As the signs of mortality began to press upon him, on a daily basis, the paanwala wondered what was holding him to this life. He had already impressed Darako on his children. Even his grandchildren were named after him—Koko, Kiki, Kaka, Kuki, Kuki2. Yet, why was Enumerator A, long after his timely death, haunting him in his dreams? Perhaps a duty remained. His own soul and the soul of Enumerator A would not pass through to the next world unless he had resolved their doubts about Darako. His legs were long lost to arthritis. It was an occupational hazard. He employed a private agent to undertake the arduous journey from Bombay to Herat to investigate what had become of Darako. To the dismay of his relatives, the paanwala allocated a substantial endowment to this task. They would have been happier to coax a crow.

‘No monthly report, no money,’ he warned the agent.

The agent did not send any report in the first month. Over the year, reports arrived sporadically.

~

‘. . . there’s no one by the name of Darako here, not even by the name of Dara Kosh Pathan . . .’

‘Persist,’ replied the paanwala.

~

‘. . . I am closely pursuing a lead. But last night there was a calamity. The informant’s camp was attacked by four lions. He, and three of his camels, died . . .’

~

‘. . . he is perhaps Haji Abdullah Hassan, the Somali dervish, who launched a liberation movement against the English. He fought the Indian troops towards the end of the World War. He is a Sunni, an Ogaden tribesman from the lineage of Habr Suleiman. Unable to capture him for over fifteen years, the English have aerial-bombed the place and killed most of the dervishes. Abdullah Hassan has escaped. The British agents call him the mad mullah and are scouring the country for him, from Kashmir to Kandahar. No Englishman has ever seen him though. He could be anywhere . . .’

~

‘. . . I’ve spoken to some of the tribes here. They know very little. They say Abdullah Hassan has never walked upon the sands of Arabia let alone Afghanistan. A friendly man working for the British Protectorate said that the Somali dervish, in his earlier days in Aden, had joined a liner as a fireman. There is no reason why he could not have travelled aboard one of the many ships heading for Bombay. They know of another Somali, Musa Farah, a servant of the British Protectorate, not an insurgent, who had been to Bombay and worked alongside the Sikh and other regiments.’

~

‘. . . there is less reason to believe that Haji Abdullah Hassan was Dara Kosh Pathan. The Haji himself had agitated against drinking tea and chewing kat. He was too puritanical to be eating paan, let alone being a champion at spitting. They tell of a Singh who was a good spitter. He was here with his battalion. They are not aware of his desire to be called a pathan. I probed them on the Spitting Singh and his whereabouts.