Gandhi ji and my Grandpa..-

Today is the sixty second death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It has become customary to remember him on 2nd October and 30th January. Rest of the year we throw garbage nearby his statue which are installed every nook and corner of our country and try to prove his ideas obsolete for the modern world. Is Gandhian thought relevant for modern word, do we need Gandhi for a better society these questions are cliché.

Gandhi practised two things in his life Truth and Nonviolence. Entire life he worked for the betterment of the society through this tools and he succeeded in it. He was very particular about the right means for achieving the goals. The general sentiment of the people about the Gandhian ideology is that his ideas are very good but impractical which are very hard to practise. But what I feel is that even though his ideology looks extremely idealist then also it’s very useful for our life. With strong will power and self righteous path one can follow the Gandhian philosophy to make this world better.

I always used to see the glimpse of Gandhi ji in my grandpa. He died on 28th October 2008. He was a lovely old man with ordinary traits .but there was something in him which always reminded me of Gandhi ji .As he had lived in the Gandhian era; Gandhian philosophy had influenced Him a lot. I never saw him practising Gandhian philosophy in toto in daily life but he partially followed it, especially passive resistance.

I was very near to him. He gave me unconditional love, love that I shall never be able to repay. He always used to kiss me on my forehead and made me listen the old stories of his life experiences. In fact at first I understood the intricacies of rural society from his eyes. His presence used to give me a positive vibes. I always miss his tender loving care and beatific smile. I miss u grandpa.......I miss u Gandhi............I miss both of u from the bottom end of my heart.

( This blog was written two years back. )
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Ramanuj Dubey

NONSENSE TALK VII..............

Our village chaupal was agog over the news that somebody hurled shoes on Rahul Gandhi. This happened first time in   recent time when this highly excited news was brought to chaupal by Somra. Actually, somra had gone to market and when he was returning from there he saw a crowd before a TV shop. At that time, on the TV, munni badnam hui, song was coming and a good number of spectators were enjoying this song standing on the road. The shopkeeper was annoyed to see the crowd before his shop, so to disperse them he changed the channel, from music to news. Somra was also present in the crowd, when the channel was changed he waited there in the hope that shopkeeper might change channel again from news to music. But this did not happen. Yes, on news channel, he saw the news that somebody threw shoes on Rahul Gandhi.  That news was worthy enough to be known to chaupal, so without delay he left for the village. After coming to the village, he enquired about sukhia sukhvardhan and felt extremely happy that sukhia was unaware of the latest Rahul Gandhi episode. Straightway he went to chaupal and conveyed   this breaking news to everyone.

Sukhia Sukhwardhan was unable to digest the fact that somra brought this interesting news before the villages. He had still doubt in his mind. How this can happen, I have been listening news from morning at the interval of every hour on radio but I did not hear such story.  But nobody paid attention towards his doubts, as everybody knew that TV is faster than Radio!

Why he was attacked ? who was the attacker ? what was his motive ? What he wanted to gain from this act?  Chamka who had seen Rahul Gandhi in paper and admired his aristocrat look asked these question addressing Somra.

Somra was not ready to face the volley of questions from anyone. Actually he was ignorant of the answer of these questions. He saw the news and left for the village. Now he was regretting that why did not he stayed there for some times and listened complete news.

At the time of somra’s ordeal, Sajjan chacha came forward to rescue him. Turning his head towards chamka, he replied: see, those people who do such nasty things, must be hooligan. How can a respectable person do such mischievous things?

“No chacha, it is not so” satua , alone subscriber of a nation political weekly magazine in the village, entered into the discussion. He continued: no chacha, this is democracy, and in democracy, throwing shoes on the leaders are allowed.

But how? There was doubt in Sajjan chacha’s voice.

“Have not you seen the MPs, MLA’s in the house, how they throw paper, mike and other things on each other to get their work done.  They do so because by this means they can put pressure on government.  Earlier only parliamentarians used to do these acts to influence opposition but later on some journalists, some civil society members adopted the same methodology. As democracy of our country has become more mature, so, nowadays even common man also started throwing shoes on politician to register their protest”   concluded Satua. He was quite amazed to see his oratory skill. He spoke well, thought inside and gave a winning smile to Sukhia Sukhwardhan who was looking dull today.

Han, Han (yes, yes) this is democracy, this democracy, aur democracy me ye sab chalta hai (and in democracy, these things are permitted) everybody supported Satua including Sukhia sukhwardhan. As Mukhia ji was not present in the chaupal, Sukhia sukhwardhan was vociferous in criticizing the elected representatives. He was getting support from sajjan chacha and others.

“Achha bhaiya, if we throw shoes on our MP sahib, will our village get road connected to town.” Khurphatia asked this question to Satua.

“Why not, if we throw shoes on him and he acknowledges this before the world then sure we will get road.”  Sukhia sukhwardhan answered.

“Why do not we throw shoes on him, he is coming to address a rally in the town this Sunday. If he acknowledges the accident, our village will get benefit” khurpathia offered a suggestion.

Now everybody started discussing on Khurpatia’s proposal. In fact, there were no good shoes available in the village. Sajawat  singh, a retired fauji, who is well known as major in the village has boots  but he refused to give to villagers for this noble cause.  This enraged the villagers and they decided to purchase the new shoes. Second hand or used shoes are also sold in the nearby market but villager had fear that if they threw old shoes and MP sahib did not acknowledge then whole scheme would fall flat. Sajjan chacha was deciding the contribution amount for each person, suddenly he saw Fekhna sitting silently at the corner of the choupal. Twenty five years old, five feet eight inch tall, fourty six kg weight, Asthma patient Fekhna was listening the discussion with rapt attention.

