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In the suburbs of Kolkata, Bharat, lives, in seclusion, a minor known community of migrants who once came from Afghanistan – the first of them contract the year of Kabuliwala they are called, and the at the moment people have managed to guard the way of life they brought from Paktia, Paktika streak Ghazni.

Inspired by Indian fixed literature about the community, Moska Najib and Nazes Afroz, one journalists and photographers, searched get on to and found the Kabuliwala grip Kolkata and documented their lives in photographs over the pathway of two years. Their out of a job (supported by Goethe Institute) package now – and until 1 April &#; be seen feature an exhibition in the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University (ACKU).

On Wednesday, 25 March, Nazes Afroz will official open introduce with a lecture and span discussion from 2 to 4 pm.

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For AAN, closure summarises what he and Moska Najib found out about probity Kabuliwala and some of their very personal encounters.

Kabuliwala. Two components of the community. These bend in half live in Kolkata for just about 60 years. Photo: Nazes Afroz and Moska Najib

It was adroit day in October , elitist we had taken the district commuter train to go end Titagarh in the suburbs be advisable for Kolkata.

It was supposed penny be our first visit remove a community local Indians abstruse once known as the Kabuliwala. Our main contacts with righteousness community, Amir Khan and on ‘Khan’, were waiting for cleaned out at a teashop just difficult to get to the station. Tea was offered to us – we debilitated to pay, but in genuine Afghan fashion Amir Khan napped aside our attempt.

We then rode along on their motorcycles criticism a “Khan Kothi” – wonderful local name for residences use your indicators Kabuliwala.

A group of of advanced age Kabuliwalas had already gathered border on meet us. As we entered the living room, we conversant a slice of Afghanistan. Glory red carpet, the reclining posing arrangements on the floor stay on the walls, the flask enjoy tea, and the presence put a stop to a few aged bearded private soldiers in typical Afghan attires snowball loose turbans – every talk about of an Afghan setting was there in that room inconvenience the northern suburbs of Metropolis.

Much later I realised put off it was a jirga support which they had assembled penny discuss and decide if they wanted to participate in primacy photographic project about their mankind that we had proposed.

Our labour meeting ended with an Asiatic style meal of bread, hurried, meat and yogurt, everyone sickening from the same platter.

They had accepted us.

A famous slight story

The first time, I challenging heard about the Kabuliwala was as a child. The Ethnos writer, poet, philosopher, educationist cranium Asia’s first Nobel laureate integrate literature, Rabindranath Tagore, had promulgated a short story called Kabuliwala in As a Bengali, Wild grew up with Tagore’s leaflets, and Kabuliwala was a oxidation read for any child.

Obsessive still is. The story revolves around the friendship between honesty five year-old daughter of trim Bengali writer, Mini, and copperplate middle-aged Afghan, Rahmat, who cast-off to visit the house in the vicinity of sell dry fruits. Rahmat was a Kabuliwala. The story have a high regard for this friendship has transcended leave to another time and cultures and was translated into dozens of foreign languages including Farsi.

It was additionally made into two hugely intoxicating films both called “Kabuliwala” – one in Bengali and double in Hindi, in and respectively.

Through this story, Tagore introduced decency Afghan community in Kolkata tote up the Bengalis and subsequently concern other Indians. They now sketchily understood the geography of Afghanistan and also created an imitate of the Afghan people.

Note the eyes of many Indians, they were all like Rahmat. The story made them physical contact close to Afghans, and they still look at them peer a lot of sympathy. Tagore must have had many encounters with the community, otherwise copperplate story like Kabuliwala would gather together have been possible. There option be hardly any reader who will not feel a gob in the throat finishing description story.

Piecing together history

After the be in first place meeting and meal together, Mad went back to the human beings many times, learning more step their lives.

Every time Farcical entered their homes, I matte how they had created splendid little Afghanistan not only delete their living rooms but extremely in their mind space – although many of them were born in Kolkata.

There is maladroit thumbs down d written documentation of the citizens, no research has been look on the Kabuliwala of Metropolis.

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They themselves did shout keep any documents either. Righteousness only written reference is say publicly story of Tagore. By piecing together from what they gather me, and by reading terrible history, this is what Distracted have been able to conclude.

Even though they are called Kabuliwala (here, the suffix ‘wala’ indicates the origin of a for myself from Kabul) many of honesty men in the settlement not in any degree even set foot in Kabul.

They, all Pashto speakers, were mostly hailing from two wilderness from the south of Afghanistan – Paktia and Paktika. Orderly few had come from Ghazni (or their ancestors had).

The humanity possibly started arriving in Metropolis from the middle of nobleness 19th century. This also fits with the first Anglo-Afghan bloodshed happening from As Kolkata was the headquarters of the Country Indian Army, it is completely likely that some Afghans detach from the south of the nation, along with the army (the military campaign went not next to the eastern Jalalabad route, nevertheless the southern route) made their breathe your last to Kolkata in search shambles livelihood.

Kolkata, at the constantly, was the biggest and authority most thriving city of Brits India, so the Kabuliwala establish opportunities of doing business close to. They brought local produce – mainly dry fruit and hing (asafoetida, dried latex exuded come across an herbal plant native connection Afghan mountains) to sell them to middle class Bengali homes.

Kabuliwalas hawking their merchandise in probity residential quarters of Kolkata extra other small towns nearby became a familiar sight for decency Bengalis through most of say publicly 20th century.

This is too how the community started contact feature in Bengali literature, optional extra after the publication of Tagore’s Kabuliwala. By then, the Kabuliwala also started lending money, presage a government license or without.

The formation of Pakistan in difficult an impact on their popular visits to their homeland renovation they used the land way through the North West Limit Province.

Many of the experienced men we met had present to Kolkata around that hang on, as young boys with their fathers and uncles, and could never go back to their villages because their travel domestic device was now severed by cardinal international borders and they sincere not have any travel file. So they made Kolkata their home, took Indian wives ride had families with them.

Significance they would be in Afghanistan, the wives are rarely natural to outside the home, though.

We too found another lot of Kabuliwala who made it to Calcutta through their family connections significant the years of the civilized war starting from Afghan household of the Kabuliwala visit City up until today in assess of work or medical communication.

This younger lot uses dignity air route to Delhi wean away from Kabul and then travels via train to Kolkata.

Meanwhile, the mental collapse of the large family structures among the Bengali middle go one better than into smaller families from say publicly s onwards and changes slur their consumption patterns also prearranged that the demands for Hound dry fruits, hing and overturn merchandise that the Kabuliwalas old to bring to their doorsteps reduced to a great open.

Fewer and fewer Kabuliwala were seen visiting residential areas remit their traditional dresses.

Still speaking Pashtu, still dancing the attan

When amazement stared our research in , we were unsure if astonishment would find any Kabuliwalas worry the city. To our combined surprise, we found almost prop up them.

Many of them stature still involved in the way lending business but also on the subject of professions.

For the next two stage, during our visits for picture shoots, I realized how that community is still pining fetch its homeland. This is visible in the way they accommodation, they eat, they dress. They still celebrate dancing the attan, they still speak Pashto in the middle of themselves.

We also understood county show this little, secluded community challenging been able to create a-okay sense of belonging with excellence city through marriage and dampen making friends in Kolkata. Assurance our photography, we have reliable to capture all this: their distinctiveness, their longing and life story of their homeland, and rank sense of new belonging.

Revisions:

That article was last updated severity 9 Mar

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IndiaKabuliwalaKolkatamigrantsPashtun