Notice to Pests

One fine morning, I was planning to go market. Baba (my Grandfather) wanted me to bring some articles for him from the market. He prepared the list, handed me over it and he proceeded to temple (part of my house) to worship. I put the list in my pocket, took a carry bag and went outside. The moment I opened the gate, I saw Puran, a fellow villager standing at the door. Before I could say anything, he asked ' Is baba (My Grandfather) in home?'
‘Yes, he is in temple, worshipping God’- I replied.
Still he was standing at the gate. I added- ‘He just went inside the temple, it will take at least one and half hours’
‘No problem. I shall wait for him’
‘But what work you have with Baba. Tell me, if I can do that work for you’-
‘oh! That works only Baba can do in this village.’
I became very curious. What work he is telling that no one but only my grandfather can do in this village. I told him to sit on Charpoy and asked again about the work.
When I persisted then with a faint smile on face, he told –‘I want Baba to write/ issue a notice to pests. Last night I observed many pests in my field. If notice is not given to pests, they will destroy the crops’.
What! Notice to pests- I could not resist laughing, but he was serious.
‘Spray pesticides in the field, that will help your crops’- I advised.
‘That I also will do, but these pests must be given notice first’ – he replied.
‘Ok- but why baba? you can tell anybody to write the notice’-
‘Only Sarkari karamchari ( Government official ) can write notice for this purpose’
‘but there are many government employees in the village’
‘but notice written by other Sarkari karamchari are not  so effective . Moreover, nobody knows ‘kaithy language’ in the village. Notice must be written in kaithy language. Then he kept on telling how such notice helps to keep away pests from the field. What I could fathom from his talk that, my grandfather was an ideal retired Government official for writing the notice. 
I remembered Kaithy was the official language of that area before independence. All land related documents (before independence) used to be written in kaithy only. As my grandfather knew kaithy well, many people used to come to him to understand the documents. He had resolved many land related disputes in the village. Nevertheless, notice to Pests in kaithy – this whole episode was amusing for me. I did not go market immediately, waited for my grandfather too. When his worship was over, he came out of the temple. I informed him about Puran and notice things. He smiled. He told me to bring a writing pad, notebook and pen. He wrote the notice on the paper and handed over to puran.
The content of the notice (written in Kaithy) was -

Shriman Lohtan singh & Party,
It has been observed that since yesterday you and your party have attacked the standing crops in the field belongs to --son of----, village ---, tahsil---. – is an honest farmer and he pays his tax on time. Attacking on field is amount to attacking sarkar bahadur. You and your party, hereby, directed to vacate the field with immediate effect. If you fail to do so, you will be punished severely.
on the behalf of government & farmer
-------------

I laughed when my grandfather read out the content for me. Puran took the notice, stitched that notice to a red cloth and at the end the cloth he made a loop and tied it with a long staff. Then he straightway went to field to put that staff in the field. My grandfather told him ‘this notice is not enough for pests. You should use pesticides or any other alternative for pests’ control’. 

When Puran left, I argued with my grandfather.
‘What do you think this notice will drive away pests from the field’- I asked.
‘I am afraid, they won’t. Not a single pest will be able to read my notice. Illiterate lot’- my grandfather mused. Seeing me serious, he told me –‘see, thousand times I told those who come for such purpose that notice, paper – these are just superstitions. These things do not have power to control pests.  Pests are  controlled by Pesticides  , spraying neem, hot ashes or other scientific methods. Here, many farmers of my generation believe in notice system.  They also understand that without doing scientific method pests will not go away, then also they use notice too. I do not want to be rude or impolite; I do it for free and do not forget to give advice that pests can be killed / controlled through scientific method only’. 

This incident took place almost fifteen years back. My grandfather died in October 2008. Since then, very few times I visited the village. Hope, by now this weird system of sending notice to pests must have stopped in the village.

~~~ Ramanuj Dubey

बालक - एक प्रतिक्रिया -

गांव की एक पतली पगडण्डी पर

लोटता हुआ बालक

मचलता है

लपकता है

माँ की ओर

देखता है

माँ की

धसी हुई छाती

फटी हुई साड़ी

ढीले पड़े शुष्क स्तन

बांहे फैलाये दो बेजान हाथ

बालक

ठिठकता है

रुक जाता है

माँ के कामों में

बिना व्यवधान डाले

अपने खेल में

मग्न हो जाता है

शायद

अपने तौर से

पुरे समाज की

खिल्ली उडाता है .

रामानुज दुबे

Name & Surname

Sometimes amusing discussion brings out interesting truth of our society. Yesterday I had very healthy discussion with one of my friends about ‘Name’ and ‘Surname’. This discussion reminds me two incidents that took place more than ten years back in Bihar.

During our graduation days, we had a good friend Rajesh Yadav. He was very popular among us. We had  given him many informal names .For us he was Raju, Raj, Rajesh, RY, yadav.  When his sister's marriage was fixed, he  invited all of us . We were the group of six and all of them reached to marriage house one day before the marriage ceremony. After reaching to the place, very soon we gelled with the family and took the responsibilities for arrangements of marriage ceremony. Among us, we had a friend Chandan, who used to address Rajesh as Yadav. Chandan was coordinating with labors for decoration. Many times, he needed Rajesh’s instructions for proper decoration of hall for that frequently he would call out ‘Yadav’.  After hearing his shrill voice, Rajesh would respond loudly either from second or third floor of the building. Everyone who was present there noticed this unusal but amusing way of communication. In night, after dinner, Rajesh’s uncle (perhaps he was a senior officer of State commission cadre) called Chandan and reprimanded him for calling Rajesh as ‘Yadav’.
Chandan was aghast. He remonstrated ‘But uncle from the beginning I have been addressing him ‘Yadav’. He never said me anything against it’.
‘ Addressing him Yadav appears very offensive. You may call your friend Rajesh by any names but when you use word ‘Yadav’ for him you should use ‘Yadav ji’ –uncle said this seriously.
‘Ji for friend ?'- chandan made a funny face.
“No – ‘ji’ to give respect his caste, his bloodline, his ancestors, his family. Here Rajesh is not only ‘Yadav’ whole family is .Name can be informal, Surname cannot be. It is better to address friends by his name but if you are using surname, you must give proper respect to Surname.”
Meanwhile Rajesh keeping fingers on his lips gave Chandan signal to keep quite before uncle. Chandan reciprocated accordingly. This discussion was over, but one good outcome of this discussion was that after that Chandan never addressed Rajesh as ‘Yadav’.

Second incident took place after few months of this incident. Bank Manager Mahto uncle had given a party in his house. Mahto uncle’s son Mithilesh is my friend. Mithlesh had invited some of his college friends in the party. His one college friend was constantly addressing him ‘Mahto- mahto’ loudly. One old woman admonished the guy – ‘Will you have to pay money or tax to say Mahto ji or Mahto Babu. You will not become small if you address your friend with respect. What kind of education you are getting in the college?’ his college friend was apologetic. Everybody present in the party agreed with the old woman.

These two incidents made me conscious about surnames. There is no denying the fact that India is a caste based society and a majority of our fellow citizens identify themselves with their own caste. Many people feel offended if their surname that generally denote their caste, not addressed with proper respect. Generally I address my friends by their names only but if I have to address by surname I never forget to add ‘ji or Babu’ suffix.  In my opinion giving respect to the name and the surname of any individual whether s/he is younger one or elder one, educated or illiterate, rich or poor, officer or peon is equivalent to respecting our self and we should respect our self.

लड़ाई -