by Zayed Khan

“Within a few minutes, I felt strange, as if someone was beside me and was watching from behind.”

The germ of the idea of spending a night at Jamali Kamali came up a few years ago, when a friend shared the story of a tumultuous phase of her life—all of which occurred after an evening she spent at Jamali Kamali. The 16th century complex, named after two Sufi saints venerated by the kings of the Lodhi Dynasty who are buried there, is infamous for its ghostly vibe, as the Paranormal Society of India vouches.

Stories abound of the forbidden love between the two poets Jamali and Kamali, who were finally united only on their burial site. But today’s story is not about them. It’s not about proving my bravery by going to a place that features on almost every list of famous haunted places in Delhi. Neither am I adventurous enough to head where people claim to have heard voices calling out to them from the mazaar (mausoleum) and have claimed a constant feeling of being watched and then eventually followed by something invisible.

The aforementioned friend’s story began she went to the complex known for the tales of djinns that inhabit it. She, and her friends, were mesmerised by Jamali Kamali’s serene beauty and peace. It didn’t last long. The maghrib adhan (call to evening prayers) was heard and the sun began to set as she was seated in achattri (cupola) in the garden. She suddenly felt something approaching her. It ‘felt sinister’.

“It was as if someone was sitting with me and watching me. [The feeling] stayed with me all the way home and even after I reached my apartment,” she told me. “Whatever it was, it had followed me home.”

For the next six months, she would wake up every night exactly at 3 AM and see a hand on the glass of the ventilator above her balcony door. “It came at the same time everyday and when I was alone.” She would often feel ‘the being’ coming closer to her when she half asleep. She suffered considerable psychological stress and anxiety, becoming a loner and turning more and more towards religion. When she finally left her job and moved to Mumbai, the episodes stopped.

I consider myself a rationalist, but her story affected me a lot. Although I don’t believe in the supernatural, I cannot completely rationalise my fear of a djinn. These stories have been an integral part of my childhood. There are stories of adjinn living in my joint-family ancestral home in Aligarh. There are numerous stories of lost cricket balls rolling back home on their own, doors opening by themselves, and residents waking up to find that they have been shifted to another bed.

On the night of Shab-e-barat (the traditional night of atonement or day of forgiveness) while reciting the Quran, my cousin’s newly-wed wife began screaming in male voice and started to throw things around with almost inhuman strength. Needless to say, I’ve been afraid of the ‘bad djinns’.

Going to Jamali Kamali was therefore a chance for the ‘rationalist’ part of me to confront my childhood fears. I figured there could be two outcomes: I would either be known as a journalist who sacrificed himself for his ideals, or I would have a story to assuage the fears of my friend. Win-win. So, as soon as the sun set on the city of djinns, I borrowed a friend’s bike and rode through the woods leading to the haunted tombs. As I asked my way around, people looked at me suspiciously and urged to change my plans. “It’s dangerous at this time,” said a nearby tea stall owner. I just smiled and asked him to pack me some tea.

“Going to Jamali Kamali was therefore a chance for the ‘rationalist’ part of me to confront my childhood fears.”

The narrow, dark path leading to the mosque and dome looked like something straight out of a horror movie. On one side lay sinister-looking ruins shadowed in the dark. It led to the main dome and mosque, flanked by a lush garden on one side and a small cupola that could be reached via a narrow path with sandstone walls, and a park or open space on the other side. All of it was surrounded by thick woods where even the bravest would think twice about venturing in the dark.

I was finally relieved to see two street lamps near the garden and decided that would be my spot for the night. In the middle of the beautiful, lush garden was the chhatri where my friend met the ‘being’ that had decided to stick with her for a few months. I checked it out with the feeble light of my mobile phone torch and then sat under it. Within a few minutes, I felt strange, as if someone was beside me and was watching from behind. I turned around and found nothing. I told myself my mind was playing tricks, and kept throwing the light of my torch in different directions. But of course there was nothing.

