Ek choti si dog story (A small dog story)
The Lost Letter

There was once a discussion going on between some street and pet dogs over a conference in one corner of a street in which dogs from far off areas had come to participate as the matter was very important for them. When the minutes were read by their secretary a point came up that why they are not respected like other animals like the Cow, Tiger etc inspite of them exhibiting their loyalty, sincerity and hardwork towards the mankind which is unquestionable even by the humans. Why their name is misused especially in films and considered as an abuse? Whereas the cow is worshipped like a mother, the Tiger is considered to be a national animal and photographed with the Goddesses and so on. The dogs have provided utmost security even at the peril of their life, done such a great jobs of saving many human lives by locating mines and explosives, helped man in catching the deadliest of the killers, entertained humans and shown highest degree of faithfulness which the humans can not even dream of and what not.

The case study was done deliberately by them and after enough brainstorming sessions and necessary lectures / debates over the issue it came to light that that their case has never been projected properly by them due to frequent inter rivalry amongst them where they do not allow any of their fellow colleague to flourish in their areas. Hence their immediate higher authorities had not put up their statement of case to God for his perusal due to which they are suffering. Even if some efforts were made by their predecessors in the past most of the time the case was rejected on flimsy grounds like grammatical mistakes, delay by the clerical staff, the concerned officer being on leave, adapting of procrastination attitude by the mediators who also asked for undue favours from them (which they refused due to their inborn quality of honesty and faithfulness) in processing the matter forward. But in case of animals like that of a cow the matter was expedited with no reiterations as she gave milk for free to the intermediate brokers and greased their palms with her milk products at the right time, got her work done within no time and thus got a respectable place in the society of mankind.
The Tiger also got his case expedited due to his power of paws, claws and fear over the others to which no one had courage to dare stop his statement of case for getting the sanction of the competent authority. Every one up the channel quietly pushed it through smoothly since nobody wanted to get involved in a fight with the powerful beast as they were not confident of the police protection of the Hyena force who in fact were in close nexus with the Tiger since they hunted and shared their prey together.
At the end of the conference it was thus summarised that a letter of recommendation would be drafted by them and after due consensus of every member it would be forwarded through the proper channel to God for granting them a respectable status on this planet. The letter was then accordingly made by them taking the help of a chimpanzee friend who was a clerk by profession and was obliged by the Dog society by lending 4 dogs for the security of his banana tree for a week .
After the letter was drafted and put up for the consensus a contentious point surfaced up which lead to a heated argument. The bull dogs wanted a greater share of respect as they were stronger to which the Alsatian strongly objected to, raising their tails as they claimed themselves to be more handsome and smarter. Seeing this the Doberman rose up and interrupted that they do all the work of catching the thieves which is the most difficult part for which they have even sacrificed their tails also hence they should be considered for grant of the maximum benefit . Seeing the situation the other high quality breeds also stood up and soon their was lot of barking. Then their leader, a common street dog stood up and said that they will give their views one by one after all of them sit in a single line and mark this area by pissing on that single tree so that everyone feels that this is their area and thus are equal in status to each other only after which their views will be considered otherwise unnecessary barking by everyone would lead to nowhere and he also emphasised that the standards of respect and status will be kept same for all right from a normal street dog to the Great Dane. They also decided that they will not fight like humans on the basis of caste, creed, colour, sex or status as it does not befit a dog to discuss such things and their credibility should be thus maintained at all costs whether they win this battle or not. Hearing this everyone kept quiet sat in a single line and agreed to their leader with their ears down and tails in.

