Posts
It was midsummer
and we were celebrating summer holidays. During holiday, One day my maternal grandfather
came to visit us and, he took me to his village. At that time, I was in class six.
My maternal grandfather had orchards and it had many mango and dates trees.
During my stay in his house, I would spend whole day in orchards . I would come to home only when I would be
hungry otherwise I used to spend time climbing the trees, swinging on swing
(hung from branches on ropes) and playing in the orchard. One day, I saw a boy cutting
the grass from the field and collecting in the basket. I saw him taking few
mangoes from the orchard that had fallen from the tree. When I went to him, he fled
from the orchard. I wondered why he fled when I was trying to be friendly. When
I told the maternal grandfather about the incident, he laughed – “oh! He was
stealing the mangoes and he must have thought that you were going to catch him”.
He advised me to spend more time in house than orchard but I did not listen to him
as I was thoroughly enjoying the company of trees and the heaven like ambience
of the orchard.
Next day when I saw him, I urged him not to flee away from the field. He obeyed my call and did not move from there. I talked with him and invited him to play with us. He was elder to me but studying in the same class. Within two days, we became good friend. He would take me to village temple, other orchards, ponds, fields and tell many stories about them. He knew everything about his surroundings. He had three cows and two buffalos .He would collect fodder from the field for the animals, take them to ponds to give proper bath every second day and clean their abode every day. After school time, it was his responsibilities to look after them. Sometimes he would go market too, to bring the necessary items for the animals and family members. Besides that, he used to sing many folk songs and knew dancing too. Even though he was weak in study and he knew it, but he was least bothered about it. When I would ask questions from the syllabus, instead of giving answer he would ask many questions about fields, animals and grains. I would give up and he would enjoy seeing my ignorance in many other subjects.
He had a cousin who was tenth fail and quite elder to us. One day when we were playing in the field, we came and made a plan with my friend to watch film in nearby town. I was not the part of their discussion. When his cousin was leaving, he asked – “Do you want to join us”. I was listening to their talk and feeling angry inside as they had excluded me from their plan. “I would like to join, but what I will have to do for it?”- I relieved to know that at last I was also included in the plan.
“Nothing. If you have ten rupees, you can join us. Six rupees for video cinema ticket and four rupees for jhalmurhi (puffed rice with spices). Do not take permission from baba (he was referring my maternal grandfather); he would not allow you to go with us. Do you have money?”- He asked.
“Yes, I have.”- I replied. I had twenty rupees that time in my pocket, I thought I would spend ten rupees in cinema, and rest ten rupees in comics and when anybody would ask, I would tell, I had gone market to purchase comics.
Morning 10am, the plan was made for watching movie and after half an hour we all three gathered in orchard for going to the town. I saw my friend and brother, both of them were carrying a big jute bag. They told that they had to purchase some items from the market too. We started at 10.30 am and reached to video hall around 12 pm. we took ticket and entered the hall. It was my first experience of watching movie in any hall. In fact, hall was a part of house, it was full of benches and the operator was showing movie on a small TV screen. My whole excitement ebbed away, as I thought I would watch movie in real cinema theatre/ hall.
When movie was over, it was around 3am. After that we all went to market, both of them purchased items –wheat, pulse, oil, vegetables and other grocery items, and their bags were full. When I told the elder that I wanted to purchase comics, he took me to a very big grocery shop. The shop was not selling the comics. When I told him, he replied – “oh! This is the big shop in the town, if comics are not available here, then it is not available in this market”.
“But how can grocery shop will sell comics, comics will be available in magazine shop or book store”-I reasoned.
He had no idea about any magazine shop or bookstore in the town. When I insisted, he took me to a bookshop. It was a very small bookshop and it was selling only state board book. The bookshop had no children magazine or comics for sell. I was disappointed.
Meanwhile, an interesting incident took place there. The elder brother of my friend was married and in market, he met with his brother in law. The brother in law discussed something with the elder and then elder told to my friend – “see, my brother in law conveyed me, my wife is not well. I have to go along with him sasural. Please carry my bag too and inform my father that I will come tomorrow”.
When he left, then I realized how my friend would carry two bags full of items. I tried to pick up the bag, it was heavy. My friend put one bag on his back, and another bag we both carrying with hands. We continued to do that for almost one kilometer. By that time, we were out of market, but village was almost three to four kilometer far away from there. Carrying bag became uphill task for us. I was in full sweat and started sobbing. Seeing me, my friend too started crying. We were helpless that time.
A person on bike saw us sobbing on the road. He stopped the bike and asked the reason of sobbing.
He laughed when he came to know the reason. He took my friend on bike, and arranged a rickshaw for us. Within half an hour, I saw my friend coming on rickshaw, brimming with smile. The rickshaw puller kept the both bag on it and we reached to the village safely.
