Monday, March 15, 2010

**KASHMIR** The Dandoo's

The Dandoo's: The owners of the HB SilverBell.
Meet Tota (aka Grandpa, aka Abdul Salaam, aka The Man) and Mogee (aka Grandma, aka Frecha, aka The Queen Bee). Being a home away from home, Tota and his family have been nothing but a family to me. Tota, from his teenage years, has worked hard his entire life. From growing up with no education, he became a cook for many years for the UN during the British Raj. His words, whenever he speaks, clues me into what it takes to succeed. He is very much like my father when he professes that hard work is the key to just about anything. He has worked hard his entire life, still does, and is simply a lover of life.

Here is Shahid and Tanzeela. Shahid is around 8 years old and Tanzeela is around 5 or 6. For the first month and a half, before school starts, as they have extended winter break, these two provided me with endless entertainment. Anywhere from Cricket (kids version of cricket), to brushing my hair, even though I have little of it, and it is slowly falling out, these two have kept spirits high for everyone.
This is Manzoor and his kids. From the left - Sabrina, Manzoor, Shahid, and Omar.

And this is Manzoor's wife Hanifa and son Shahid.


Above is Riyaz, his wife Buli, and daughter Tanzeela. Riyaz and Manzoor are brothers, and their father and mother are Tota and Mogee.

Some Cricket shots:


















Shahid on the left and Tanzeela on the right in their back yard for our daily runaround of cricket.

One of my favorite pictures. This is Tanzeela's cricket bat and ball. Most kids set up the wickets, wooden sticks, with tree branches or sticks from their yard. Sometimes with large rocks as below. Shahid and I in our ferands playing cricket.

1 comment:

  1. looks like your playing quittage with the rest of the harry potter gang

    ReplyDelete