Sunday Snippets
By Venkatesh Raghavan*
Hanif was one of the better-known dons of Bombay who had a longstanding tussle with fugitive Dawood Ibrahim’s key henchman, Chhota Shakeel. He was shot to fame for sustaining a surgery that was instrumental in removing 18 bullets from his body. He was still left with one bullet. He instructed the doctor that he would prefer to live with it as a mark of his valour.
Although he was popularly known in Bhendi Bazaar circles as Hanif Bearing, no one dared call him by that name on his face. Yet, he was popularly known by that nickname.
Hanif lived in the backyard of Memonwada, a gully that ran from behind Dongri fire station. He was a man famed for selling cinema house tickets in black at various single and multiplex theatres across the length and breadth of the city. In addition, he had a collection network at various night joints that kept his income stable.
On my first visit to the don’s den, I was welcomed warmly and was in the company of people who were smoking weed.
We were seated in a group regaling ourselves with a conversation that centred on the then-popular game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). Jokes went around when anyone gave a good repartee, dubbing it “Sahi Jawaab”.
Later, the don gave me a generous helping of homemade chicken masala. It tasted good and I was also on a high listening to old Hindi songs from the Noorjehan and Suraiya era. As gradually our topic of conversation shifted from game shows to other contemporary happenings in our city, the don softly made his pitch. He said, “If you can arrange with the booking counter at Aurora Talkies in Kings Circle for the purchase of a fixed number of tickets, I will ensure you get a handsome commission on that.”
I politely declined with measured words.
Though a bit trepid on the response I gave, I had no cause to fear. We had prolonged sessions over a period of time, when I was still in the act of newsgathering, for the novels I planned to pen rather than any press report. For, I was fully aware that the kind of information I managed to gather from his network would prove risky if offered a news format. It could, however, be safely used in my crime fiction novels that used fictionalized names.
One fine afternoon as I was working in my Textile Excellence periodical I received news that Hanif had passed away. Hanif, who had borne the brunt of attacks from dons like Chhota Shakeel, was now no more among us.
Also read: Sunday Snippets: The Bhai’s motorboat
*Senior journalist and author of the book Operation Drug Mafia marketed by Times Group.