When I reached village, it was dark. Surreptitiously, I entered in the house. What excuse I would give to my maternal grandfather, I kept on thinking all the way. But I did not have to give any excuse to him. When I reached the door, I saw my maternal grandfather was chatting with the same person, who was on bike and helped us. Both of them laughed when they saw me walking stealthily. I straight way went to the room and hid my face in the bed sheet.
~~~ Ramanuj Dubey
Next day when I saw him, I urged him not to flee away from the field. He obeyed my call and did not move from there. I talked with him and invited him to play with us. He was elder to me but studying in the same class. Within two days, we became good friend. He would take me to village temple, other orchards, ponds, fields and tell many stories about them. He knew everything about his surroundings. He had three cows and two buffalos .He would collect fodder from the field for the animals, take them to ponds to give proper bath every second day and clean their abode every day. After school time, it was his responsibilities to look after them. Sometimes he would go market too, to bring the necessary items for the animals and family members. Besides that, he used to sing many folk songs and knew dancing too. Even though he was weak in study and he knew it, but he was least bothered about it. When I would ask questions from the syllabus, instead of giving answer he would ask many questions about fields, animals and grains. I would give up and he would enjoy seeing my ignorance in many other subjects.
He had a cousin who was tenth fail and quite elder to us. One day when we were playing in the field, we came and made a plan with my friend to watch film in nearby town. I was not the part of their discussion. When his cousin was leaving, he asked – “Do you want to join us”. I was listening to their talk and feeling angry inside as they had excluded me from their plan. “I would like to join, but what I will have to do for it?”- I relieved to know that at last I was also included in the plan.
“Nothing. If you have ten rupees, you can join us. Six rupees for video cinema ticket and four rupees for jhalmurhi (puffed rice with spices). Do not take permission from baba (he was referring my maternal grandfather); he would not allow you to go with us. Do you have money?”- He asked.
“Yes, I have.”- I replied. I had twenty rupees that time in my pocket, I thought I would spend ten rupees in cinema, and rest ten rupees in comics and when anybody would ask, I would tell, I had gone market to purchase comics.
Morning 10am, the plan was made for watching movie and after half an hour we all three gathered in orchard for going to the town. I saw my friend and brother, both of them were carrying a big jute bag. They told that they had to purchase some items from the market too. We started at 10.30 am and reached to video hall around 12 pm. we took ticket and entered the hall. It was my first experience of watching movie in any hall. In fact, hall was a part of house, it was full of benches and the operator was showing movie on a small TV screen. My whole excitement ebbed away, as I thought I would watch movie in real cinema theatre/ hall.
When movie was over, it was around 3am. After that we all went to market, both of them purchased items –wheat, pulse, oil, vegetables and other grocery items, and their bags were full. When I told the elder that I wanted to purchase comics, he took me to a very big grocery shop. The shop was not selling the comics. When I told him, he replied – “oh! This is the big shop in the town, if comics are not available here, then it is not available in this market”.
“But how can grocery shop will sell comics, comics will be available in magazine shop or book store”-I reasoned.
He had no idea about any magazine shop or bookstore in the town. When I insisted, he took me to a bookshop. It was a very small bookshop and it was selling only state board book. The bookshop had no children magazine or comics for sell. I was disappointed.
Meanwhile, an interesting incident took place there. The elder brother of my friend was married and in market, he met with his brother in law. The brother in law discussed something with the elder and then elder told to my friend – “see, my brother in law conveyed me, my wife is not well. I have to go along with him sasural. Please carry my bag too and inform my father that I will come tomorrow”.
When he left, then I realized how my friend would carry two bags full of items. I tried to pick up the bag, it was heavy. My friend put one bag on his back, and another bag we both carrying with hands. We continued to do that for almost one kilometer. By that time, we were out of market, but village was almost three to four kilometer far away from there. Carrying bag became uphill task for us. I was in full sweat and started sobbing. Seeing me, my friend too started crying. We were helpless that time.
A person on bike saw us sobbing on the road. He stopped the bike and asked the reason of sobbing.
He laughed when he came to know the reason. He took my friend on bike, and arranged a rickshaw for us. Within half an hour, I saw my friend coming on rickshaw, brimming with smile. The rickshaw puller kept the both bag on it and we reached to the village safely.
When I reached village, it was dark. Surreptitiously, I entered in the house. What excuse I would give to my maternal grandfather, I kept on thinking all the way. But I did not have to give any excuse to him. When I reached the door, I saw my maternal grandfather was chatting with the same person, who was on bike and helped us. Both of them laughed when they saw me walking stealthily. I straight way went to the room and hid my face in the bed sheet.
~~~ Ramanuj Dubey
No comments:
Post a Comment