The power of suggestion plays an important role, especially in cases of experiencing a supernatural event. If you expect something to happen, your expectations will affect or colour the occurrence. “If you are expecting something, even if it’s not there you’d feel it. It’s like you are primed. There are greater chances of you seeing something abnormal, especially if you are mentally weak,” Geeta Maheshwari, a psychiatrist told me later.

Maulana Ansari, a Quranic expert said “The Quran mentions djinns and it’s a reality to me.”

Though it is very rare, there have been recorded instances in history where people have been killed by such fears. Pushing these thoughts aside, I slipped on my headphones and for an hour watched YouTube videos about rational thinkers and scientists busting myths and superstitions.

After I found some mental strength through them, I spent the next hour contemplating the state of my life while staring at the beautiful shining lights of the top of the Qutub Minar that was visible in the sky. I thought about all the men and women who had worked to construct this beautiful monument centuries ago, and how their descendents are so inept, self-absorbed and purposeless. But, “they were not cowards like you,” I told myself. I had not felt quite as peaceful in a long time.

I then decided to disturb the peace by playing a game of PUBG. Hearing my teammates on the other end talk about enemy locations and ambush plans emboldened me further. I called some old friends to boastfully tell them I was calling them from a ‘haunted place’. At night. They were in awe, of course! It was then that abruptly I found myself feeling colder, almost freezing. The change of temperature was too sudden to be rationalised as normal. I drank my tea.

I looked around at the park and the glorious dome and that’s when I thought I saw someone moving. It might have been a shadow, a man, or the famed djinn finally revealing itself. However the first thought in my mind was of death. Even if it was just another man, I would probably die of a heart attack seeing him. I imagined people making fun of my adventure at my funeral. Which made me muster enough strength to get up, head to my bike, kickstart it, and run for it.

As the headlights lit up the garden, the central dome looked ominous. The rationalist inside me started to reassure me, telling me it was my imagination and I can defend myself from a robber. So I decided to stay. To prove my bravery to myself, instead of fleeing, I started to walk towards the central dome.

The door to the entrance was locked. No surprise there. Not intending to trespass, I peeped over from the boundary wall. I shone my phone torchlight and saw something odd. A pair of men’s trousers and a dupatta lay scattered on the ground. Did I disturb someone’s sexual adventure?

I kept walking along the narrow sandstone corridor, away from the comfort of my bike headlights towards the scary ruins. I had a feeling something was about to happen. That’s when I saw something which nearly stopped my heart. In the dark ahead, two eyes glowed, looking straight at me. I knew I had made a mistake by leaving the lit area. I moved the light from my phone torch and that’s when I found a calm buffalo staring at me.

It was at that moment that I understood what makes people afraid of the dark. It’s not the ghosts. It’s our own minds. I was afraid, because I wanted to be. There is an intrinsic relationship between faith and belief and we often invent artificial fears to live vicariously, as a deviant from their otherwise boring lives. I went back to the chattri, and drank some more tea. As soon as the clock struck midnight, I left Jamali Kamali to its lonely splendour.

After reaching my apartment, I realised my ordeal wasn’t over. I might have rationalised my fear, met a buffalo and interrupted someone’s sexual tryst. But now I was alone in what I had considered a safe space, and the fear made a resounding return. Throughout the night, I kept feeling scared, sensing the presence of something I could not see. I felt something was watching me, following my actions as I got ready for bed. I thought I felt my old bed shaking more than usual and heard sounds (probably made by a stray cat) from my kitchen.

I couldn’t turn off the lights. However sensible and rational I thought I was, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep that night. Even in the following days, I felt the same kind of eerie creepiness whenever I was alone.

By Mohammed Mirza

The Crown Prince’s China trip was in the headlines for many things, one such was the announcement that Chinese would be thought in Saudi schools and universities.

