KARACHI: From a distance they seem like ring shops with a variety of gemstones and even glass and plastic nugs (ornament pieces used in jewellery) and rings made from different metals. On closer inspection there is a lot more going on there with tasbeeh, prayer or worry beads, bracelets, amulets, pendants, good-luck charms, necklaces or mala, beads, etc, on offer.

“There are some 20 to 25 shops selling our kind of stuff here on Ali Akbar Street in Jodia Bazaar,” says Alam Khan while enjoying his tea and paratha.

It is still early in the day but most shops in the area have already opened. “We are wholesalers after all. We have to open before the other markets so that shopkeepers can get their supplies from us.”

Most owners of these ring and gemstone shops are Pakhtun. “I grew up here on the street where I used to help my father sell from a vendor cart things that I deal in today in this very shop,” says Jahanzeb, who owns one of the bigger shops in the area.

Almost everywhere you look in his shop, there are 101-bead and 33-bead tasbeeh made from different stones, glass and plastic beads available and hanging in bulk. He also makes 500-bead tasbeeh from your choice of beads on order.

But some of the beads in the shop are just too big to be accepted as prayer beads. Jahanzeb laughs and says: “Those are for making mala that malang people wear around their necks.”

Also available in the shop are mala made from Rudraksha seeds. These are roundish five-faced reddish brown seeds used as prayer beads in Hinduism. The seeds can be bought individually as well. Each seed costs Rs20 at the shop. And Jahanzeb says the seeds that also carry medicinal value must not be bought fewer than three. “That’s how the energy works through these seeds.

And the mala usually is made of 108 seeds, which comes to around Rs2,160,” he says.

There are also tasbeeh made from Turkish blue nazar boncuk beads and good luck charms from the nazar boncuk amulets. But the tasbeeh, on a closer look, is made from blue plastic beads with the eye known to ward off the evil eye painted on it. No wonder they cost Rs100 each. “The stone or glass bead tasbeeh would cost thousands,” remarks Jahanzeb.

Among the other things on sale in the shop are the malang’s oblong black begging bowl, or kasa, which costs Rs4,000. Jahanzeb says they are so expensive because they are made from dried pumpkin shell imported from India. Now, what malang is rich enough to pay that much for it? “Oh, malang people do quite well for themselves. They can afford it,” smiles and says the shopkeeper. “And those who can’t and look genuine enough, we gift it to them in exchange for their prayers and blessings, which help us in our business here.”

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2015

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