Haji Samar Khan's Fish Dhaba

Week 01 December 29, 2014  January 04, 2015

1.     Preamble:

We are now in the year 2015. The New Year! Would it be any different? We should hope it will be. A lot of people start it with the revolutionary resolves aimed at improvements in their lives but end up where they originally were and often worse still! What I can try and achieve for this blog in the New Year, without hopefully lowering its character, is to make it more diverse by from time to time bringing in varied topics that might attract more readers. Starting this week, we will first talk about the Fish Shop adjacent to the Khanpur Dam Lake in the near vicinity of our farmhouse. The shop is owned and run by one Haji Samar Khan. We will mostly be talking about him and his product, both the fried as well as baked fish. We however will also describe his dilapidated and shabby yet delightfully relaxing Cafe de Phoos (a hut made from bamboo and dry grass) too!

The weather in the meantime continues to be (for this part of the world) quite cold. The minimum is now touching freezing point. The coldest is just before sunrise. Although the sunset time is enhancing day by day, the sunrise is not taking place any earlier. The length of the day light hours are therefore essentially the same, around barely ten hours! (Today on 3rd Jan, when I am writing this blog, the sunrise at Taxila is at 7:14 AM and sunset at 5:11 PM with the day length of 9 hrs 57 min). 

It is the mating season of Francolin Partridge (Teetar). All through the morning walks, I keep hearing the loud and very shrill calls of the male Francolin and response of their female counterparts. A pair of birds will often engage in a duet. The female call is a tee ... tee ... tee repeated and sometimes akila akila ... kila .. kila in a duet. They are usually seen in small groups. They run very swiftly and gracefully  and seem to glide rather than run. As I pass aside a bush, a pair of them would suddenly whiz pass in low flight, leaving me stunned but marvelling at the same time!

2.     Sites and Scenes Around Our Farmhouse:

Our farmhouse is situated in Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa adjacent to the 2,500 year old Taxila Budhist ruins. Besides the treasured ruin, which we will keep visiting in this blog from time to time, we first take a trip to the nearby (7 km) Khanpur Dam and Haji Samar Khan's (HSK) Fish Dhaba in its vicinity. The picturesque Khanpur Dam was built in 1983 on Haro River. It is at a 15 minutes drive from our farmhouse and is a popular recreational venue, especially over the weekend. The associated  lake (water reservoir) provides some breathtaking views to the visitors. On one side stand is the lush green Margallas, while on the other lies the vast expanse of the lake’s sapphire blue waters. Along the shores, several birds can be spotted, including white cranes and waterfowl. In the winter, migratory birds can be seen soaring above the water. We often take our friends and relatives to the lake for a boat ride. There is a very old  mosque of now submerged village on the far bank of the lake, where we we get down from the boat for  a brief stop over. 

Although the waters of the lake are not swimable, for the dense under growth at several a places. Saad never however forgets to have a dip with his little daughters during such a brief stop over, while some of us stroll down to the mosque to enjoy scenery and the views.

Kanpur Lake is well known for two types of fish: masheer and rohu. Many people grill their fresh catch by the lakeside, and then have a picnic, while others dine at one of the many desi dhaabas located nearby. Specialities include fried and barbecued fish, which, along with naan and spicy vinegar are simply scrumptious. The Fish Dhaba, which we go to is Haji Samar Khan's Hut at which we never forget to stop on our way back.  The hut made with the looks of an open pavilion without any doors but slidable curtains. It is provided with rope cots (Manji) and rickety tables. Haji Samar Khan is a broadly smiling Pathan, belonging to the rare hospitable breed of the old.

Haji Samar a Khan and his clan welcome us, literally with open arms. As soon as he sees us, he would arrange a special parking place for our cars right Infront of his hut and shout to his clan for making us comfortable in his raw Pushto style Urdu while he himself will proceed to show us his wares stored in his ice chests. While the selected fish is prepared HSK will sit with us for a while to talk to us about any matter of mutual interest before commencing his own job of personally baking the fish for us.

It always is a great treat to be with him at his Dhaba and enjoy the fish which he so diligently prepares for us. Often he would ask his boys to fetch for us his home baked delicious bread, which too is extremely delicious and goes well with the baked as well as fried fish.

A visit to the Khanpur Dam and HSK's Dhaba has now become a ritual of our lives at the farmhouse. It is a joy we all relish a lot!