Raising the voice dramatically,Sajjan chacha  proclaimed:  “just now a thought came across in my head. Now we will not throw shoes on MP Sahib, instead we will throw Fekna over him. He will not be able to refuse this incident and we will have our road.”

“Fekhna has only bones, harder than shoes, it may hurt our MP sahib and he may grant us road immediately” one said.

“Fekhna is not well these days, after the incidents he  may get attention from MP Sahib , as a result  treatment money from the government side” another villager said.

“Fekhna is a gem for our village and we villager must feel proud of him”- thundered Sajjan chacha.

Fekhna could not listen more. He felt unconscious.

Arre he got epilepsy attack, go to sajawat singh’shouse and bring the boots. Cried somra.

Somebody rushed to Sajawat Singh’s house to bring shoes.

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Ramanuj Dubey

Haiku XVII---

{1}


Reach up and heaven
Whenever I see her fresh
Gaily appearance 


{2}


Enthralling winter
How to celebrate the life
The poor wonder


{3}


Thousands years mullock
Need cleaning and cleansing in
Our dusty dwelling

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Ramanuj Dubey 

NONSENSE TALK VI..............

The news of the dismal performance of Indian team in Australia reached to the chaupal of my village. Everybody looked upset, unhappy and disappointed with the way tour has been going on so far.

“Can anybody tell me how India is faring in Australia” septuagenarian Sajjan chacha asked this question before the gathering. But everyone present in the gathering was sure that this ‘anybody’ was addressed for sukhia sukhwardhan, who always kept a small radio in his pocket and never failed to listen to commentary. It was his unsaid responsibilities to convey the latest updates about the cricket match to the villagers. He was quite happy to get another opportunity to tell the highlights of the match.

“Two days already passed chachha , and Indian team has reached in danger zone. When team got all out at 191 runs yesterday, at that time I sensed the trouble, but never knew that Australia would make such a mammoth score, 482/4. Still six wickets are to play, it is almost certain that India would lose this match. One match they have already lost, second in pipeline, I do not understand what has happened to Indian team”- there was a genuine concerned in his tone.
“ Last year, when Indian team visited England, there also they lost all matches there from the Anrez”- Added Somra, felt happy to express his general knowledge about Indian cricket at the chaupal. “But India defeated England in all matches when team England toured here”- Sukhia sukhwardhan continued.

“That I do not understand why our team loses the match when they play at foreign land” – Khurpathia put this question before the chaupal assembly. Now everybody was trying to find the right reason of our cricketers’ abysmal performance at overseas.

Mangatram , who  was denied the subsidized grains from the public distributive system last month because of some unknown reasons wanted to know whether players were getting enough food in the foren country or not ?  When he was told that Indian team was not facing food shortage over there and they are fed amply, he was not sure. When Sukhia showed the recent  photos of Indian players appeared in today’s newspaper in that some of them were looking plump and rest of them were looking happy and contended ,then only he accepted it.

But Budhiya, a skill development beneficiary, who recently left the job and came to village from Delhi was very much concerned about players’ accommodation, playing time and pay perks. “How can our player perform well, when they are made to play early in the morning at 5 o’clock, who knows they may be kept in stadium without proper bed, bathroom facility, you know these things also matter in performance.”

Somra laughed at his enquiry and replied: “you are a real simpleton, they are big players, they have no dearth of money or connection, and anywhere they can have good accommodation, food, pay perks and all facilities. One thing more, Australia timing is different from Indian timing. When here is 5 am. , in Australia it is around 9 o’clock. So their playing timing is not bad”

“You are right bhaiya,” MGNREGS card holder chamka added, “they work more than hundred days playing cricket ,then they work on television selling toothpaste soap, detergent etc. , then they have other livelihoods for rest of the year, why they will be poor or in problem anywhere”

“When they are getting good food, good accommodation, good pay perk, good working condition, then also why they do not perform well. Are Angrez, Australians more talented than our players”  Sajjan chacha asked this question to “anybody Sukhia “.

“No kaka, it is not so, otherwise they would have defeated our player here also.”
“Then” sajjan chacha was perplexed.

There was a lull in the chaupal assembly for some time. First time Mukhiyaji entered into the discussion. With his heavy tone he continued “see we have (khet) fields in all the directions but are all fields same. No, all fields are not same. The field north to our village is good for paddy cultivation but not good for gram and the field west to our village is good for gram and paddy but not so good for sugar cane. Matlab ye, ( it means ) sometimes everything is ok, you are a good farmer, you have good seeds, you have good working bulls but if field is not suitable then how will you expect good yield”
Ok, so field is not suitable for our player – ohhhh—understood— almost everybody spoke in unison.

Somra wanted to differ with Mukhiyaji’s field theory, he wanted to ask why this field was barren for India and fertile for Australian but he knew once mukhiyaji told his final opinion, it was useless to question it.  He too followed chaupal tradition and admired mukhiyaji’s wit.

Finally my villagers were able to find the reasons of Indian players’ poor performance in Australia.


[  As I was informed by my childhood friend  over the phone ]

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Ramanuj Dubey