Jugaad is borderless, humour too

Lt Gen KJ Singh (retd)

IT was a Sri Lankan airways flight headed to Karachi via Mumbai. My co-passenger on the adjoining seat was a Pakistani Brigadier, whom I had met in a Colombo hotel. I was leading a study tour of Colonels attending Higher Command course and we were on our way back after a great trip to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. He was from the Corps of Engineers and after retirement was employed with the Pakistan railways. He was headed to Karachi after attending a seminar in Colombo.

 My first encounter with him was when he invited me for a chat in the lobby lounge on our floor. We shared a large number of experiences, including a round of what he called ‘toffee’, which was tea and coffee mixed in a certain proportion, in small measures spread over three mixing rounds. Well, the result was not too bad and I did try some defence diplomacy and asked him for the recipe, but he promised to give it to me when I visit Rawalpindi. He also kept apologising for his casual attire and promised to be in a suit for the second round of toffee. We could not meet the next day, but I recalled his funny and earthy anecdotes. So, as and when I make it to my parents’ ancestral place of Pothohar, which includes areas of Pindi, I am going to look for the ‘toffee’ Brigadier, an interesting Pakistan innovation of a chocolate-cream soldier. His culinary improvisation proved that the spirit of  jugaad knows no borders!

As the flight was taking off, I noticed that he was praying in all seriousness and in an animated manner. Genuinely impressed, I also chanted the mool mantra. To initiate the conversation, I praised his commitment to praying, but his response needs to be shared, and in Urdu — ‘Kaun kambakht apni jaan salamati ki dua karta hai, hum to apne maal asbaab ki salamati ki guhar karte hain!’ In essence, he said he was not praying for his life, but luggage. The airlines had misplaced his baggage and he could not wear his favourite suit that he had made for his maiden foreign trip. He also confessed that he was forced to wash his clothes on this short trip. Now, he had prayed that his luggage is located and returned to him. My sympathies were entirely with the old soldier and I hope that whenever we have another round of toffee, he is in his favourite suit. 

As for me, during flights I also now pray on take-off, and it is both for jaan and maal salamati (safe passage for me and luggage) — a lesson learnt from across the border, for humour also knows no borders!