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I heard some announcement on the loudspeaker and ran
out of the house to the direction from where it was coming. When I reached there,
I saw an old man sitting very elegantly on the rickshaw, announcing something.
After hearing his echoed voice, many children gathered around the rickshaw. He
must be around sixty years old, his face was full of wrinkles, all hair grey and
he was wearing full pant and t-shirt. Generally, old aged people used to wear dhoti
and kurta in my village that time. From his appearance, attitude,
and body language I concluded that he was very different from any other old man
that I had seen so far.
He was on the rickshaw, and now stopped announcing. He had a mike in his hand; the mike was attached with a string connected to battery that was kept at the backside of the rickshaw. The loudspeaker was, tied with rope on the backside of the seat. Some posters and a can full with gum were kept near the feet of the old man. He commanded something to the rickshaw puller, and rickshaw puller took out a poster, opened it, spread gum on it and pasted it on the wall. I was very surprised to see the way he executed the work. Then, the old man ordered the rickshaw puller to fetch a bottle of water from the nearby hand pump. When he left to fetch water, we children demanded to switch on laud speaker for filmy song. He told us to wait, until rickshaw puller came back. He was conducting himself not less than a king and I was very impressed with him. He told me he was announcer, doing advertisement of films made by great director and actors. He counted many names, year and number of days film ran in the local theatre but I was unable to understand his job details and film description. I was impressed with his mike and big posters. I requested him to paste a poster on my wall and he readily agreed for it. When rickshaw puller came, I too came with him on rickshaw until my house. The rickshaw puller pasted the poster on my wall and gave the mike in my hand to speak something. Listening my voice on loudspeaker, my father who was sleeping, woke up and came out of the house. Seeing poster on the wall and mike in my hand, he got enraged. I sensed the trouble and immediately ran towards home. My father was very angry, and as much, he could rebuke that old man he did that. The old was profusely apologizing to him. The rickshaw puller removed the poster immediately that he had pasted on the wall just now. After that, both of them left for other village. I was very sorry for the old man. My heart sank to see his unceremonious departure from my place but my admiration for him continued to be in my heart.
Five years later I saw him on a repair shop, getting his torch repaired. I asked him whether he was doing his job or not. . He became very happy to know that I recognized him as announcer. He told me, the theatre, for which he was working, closed now. Theatre owner did not pay tax for long time and local authority locked the cinema hall. I found out him very interesting person and asked about his life and other profession. He started telling about himself very enthusiastically. He was fond of movie from childhood. When he was eight or ten years old he went to Kolkata with his father. His father used to work as a labour in a production house. There he worked as child artist and a part of crowd in few movies and was paid for the work. He had ambition to become an actor and one director promised him hero role but he died suddenly. He told me if the director had not died suddenly, he would have been a hero and very big person. I felt very bad to hear the abrupt end of his film career. When I asked, “why did not you try with other director or film maker?”, first he looked evasive then he answered – “I tried to approach few, but all good director shifted Mumbai. If they had been there, things would have been different”. The shopkeeper who was working on his torch reprimanded him – “Do not you feel ashamed to tell a lie to a kid? Cannot you tell some truth about yourself?” The old man got angry with him. He threatened him, he would not come to his shop if he ( the shopkeeper ) would not be courteous with him. The shopkeeper was laughing. I said I believed him and he felt happy. He told further that he got married but his wife died soon, then he worked as a joker in a drama company. When Drama Company closed, then he joined theatre/ cinema hall as announcer. He told that due to his announcing the cinema hall ran house full shows for almost five years. I doubted his claim, as the cinema hall closed due to owner’s inability to pay taxes. When I expressed my doubt, he laughed – “oh! Taxpaying is nothing to do with earning. The cinema hall owner earned fortune from my announcing, but never paid any tax to government. At first, government told me not to do announcing job for him. Government thought if I would not do the job, cinema hall will close automatically, but I refused. After my refusal only, government closed the cinema hall”.
He had many stories to tell, but I saw my father coming from opposite direction towards the shop. Lest he get angry again to see me with this old man, I fled away from there.
~~~ Ramanuj Dubey
He was on the rickshaw, and now stopped announcing. He had a mike in his hand; the mike was attached with a string connected to battery that was kept at the backside of the rickshaw. The loudspeaker was, tied with rope on the backside of the seat. Some posters and a can full with gum were kept near the feet of the old man. He commanded something to the rickshaw puller, and rickshaw puller took out a poster, opened it, spread gum on it and pasted it on the wall. I was very surprised to see the way he executed the work. Then, the old man ordered the rickshaw puller to fetch a bottle of water from the nearby hand pump. When he left to fetch water, we children demanded to switch on laud speaker for filmy song. He told us to wait, until rickshaw puller came back. He was conducting himself not less than a king and I was very impressed with him. He told me he was announcer, doing advertisement of films made by great director and actors. He counted many names, year and number of days film ran in the local theatre but I was unable to understand his job details and film description. I was impressed with his mike and big posters. I requested him to paste a poster on my wall and he readily agreed for it. When rickshaw puller came, I too came with him on rickshaw until my house. The rickshaw puller pasted the poster on my wall and gave the mike in my hand to speak something. Listening my voice on loudspeaker, my father who was sleeping, woke up and came out of the house. Seeing poster on the wall and mike in my hand, he got enraged. I sensed the trouble and immediately ran towards home. My father was very angry, and as much, he could rebuke that old man he did that. The old was profusely apologizing to him. The rickshaw puller removed the poster immediately that he had pasted on the wall just now. After that, both of them left for other village. I was very sorry for the old man. My heart sank to see his unceremonious departure from my place but my admiration for him continued to be in my heart.
Five years later I saw him on a repair shop, getting his torch repaired. I asked him whether he was doing his job or not. . He became very happy to know that I recognized him as announcer. He told me, the theatre, for which he was working, closed now. Theatre owner did not pay tax for long time and local authority locked the cinema hall. I found out him very interesting person and asked about his life and other profession. He started telling about himself very enthusiastically. He was fond of movie from childhood. When he was eight or ten years old he went to Kolkata with his father. His father used to work as a labour in a production house. There he worked as child artist and a part of crowd in few movies and was paid for the work. He had ambition to become an actor and one director promised him hero role but he died suddenly. He told me if the director had not died suddenly, he would have been a hero and very big person. I felt very bad to hear the abrupt end of his film career. When I asked, “why did not you try with other director or film maker?”, first he looked evasive then he answered – “I tried to approach few, but all good director shifted Mumbai. If they had been there, things would have been different”. The shopkeeper who was working on his torch reprimanded him – “Do not you feel ashamed to tell a lie to a kid? Cannot you tell some truth about yourself?” The old man got angry with him. He threatened him, he would not come to his shop if he ( the shopkeeper ) would not be courteous with him. The shopkeeper was laughing. I said I believed him and he felt happy. He told further that he got married but his wife died soon, then he worked as a joker in a drama company. When Drama Company closed, then he joined theatre/ cinema hall as announcer. He told that due to his announcing the cinema hall ran house full shows for almost five years. I doubted his claim, as the cinema hall closed due to owner’s inability to pay taxes. When I expressed my doubt, he laughed – “oh! Taxpaying is nothing to do with earning. The cinema hall owner earned fortune from my announcing, but never paid any tax to government. At first, government told me not to do announcing job for him. Government thought if I would not do the job, cinema hall will close automatically, but I refused. After my refusal only, government closed the cinema hall”.
He had many stories to tell, but I saw my father coming from opposite direction towards the shop. Lest he get angry again to see me with this old man, I fled away from there.
~~~ Ramanuj Dubey
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