The letter was then finalised, approved , signed by their Society president with the signatures of four witnesses and sealed in an envelope. This was to be taken to the God through his assistant who would in turn handover this to his PA (Personal Assistant) and finally would be put up to him on his table so as to follow the proper procedure. The dogs got the information that one of the assistants taking care of their area, the fox was nearby so the journey started and the group of dogs went to him to hand over the letter but when they reached they saw that the fox was involved in a scandal with lot of vixen around him with whom he was relaxing.
“How can such a person of low morals be an assistant to God”, the dogs said to each other. He was a fake. So the dogs started their journey back in search of a true assistant. As soon as the fox came to know of this he felt very bad as had planned a lot of services to be taken from these dogs in lieu of their letter work which fizzled out of his hand. So out of frustration he went and informed the Tiger that his days are numbered as the dogs are going to gain more respect than him very soon as soon as their letter reaches the Almighty. Hearing this the tiger got furious and ran after the dogs to get hold of that letter. When the dogs saw him chasing they immediately understood the cause, got together and planned to hide the letter. They could not find any other place to hide it so one of them shoved the letter into back side of his colleague and they continued running again.
But soon they were caught and when the tiger asked them about the letter they replied that they do not have any such letter. They also informed him that they had come to meet him to take his advice on important matters but this fox was asking for 2 kg of milk and 5 kg of meat out of which 3 kg of meat was for the tiger which they did not have so were helpless. They also added that the fox had frightened them on the pretext that the Tiger would kill them if they go empty handed to him hence fearing this they took off to their heels. Hearing this the tiger slapped the fox and allowed them to go thereby apologising for his act of doubting and pouncing on them.
The dogs somehow after double crossing the fox came back but when they discussed about the letter they forgot the dog on whose back side they had hidden the letter and till this day they are still searching for that letter by sniffing behind each other. If you notice carefully whenever they meet someone from their community the first thing they search for is that letter for it is a matter concerning their status and self respect in the society. Humans understand this and thus they are their friends. Humans also can hardly do anything till such time the letter is found as nothing moves without recommendations in this world and especially this country which you all would agree with me.
The dog who narrated this story to me last week also asked me at the end,
“Does this happen like this in your society also ?”
I kept mum for a moment and said,
”We’ll discuss it some other time as I have to go for attending a conference now.”

