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Back Cow and Company Save as PDF
Chapters (46)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. 40
  43. 41
  44. 42
  45. Acknowledgements
  46. THE BEGINNING

‘Look, now we know. Show us a birth certificate. Show us some identification. Show us any evidence that the man exists?’

‘We were not so well organized then.’

Some travellers brought the news that they had found Dara Koh Pathan in the Far East. He wore a white garb. He was old and wrinkled with a long beard. He was also the most prolific spitter in the region.

‘I was never in Herat,’ he said.

‘He has lost his memory,’ they whispered. He was over ninety.

‘Not “Koh”, it’s “Kosh”,’ responded the paanwala.

‘It is “Koh”. Look.’ When the paanwala turned around, to his surprise, the board read ‘Dara Koh’. Periodically the board was erased and rewritten. The ‘s’ had disappeared. Kosh had become Koh.

‘No, no. It is not “Koh”. The cleaner made a mistake.’

‘Why can’t he be a “Koh”? Have a problem with that?’ said a man from the Far East.

‘Christ! The name could be from anywhere. If you ask me, it’s Patten. Darren K. Patten. Just like everything else. Don’t you see a pattern?’ said the Scottish reporter.

‘It’s not “K”, it’s not “Koh”, it’s “Kosh”, Dara Kosh, Dara Kosh Pathan,’ argued another pathan. ‘If you have any doubt you’ll have to deal with me. I will protect his name until the day I die.’

‘We can wait for that.’

‘I am but one of his servants. I have children and they will have their own. We will protect his name until we live.’

The man from the Far East remained quiet. When he reached home, he sent a note which said that they would no longer participate in the event. They would organize their own competition instead, with the support of everyone in the Far East. When they drew Dara Koh Pathan in their own make, dissent brewed. Dara Koh Pathan could no longer be represented.

~

Ethnographic evidence mounted that he was, in fact, Dara Singh. When his family moved from Punjab to Herat, the ‘Singh’ was dropped and ‘Pathan’ adopted. Because both signified warrior races, they must have assumed that the names were interchangeable. This time both the pathans and the men from the Far East protested.

‘He’s a Singh. Singh is King,’ the Sikhs responded.

Finally, the Sikhs, the pathans and the men from the Far East met, and erased the contentious letters. He became Dara Ko.

~