The announcement found its way to almost all Saudi based newspapers and many on social media were baffled by it. But here’s why it can actually be of much benefit to Saudis.

The Numbers

There are several varieties and dialects of the Chinese language, the most widely spoken amongst them is Mandarin Chinese. Now, Mandarin Chinese alone has close to a billion native speakers that makes it the most widely spoken language in the world in terms of native speakers. This fact on its own should be enough to convince one of learning Chinese over any other language.

The UNWTO lists China as the fourth most visited country in the world with approximately 60.7 million visitors in 2017. Most people in China don’t speak Chinese so learning Chinese can surely help you in making your way around the land of over a billion souls.

The Reach

It is not that Chinese is only spoken in China, standard Chinese is also the official language of Taiwan and Singapore. Besides that, there is a huge Chinese diaspora found largely across Asia and North America numbering some 50 million according to some estimates.

The Economics

Like the saying goes China is the world’s factory. The “Made In China” tag is found on almost everything, even the smartphone or laptop that you are reading this piece on probably also has the same tag on it.

Knowing the local language will give you unprecedented access to local Chinese factories that have a dearth of products to sell but you just haven’t come across them earlier because they were too small to display themselves on trade fairs.

China is also heading towards becoming the world’s biggest economy, with many international giants vying to get a slice of this huge market. Knowing Chinese will not only help in you in gaining a foot in this sizeable market but may also help you land a job especially in international trading companies.

Article first appeared on LovinSaudi.com

Mohammed Mirza is an avid traveler who is constantly on the hunt for new and upcoming Saudi travel destinations. Having lived much of his life in Saudi, he knows the country like the back of his hand. He’s also a book lover at heart and is the author of a novel called “Desert Promises”.

by Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi

And as we turned back to leave, the black dog reappeared and stood at the door, watching us keenly! Alvi Sahib muttered a Salam to him and we left!

Myth of the demoness and the palace of a monarch who built the Taj

Muhammad Wāris, in his Pādshāhnāma, mentions that as Shāhjahān used to frequently visit Fathpur Sikri for hunting in the environs, he had constructed his daulatkhāna there. During one of my field trips, my assigned purpose was to locate this palace. Because of the way Wāris had mentioned it, my supervisor, noted historian Irfan Habib, was convinced that it was on the ridge overlooking the lake but outside the complex built by Shāhjahān’s grandfather, Akbar. And he advised me to look for it somewhere near the Hathipol sarai. Do analyse the mortar of the Imperial Sarai, he told me; look around it, he stressed.

Upon reaching the site, I realised that there was only one place which tallied with the information given by Wāris. But then at that place was an excavated ruin that professor RC Gaur identified as Minor Haramsara. It is situated on top of the ridge, north of the Jāmi Mosque, east of the Chishti quarters and on the edge of the ridge, as it tapers towards the north. In the middle of the ruins was a water tank or hauz.

When we tried to approach it, a local shepherd warned us not to go near. “Why?” we enquired. Because a “bhootni” resides below it, we were told. Whenever lambs or sheep stray near it, the evil demoness devours it, and only their carcasses are found afterwards!

Our curiosity took us near the tank and we started looking around. At one point, where the shepherd pointed out, we could see a depressed cavity where he said the animals would disappear. Upon close scrutiny, we could make out that it was something like a window opening below the ground!

I told my team members that we had to enter into this. You go first, they replied. It’s your work, so you take the risk. And as the shepherds who had by now gathered beseeched us to return and not to antagonise the demoness, I lowered myself into the hole, which, by now it was clear, was a ventilator of a subterranean chamber. Alvin Sahib followed me, and soon, one by one, the whole team descended into the hole!

On reaching below, it took us a few seconds to realise that we had descended into a huge hall constructed below the water tank at the ground level! But to our horror, it was full of cobras that were crawling all over the place. The torches in our hands and heavy sticks in our hands were our defence against them. I also realised that it was easy to have descended but it would be an uphill task to climb out. But then, Alvi Sahib had a solution! We would keep on stomping the ground and throwing heavy beams all around to stop the snakes approaching us, as our camera man, Mujtaba Sahib would take the pictures!