Off the ground for 60 seconds

Off the ground for 60 seconds
I had gone for some work to a place in UP called Kanpur. If you rate Chandigarh as No1 well planned and the most well maintained city in India you can rate this city as no 1 from the bottom of the most well planned cities list in India. The first curse of the city rather the state is the population which makes it difficult for the administration to control the connected problems related with it. The streets are narrow, filthy, unplanned, the traffic sense is near zero, the crowd ,the heat, the dust, the noise all above the safe limits of an acceptable standard but the show is still going on. One place where you can breathe properly is the cantonment and the second in the IIT campus apart from few green manned patches.
I was to board a train from the railway station at Kanpur for Allahabad, a short distance of about 4 hours in a normal train. I got into a long queue for getting the ticket after my friend left me at the station as I did not have a reserved ticket since the distance was short and there was no fixed plan. The rush was very heavy due to ‘Magh Mela’ celebrations at Allahabad so all the trains were going packed. I somehow managed to get a ticket and proceeded to platform No 2 where the train was to arrive after about half an hour.
To proceed to platform no 2, I had to cross over a bridge which connected it to PF no 1. The stairs were wide about 5m in width and the rise and tread of the steps was also comfortable with a strong railing on both the sides of the steps for the old and weak to hold it and pull themselves up. The young lot was generally in the centre with women behind their men to take cover and follow their footsteps as some were holding child in their laps. The men were holding the luggage on their heads as were mostly from the labour class category which formed the major chunk of the crowd. Some children were seen holding the fingers of their parents and quietly climbing the stairs in the crowd. The rush was more than expected. Suddenly there was an announcement that some other train would also arrive nearly at the same time on platform no 3 (which was adjacent side of PF no2) instead of PF no 4. As soon as this was announced there was a sudden shift of the rush and everyone from the PF no 4 started to arrive at PF no3 through the stairs and soon there was no space left even to walk.
Soon the crush gathered so much momentum that it was becoming difficult to even stand leave apart walking. I somehow reached the top of the bridge and started to move towards the PF no 2. As I reached the steps to get down to PF no2 to ensure safety of my belongings on my body I kept one hand on my purse on my rear trouser pocket while with the other I was holding a small bag lifted up in the air in front of my face with my forearm tightly pressed against my mobile kept in the front shirt pocket. I got stuck in the mass and was not able to proceed further. I tried to make my way through but could not budge an inch. Soon I saw some of the kids started yelling, the ladies had even started screaming for space. The situation was getting worse every second and I soon realised that if this continues it may lead to a stampede in which many would be injured. The first thing which came to my mind was to reach to a safe location as I was caught in the middle of the crowd where I could barely move and for getting some support just in case the situation worsens further and lead to a stampede. The only safe place which I could notice nearest to me was a pillar at the starting point of the descending stairs at the edge of the steps from where they started. I tried my level best to reach there but was unable to move since was tightly packed by the human bodies from all the sides although the pillar was just about 3m away from me.
For immediate relief my plan was to reach the pillar, holding it climb the railing and stand on it as it would give me air to breathe and be out from the crush as I expected a stampede in next few minutes. I feared that if somebody fell on the ground it would be very difficult for him to get up and would soon be crushed under the crowd. Fearing this I then applied all my strength and took a step forward towards the pillar forcing my way through and with great difficulty managed to take my right foot up off the ground to advance towards the pillar but when I tried to put it down to land on the ground for taking my next step of lifting the left foot I failed to succeed as there was no place to land my right foot down on the floor so I was literally standing on one leg only.
Now all the weight of my body was on my left leg and I stood in that awkward position for quiet a long time as a result of which my left ankle started paining like hell. My backbone also started paining soon since I was unable to stand straight. As I was trying to adjust myself to a comfortable position a rush wave came from the rear which pushed the complete group standing next to me towards the steps as a result I was also pushed ahead which detached my left foot also from the ground. Now I was in the air with both my feet off the ground with my body weight being taken care of by the horizontal forces of the human bodies who were tightly pressed against me in the crush to finally transfer it to the floor through their legs and this frightened me as I did not have any control over my body anymore. My movements were now with the disturbance wave. I swayed and floated like this for 60 seconds like a top of the eucalyptus tree in strong winds , the moment which I cannot forget all my life. I only desired if I could just get an opportunity to touch the ground for taking a push with full force on the ground and dive on to the pillar to get out of this situation since I was losing confidence every second to bail out unscratched. The matter was getting serious since there were chances of my falling down flat on the ground along with the rush wave which would have led to serious injuries as I would not have got a chance to get up so easily.
All of a sudden I saw the movement of the crowd as one of the trains arrived at the station on PF no 3 which diverted the rush of the waiting passengers to board the train and as a result created some space allowing me to land on floor after I immediately rushed towards the pillar and climbed the railing to save myself . I thanked my stars for helping me reach a safe position and now the whole crowd was under my vision with me standing like a policeman on an island watching everyone. In order to ease the situation I then shouted at the people who had got down from the train and were advancing towards the bridge to stop them from coming up the stairs as this would block the passage of passengers who were going down the bridge.
Suddenly I saw three people falling down at the bottom of the bridge and everyone rolled over them, the stampede had started and about 15 to 20 of them rolled over each other including ladies and kids. Some somersaulted, some side rolled while some fell flat. The area was filled with shrieks and screams and it appeared that it is the end of those fallen.The situation was however brought under control as the policemen took charge of the situation with their Lathis (big sticks) with which the newcomers to the crowd diverted their direction of move towards the crowd and this avoided making the situation complex. The policemen however lost their caps in action and some even rolled in the crowd who got up abusing everyone around.
When the train left the station the remaining crowd was diverted to other direction to reach the exit from the railway tracks since the bridge was already packed. The injured were helped by their companions and fortunately no one was hurt badly. Had the situation not brought under control I am sure there would have been several casualties. The situation eased of slowly and soon there was movement seen on the bridge after which I got down from the railing and went to board the train which arrived in next few minutes.
Incidentally I found that the front and the rear portion of the platform were not crowded as the concentration of the rush was restricted to the centre of the platform only. It was a fit case for study of poor management of the staff and nothing else. First of all had the rush been diverted to other platform by the management this situation could have been avoided and secondly there should have been some guides from the ‘May I help you’ booth to help the public evenly distribute the rush all along the platform which would have not allowed them to concentrate at one place on the platform. Anyway it was a lucky day that everyone reached their respective destinations safely. Lesson learnt for the day was
Firstly avoid the rush at any cost.
If you are too late to decide and are into it then,
Whenever you feel that the rush of the crowd may increase and there is no way out immediately start moving away from the centre of the crowd to a side and climb up some high place.

