in 1996.
During his 24 years service with Doordarshan, he has produced 300 Programmes for children , 160 Rural Programmes ; 20 Youth Programmes .; 400 Folk Music Programmes ; 700 Sports Programmes . And about 150 other assorted programmes . A massive and Prolific work Indeed !

He has produced first ever TV serial In India titled SODHA TA BODHA and Written/Directed serials like ‘ HAKIM CHARAKHCHOO”.
“ RANG VICH BANG”(Punjabi) in addition to dozens of plays , Talk shows and Documentaries.
As an outside producer , Mr. Hakhu has produced documentaries and Musical features for DOORDARSHAN. Some of these are; VIGLAN HIM KA, SWATCH KRAL,
DINA NATH NADIM, G.R.SANTOSH, MEHJOOR, AMAR NATH YATRA, GUL HAI RANGA RANG, ADAM CHUNNA YITHAY BADNAAM(Kashmiri) and KHANDAAN(Kashmiri) He is also an Associate Visiting Professor –Punjabi University Patiala.
Having known Mr. Hakhu from Badiyar days , I met him again after a long time in Jallandhar where he was working with DDK and renewed our family ties . A thorough gentleman to the core, soft spoken and highly Talented, it has always been a pleasure to talk and interact with him.

                                                      I wish to correct myself. In my write

up " Hakhu" should read as "Hakhoo".

In my previous write up, l have discussed about huge
contribution in the field of Art,Culture
and Literature made by Sh. Chaman
Lal Hakhoo. He further tells me that;

" I was sent to JABRI SCHOOL at
Gunde_Ahalmar, the dustiest place
which we were supposed to clean
with brooms before class started.
I have mentioned the memories of
this school in my forthcoming book,
ODES TO VINES IN THE BACKYARD.
Your uncle, Prof. M.K.Raina was my
class fellow till our graduation though we were studying different
streams. On the Convocation day,
your grand father, Pt. Shiv Nath Raina
tied my pink Dastaar(head dress)for
the occasion.On our way back to home we got ourselves photographed at Royal Photographer
(Don't remember the name exactly)
in Amirakadal. Those photos along
with many others were lost to
terrorism in the Valley.
Yes, Badiyar and it's adjoining areas
have given many luminaries and
greats. The history of Art, Literature
and Culture is incomplete without
their contribution.
Your father, Mohan Raina ,the greater
creative genius Artist had an aura
about him.He was famous and
successful too.I was always scared
of him and therefore never went
beyond NAMASKAR. I never met him
after he went to The United States.
I was also fond of watching Water
Colour Landscapes of Almast Ji.
I must say that I too do some oil
Painting.Half a dozen of my paintings are in our house one of
them being a copy based on M.F.
Hussain.
Sh.Som Nath Bhat is yet another
influence.I know due to various
reasons paintings done by him could
not be preserved. But I also know
that he was respected by his pupils
who were the
young daughters of Army Officers stationed in Badam Bagh cantt.
Krishen Langoo and I were born the
same year.We played together in
Ganpatyar compound.First chapter
of Gita we memorized together and
also acted as Bal Krishna on Janm
Ashtami celebrations. We did a first
programme together for Srinagar Doordarshan in 1972. I would often
visit your place because of my
association with your uncles and
later I engaged them for some of my
Doordarshan programmes also. I
have produced about thirty five
Kashmiri songs composedby Langoo

In one snowing winter my mother
sent me to fetch two Anna's worth of
milk from Gaash Lal Halwai who had
a shop cum residence in Sardar Roop
Singh Building.While I was about to
return with the milk for SHEER CHAI,
I noticed a water colour painting in
Pyarey Lal's Photo Frame Shop.It
was a rainy day painted in one colour
The black and its complete grey scale. I was impressed .
I have been drawing that picture almost every year for the last sixty
five years and I am still drawing it !!
There was one charismatic person,
Bansi Nirdosh.A great orator, short
story writer, organizer, broadcaster
and a very down to earth kind and
passionate man from BADIYAR. He
was not highly educated but he was
I know an interesting anecdote about
him. One evening he picked up a nasty quarrel with his unsuspecting
innocent wife. Late in the evening
she exhibited her womanly charecter
and ability to fight back and hurled
idioms and choicest language at her
husband which he deserved.
After she got exhausted, Nirdosh
hugged her and expressed his
gratitude to his wife who had
provided him the appropriate idioms
to describe a husband_wife encounter in the bedroom. He needs
it for a story he was working on.
Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! "
I think Bashir Budgami Sahab will
find Hakhoo Sahab's Wit and Humour
which is Subtle and Sublime in the
last paras of this write up.
So far so much !!( Sudesh Raina )