The flashlights were revealing beautifully painted walls, dados and ceilings. And the paintings were all in a style common during Shahjahan’s reign! They were all carvo-intaglio. Cream and brick red, as in the mosque and mehmān khāna at Taj!

And then we discovered a second room connected to the first! This, too, was equally beautifully decorated! But then at the far end was something which gave us the jitters! A massive python: the root cause of the legend of the demoness! Beside it lay scattered the bones of animals it had crushed and devoured!

We stayed amid the numerous shiny cobras and the sleeping python for more than three hours, taking measurements of the underground chambers and photographing the wall painting, and then came out alive! We had found and identified the Daulatkhana of Shahjahan and debunked the myth of the demoness!

Abode of a benign djinn or the pleasure pavilion of Shahjahan’s palace

The Daulatkhana of Shahjahan extends from the ridge above to the ground below. As the ridge falls steeply towards the lake, it ends up at the base in a pleasure pavilion with two large square, domed chambers. In the middle is a large well and a rectangular chamber towards the ridge. The interior of the domes are decorated with beautiful floral designs and patterns, while the walls have carvo intaglio dados and friezes. The soffits of the cupolas and the sides of vaults are adorned with carvo intaglio cartouches and designs. All the internal walls are covered with sparklingly white shell plaster.

So is the case with the pavilions of this palace on top of the ridge, where the internal surfaces are adorned with colourful medallions, friezes and cartouches.

When I was surveying the pleasure pavilion for the first time in 1994-95, we entered a subterranean chamber by opening a passage blocked with large heavy blocks of stones. It was in fact a eureka moment for us when the passage leading to the chamber was cleared!

Since the moment we entered the pavilion by sliding down from the ground level, a large black dog was following us. Oddly, it was neither barking at us nor threatening us, just following us. As it trailed us, Alvi Sahib got nervous and agitated. In fact, he told me we should go back.

When I enquired why, he said he had heard that djinns, at times, take the form of black dogs to guard their territory. Upon hearing this, I had a hearty laugh! Alvi Sahib! Let the djinn come, it would be nice to talk to him, I said, adding that maybe he may grant us a wish or two!

But then when the above mentioned passage had been cleared, and when we entered the damp cold and dark chamber, our hearts skipped a beat. What we saw was a shock that left some of us terror-stricken. In the centre of the room was a prayer mat made of what looked like date palm leaves. On it was kept a rosary and beside it a camphor lamp continued to burn in all its glory!

It was a shock to find this in an underground chamber which we had just apparently opened! My mates fled, trembling. First I tried to reason with them that, probably, there was some other door to this room as well! But the fear was such that even I was not keen to test my rationality or push my luck! We turned back. And as we turned back to leave, the black dog reappeared and stood at the door, watching us keenly! Alvi Sahib muttered a Salam to him and we left!

As we came out, some of us were muttering prayers, while others shivered in fear. One of our team mates, in fact, had fever for the next two to three days!

When I returned to this site decades later, on March 18, 2018, I saw that the place had been enclosed by a stone masonry wall and a group of mullahs had come to occupy the site. A green flag now flutters on the top of this structure. They now claim that this is the abode of a benign djinn, who — if you pray to him to speak to god on your behalf — gets your wishes fulfilled! You just have to make some offerings to the  Mullahji and the djinn will do your bidding!

Upon hearing this, I was reminded of our little experience of decades ago! But I said nothing to them.

When we returned to the Dak Bungalow of Fatehpur Sikri, I lodged an encroachment complaint with the Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) and appealed to them to have the illegal occupation removed!

(The piece is a version of two Facebook posts by the author.)

Article first appeared on Dailyo.in