Burger of 10 million

A chicken Burger of Rs 1 Crore only

It was a pleasant evening in the market of Sector 17 of the city beautiful: Chandigarh, in Punjab in Northern India. The place is known for its cleanliness and considered to be one of the best places in India. People come here in the evenings for a stroll , do shopping in various shops and refresh after a days work. The market contains every thing for the rich and the middle class. There are huge showrooms and the hawkers too including balloon seller for the kids who carries a long bamboo with lot many coloured balloons tied to it on his shoulders.
I along with my friend, Harish were also having a stroll on that summer evening with the pleasant wind blowing and freshness in the air. We went from place to place, shop to shop, visited the Reebok, the Woodlands, the Macdonalds, had those spicy sweet corns, the delicious juice and then stood at a corner of the market watching beautiful people of the city beautiful. As we were standing a lottery seller came to us and stood smiling in front of us prompting us to buy a lottery ticket. He said smilingly,
”Sahib lottery le low kismet chamak jayegi” (Sir buy a lottery ticket your luck will shine)
Harish replied,
”Hamari to aaj tak tambola mein kismet nahin chamki isme kya chamkegi”(Our luck did not turn up in the game of Tambola how can it shine in a lottery)
The lottery seller said,
”Sahib naseeb ka kuch bhi nahin pata hota kab, kahan, kaise aur kiska chamak jaaye koi nahin keh sakta”(Sir no one can predict luck. when, where, how and whose luck shines no one can say)
I asked him the cost of the ticket to which he replied that it is for Rs 100/-only. I then asked him what money will we get if we win the ticket as it was written in big bold letters ‘RUPEES TWO CRORES’ and followed by very small letters “worth of prizes”. When we both saw the lottery ticket closely it was written ‘First prize Rs 1 crore’.
After this the discussion between me and Harish started as follows which the lottery seller was hearing with full attention.
Harish said that out of two crores we will be getting only Rs 1 crore since it is a marketing gimmick to attract the customers by displaying Rs 2 crores on the ticket so there is a clear loss of Rs 1 crore straightaway. I agreed and continued the discussion that out of Rs 1 crore left and after paying 30% as income tax we will be left with only Rs 70 lacs. For collecting this amount we have to hire a security group for bringing it from Assam where the lottery ticket will have to be claimed or by a bank draft in which the bank will charge 2 % commission so 1.4 lacs are gone further with remaining amount as 68.6 lacs. Seeing this money our children will stop studying and would plan their entrance to medical college based on capitation fee which is 30 lacs for the medical leaving us with Rs 38.6 lacs. We would have to give a lavish party to everyone in a 5 star hotel which would reduce the expenditure further by 3.6 lacs so now we are left with only Rs 35 lacs. If we get a lottery of Rs 1 crore we will definitely go in for at least a Mercedes Benz 250 D model which is itself of 25 lacs. Now we are left with Rs 10 lacs only. If we do not go around the world with our family after winning Rs 1 crore what will the people say so that would finish our 10 Lac rupees and we are ‘Than Than Gopal’ now (Left with nothing) and back to square one. But to keep our self respect we will have to gift something to our near and dear ones, if to no one else but at least to our wife with an ornament worth about a lac . This is from our pocket and lot of other things also which we have not even catered for the unforeseen contingencies.
Harish further substantiated the statement by saying that the risk of our kidnapping by the goons would be in addition and carry unnecessary tension. So it will be a heavy loss rather than a gain. When the discussion finished . Harish shouted at the lottery seller in Punjabi;
“Too sada nuksaan karaan aaya hai ? Pajh jaa iththo di nahin te maar maar ke kookar bana davaanga” (You have come to put us to loss? Get lost from here or else I will hit you so hard that you will become a rooster)
The lottery seller did not speak a word and vanished in thin air. We proceeded to have two chicken Mc Grill burgers of Rs 50 each from the MacDonalds once again out of that Rs 100 with which we were planning to buy a lottery ticket worth Rs 2 crore because anything spent on yourself is never wasted.
A burger was thus of Rs 1 crore which we had that day with no tension involved in it . A wise decision which we took on that day indeed, of which we are proud of till date.

Shaking hands with the Prime Minister

SHAKING HANDS WITH THE PRIME MINISTER

It was at the high altitude area, Leh where I was posted in 2005. I was with my family hence did not feel the punch of being alone as the families were permitted at your own expense. We were staying in the area just near the famous ‘Shanti Stupa’, a Buddhist Temple popularly called as Gompa there. Since it was like Delhi of ladakh lot of tourists and VIPs visited the place quiet frequently.
There was one Central Lecture Hall (CLH) near the airport which was utilised for all the important occasions and speeches of VVIPs. It was thus well maintained but simple with the heating arrangements as no coolers were required there due to very low temperature. Even during the peak summers it did not exceed 20 degree Celsius which is what we have in plains during the winters. This was mostly used as a movie theatre for screening of films on the weekends. It had a huge stage in the front just below the big screen and seats down below in ascending heights towards the rear of the theatre. Outside the theatre was a large open space on both the sides and there were no plants as Leh is plain except some vegetation around the riversides in summers. A beautiful lounge was on the side of the theatre for the VVIPs and one behind for the others where arrangements for the central tea during lecture breaks were usually made.
It was late summers when the winter chill could be felt in the bones, the cold wind blew during the dawn and dusk which forced everyone to wear their jackets and proper winter clothing during that time. This time a visit of a very important VVIP was planned who was none other than Shri Manmohan Singh, the present Prime Minister of India. It was his first visit to this station in his first tenure as a PM so the preparations were also accordingly done.
All the important roads were resurfaced, the route was made spic and span, the buildings adjacent to the route from where he was supposed to visit various places were whitewashed, all the signposts were made new, some painted afresh, the stones on the sides of the road were whitewashed, welcome banners hanged at various places and all the basic minimum decorations done.


