On a wing and a prayer

Delhi: Outside the Indira Gandhi International Airport, few have heard of them. But at the airport, they command complete respect. The shrine of Hazrat Roshan Khan and Hazrat Kale Khan at the airport has pilgrims flocking to it from all over the city.
The pilgrims, many of whom are employees at the airport, believe that ‘peer baba’ has been the protector of the airport ever since it was built. Mohammad Ibrahim, the caretaker of the shrine, says while no one knows when it was built, “it has averted major tragedies at the airport”.
And faith in the powers of peer baba has also prompted the airport authorities to bow their heads in prayer. Though initially there was a plan to build a runway on the site where the shrine stands, it was later abandoned. Believers maintain it had to be given up in face of the peer baba’s divine powers. “There existed a village here before the British decided to build the airport. Every attempt to remove the shrine brought bad luck,” says Ibrahim.
On Thursdays, devotees queue up at the shrine which stands on the compound of the IGI Airport’s International Cargo terminal. While most come to pay their respects, several others visit the shrine to get a closer look at the planes in the hangers.
28/06/09 Geeta Gupta/Indian Express

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Jun 2009