Anybody knowing Shah Jee even remotely was bound to know Jalodhar, the legendary Jadoogar (sorcerer) of Jalandhar. No discussion with Shah Jee was complete unless ample reference to Jalodhar had been made. He was positive that Jalandhar actually got its name from Jalodhar Jadoogar.

Though Mahboob Shah, my beloved father known as Shah Jee, spent only 11 years of early life in Jalandhar, before migrating to Pakistan in 1947, he imbibed endless lore about the treacheries of this Jalandhar sorcerer. He fully believed in stories about Jalodhar flying in the company of his disciples (chellas) over Jalandhar skies.

However, he would always qualify the prowess of Jalodhar by narrating another incident -- when the Jadoogar dared to mess up with Hazrat Surkh Shah, a local Muslim saint, who lived in Jalandhar during the same time. Enraged at the audacity of Jalodhar, Hazrat Sahib recited some verses and, lo and behold, the wooden shoes of Jalodhar were hitting his own bald head.

As Jalodhar flew atop Jalandhar in a vain attempt to escape Hazrat Sahib’s rage, his own wooden shoes continued banging his head until, in desperation, he hit Pathankot hills and came down unceremoniously.

When the partition riots forced Shah Jee and his family to escape Jalandhar, he lost no time in ascribing this mayhem in Jalandhar to the wily designs of Jalodhar, who was bent upon avenging his Pathankot fall at the hands of a Muslim saint. Shah Jee’s family was lucky enough to reach Pakistan in a train, with half of the passengers murdered and slashed. When the train carrying Shah Jee’s family neared Walton, it was crossed by another train going in the opposite direction, which carried a near equal mix of dead bodies and barely alive passengers. Shah Jee’s mother put her white scarf over Shah Jee’s eyes who was bewildered to know that Jalodhar was operating with equal impunity on both sides.

For many following years, Shah Jee’s biggest worry in an Okara village where they had settled was a pair of his beloved bullocks which the elder Shah Jee had left in the custody of neighbouring Banta Singh. These bullocks were used to plough a field of sweet watermelons which resembled the bald head of Jalodhar with a single coil of hair. Shah Jee was certain that sooner or later, Jalodhar’s evil designs would come into play and his beloved bullocks would also be slashed into pieces.

Shah Jee’s fears did not materialise -- as every few months, a postcard from Banta Singh’s family in India would announce wellbeing of the pair of bullocks back in Jalandhar.

But Jalodhar’s evil designs did succeed and soon communication between the two people was cut off and Shah Jee never again heard about his beloved bullocks. For nearly 60 years, three rusty Indian postcards with broken handwriting of Banta Singh remained the most prized possession of Shah Jee.

As we grew up, Shah Jee would constantly feed our imagination with endless stories about Jalodhar, advising us always to guard against his villainous designs. Even as children, we could not miss Shah Jee’s deep disdain for Jalodhar. But were also puzzled why this wretched Jadoogar would always figure in Shah Jee’s discussions. I remember one eid mela (festival) in early 1970s in Lahore, when accompanied by Shah Jee, we came across a joker, donning the attire of a big monkey and playing Hanoman. "There goes Jalodhar," shouted a bemused Shah Jee, and no sooner had my brother and I heard this, we hurled two well-directed stones at Hanoman’s buttocks. "Bang", our rockets hit the poor joker and "bang" Shah Jee slapped us both in turns before grabbing our hands and dragging us back home.

"For Heaven’s sake, what wrong have we committed other than hitting the infamous Jalodhar?"

Our eid was spoilt as Shah Jee did not speak to us for the rest of that auspicious day.

The next big spoiler in our boyish lives came with the visit of the Indian cricket team to Pakistan in 1978 under Bishan Singh Bedi. Shah Jee wanted our team to trounce the Indian team as it included Jalodhar disguised as one or the other player.

To our torture, we were made to learn by heart the names -- full names -- of all suspect cricketers, cities they hailed from, their past performance and so on. After all, Jalodhar had to be guarded against, so we crammed it all -- Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj, Erapali Parsanna, Bhagwat Chandrashekher. And while we managed to win 2-0 against India, we can not forget a misty eyed Shah Jee, who had not missed a single minute of live tv coverage and winning festivities, as a dejected Bishan Singh Bedi led his team out of the National Stadium, Karachi after losing the third test.

Jalodhar had once again been made to hit the Pathankot hills then why this despondency -- Shah Jee never explained.

Another unending torture that Jalodhar administered to us in our early years pertained to Amritsar tv. In those early days, rooftop antennas had to be turned in easterly direction in parts of Lahore, if one wanted to view Amritsar tv showing two Hindi movies every week. Shah Jee, who never missed these movies, would stand next to our aging tv set while the two of us would reach our rooftops with bruised arms. The antenna would be rotated in all possible directions for a clearer resolution but to no avail. We would hear Shah Jee, loudly cursing Jalodhar who, somewhere in Amritsar, was bent upon depriving Shah Jee from watching penultimate scenes of classic movies, including Pakeeza and Guide.

Our tender arms would go numb but Jalodhar was relentless in frustrating Shah Jee who stressed that we should stay upstairs. Why would this wretched Jalodhar only interfere as soon as there were some emotional scenes, was something which really puzzled our boyish minds.

The last of this Jalodhar episode ensued when I was posted in District Chakwal, home to some famous pre-partition Hindu relics. I loose count of the number of times when Shah Jee visited me in Chakwal, always demanding to be taken to Katas Raj and Nandana temples. Once there, Shah Jee would roam around these mysterious wildernesses, apparently trying to find some signs of Jalodhar’s evil presence. He was truly excited in those days as the archaeology staff posted on these temples informed him about the possible visit by the then Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, himself from Chakwal.

Shah Jee drew elaborate plans with the archaeology staff at the Katas Raj temples for the auspicious day and how best to show around the dignitary the true beauty and charm of the place, while staying safe from Jalodhar’s shenanigans.

He was a greatly dejected man when Dr Manmohan failed to show up in Chakwal, and, as you would guess, lost no time in blaming Jalodhar for Singh’s failure to visit his homeland.

Following this Chakwal episode, Shah Jee was really down and depressed. In his last years, he would tell how badly he wanted to go back to his Des Jalandhar where he would settle scores with Jalodhar, once for all. Despite spending the last 68 years of his eventful life in Lahore and Okara, the enviable title of homeland --Des -- could only be associated with Jalandhar. He never explained what shape this settling of scores with Jalodhar would take. We tried to find out but he who never tired of talking about Jalodhar for nearly 70 years divulged nothing in his last months.

Our beloved Shah Jee, is no more -- lying fast asleep under a groove of green Neem trees in his Okara village graveyard. These trees are credited with having special powers to keep away evil spirits and churails bent upon tormenting innocent people in scorching summer afternoons.

Perhaps, I should be cutting a few of these Neem trees to allure Jalodhar to Shah Jee’s grave, who may well be missing the company of his old tormentor.