Abdul Samad (left) outside Palika Bazaar. (Rahul Sabharwal)
From Jalalabad in Afghanistan to Palika Bazaar in the heart of Delhi, 58-year-old Abdul Samad has come a long way. But there’s one thing the refugee has brought with him: his chess boards.
Around 11 am every day, Samad gets three boards and arranges them on tables outside the underground market’s main gate. He’s there till 9 pm, willing to start a battle against anyone who wants to play. Others join in, and soon all three boards are occupied, with a steady stream of spectators to keep them company.
Ever since Samad arrived in India in December 2014, he has been playing chess across Delhi — a park in Malviya Nagar or the Jama Masjid to Central Park and Palika Bazaar. Anyone is welcome for a friendly game, but those who want to bet money are promptly asked to leave. “Yeh game sirf saaf mann se khelna chaahiye,” says Samad.
On a warm Wednesday afternoon, as Samad plays one game after another, spectators can be heard talking on the phone, asking their friends to drop by. As many as 50 people get to try their hand through the day — students who rush there after classes, people who work in Connaught Place, or just someone who happens to be passing by. Every now and then, bystanders give advice on the next move.
Amit Bhardwaj, an advertisement designer from Nangloi, makes it a point to visit twice a week. “Maza bohot aata hai inke saath; ghante beet jaate hain aur pata nahi chalta,” he says.
While the set-up outside Palika Bazaar is relatively new, ‘Chess uncle’, as Samad is fondly called by some, has been playing under a tree at Central Park for the last two years.
A Bollywood fan, Samad, when he’s not playing chess, likes to listen to old hits like “Baharo phool barsao” and “Jab pyaar kiya toh darrna kya”. He claims he spent three years, from 1985-88, in a jail in Afghanistan, where he even played chess with the jailor. He also claims that in 1988, he fled with some family members to Pakistan, and in 2014, moved to India.
His fondest memory yet of Delhi is of a seven-year-old walking up to the chess table, before going on to beat everyone he faced. Asked if he managed to defeat the boy, Samad says with a smile, “I didn’t play him out of fear.”
Samad says he picked up chess after his college friend introduced him to the game. Now, people flock to him to learn.
Kunal, a student of architecture from Rao Tula Ram Polytechnic, and Manish, who works at an export house in Noida, first met each other at one such chess game, and now make it a point to visit Samad thrice a week. “Uncle ko haraana bohot mushkil hai; hum toh sirf seekhne aate hain,” they say.
Samad says his sons are still in Afghanistan, while his daughters, sisters and mother are now in the US. He hopes to see them soon, and has applied for a Canadian visa, where he hopes they can reunite.
As for Jalalabad, he says returning is next to impossible. “Daesh, Taliban, Mujahideen — sab hamaare sheher mein ghus gaye the. My town had become a Taliban-controlled area,” he says.
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