The day, 11Jun2005, finally arrived. It was morning of early winters. I started from my house early to be well before time at the CLH. As I reached there in my vehicle I could see many security staff busy in ensuring the safety aspects at the last moment as the Prime Minister’s plane was to arrive shortly within two hours. The vehicles were all lined up distantly from the main venue, the CLH and within about 15 minutes there were hundreds of them lined up as everyone was rushing up to be seated in advance. It was like holiday from office and everyone was preparing for the big show. The administrative personnel were busy checking out last minute layout of tea arrangements for the break, there were many tents decorated in the form of stalls where the various groups of people were standing under it to meet the PM when he was to come out after his speech to meet them. Every big shot like the senior army and police officials were looking like ordinary people like each of us and were moving here and there to ensure the security aspects for their career could be at stake if something went wrong. The signalmen were worried about the performance of their microphones, the engineers were on the tents and the stage which they had made, the mechanical engineers were on the generator; should the lights fail to cater it as standby, the medical team was ready for any emergency just in case and the doctor was time and again checking about the technical items from his assistant, the security officer had his eyes on the sentries located at various important positions which was being cross checked from his brain map he had made in his mind, the traffic police was busy guiding the vehicles and diverting the traffic from the route where the PM was to pass, the police dog team and the army dog team were on the move sniffing everything in their respective areas for any bombs wagging their tails as was also a good outing along with their professional work for them.
The location where we were was at a higher level and the airfield was clearly visible from there being lower . It was soon announced for everyone to close in as the time was getting ripe for his arrival. We could soon see AN 32, the a Russian aircraft along with the PM ‘s Boeing plane hovering over the skies and a few minutes later saw them land on the airfield, first the PM ‘s plane followed by the AN 32 in which others and his BMW car was aboard. They soon landed and siren was heard. By this time we were inside the hall and everyone was now silent. After a few minutes we could hear from a senior officer standing next to the entrance.
”Ladies and Gentlemen, the Prime Minister”
And everybody rose from his seat giving a loud noise of the closing in on the seats which is heard when you get up from your seat in a picture hall. As he arrived inside, the National Anthem was played and then he sat on the front seat facing the dais accompanied by his wife and other senior officers. Everything was timed with precision. It was followed by a short speech of the senior most officer of the city and the PM was ushered to the dais where he barely took 10 minutes to deliver his speech and was out of the hall to the VVIP lounge to meet the senior lot. By this time we all were out as we had started to exit the hall while he was in the VVIP lounge. He started to mix around with everyone from one side, first the place where the jawans were standing and had lined up in rows to meet their PM. The atmosphere was suitably relaxed as army was in full control of the situation although the black cats were always accompanied the PM as his body guards with the most modern weapons in their hands in ready to fire positions. The PM was cheerful meeting the men and everyone clustered near him till the garnish line beyond which they were not allowed to go but they were giving their hands to him for a touch to have his feel. He shook hands with many of them and there was continuous flashlight of the flashing cameras. Then he came to the next group where students were standing and shook hands with them. They all cheered him. It was then final mixing around with the ladies and officers where all the senior dignitaries were standing clustering around him. The PM’s wife was equally busy discussing and speaking a few sentences with the ladies as fast as she could as the time was short.
I was holding a digital camera in my hand hence could not take my own picture with him but snapped many photos of the people I knew. As he came towards my side there was a great rush and I could not reach him but could only raise my camera up in the air to have a top view of him. He came near me but I was quiet far off so gave up the idea that I will get a chance to shake hands with him and concentrated on my photography. The camera used to shake as I was finding it difficult to hold it at a place due to the rush which disturbed my focussing of camera by the rush. I then moved ahead at a place where he was to come next and meet the remaining of us. As he passed this time with a row of other officers in front of me I just raised my hand in the air and extended it towards him from the second row where I was standing .He smiled at me and caught my hand and held it tight.
It was the Prime Ministers hand in my hand or mine in his I do not know but those 20 seconds in my life I cannot forget as the strength I experienced in his hands was tremendous inspite of being such an aged person for he was never a farmer nor had done any physically hard job to the best of my knowledge in his life but his hand was a real knuckle grinder. During the time he was holding my hand I could see honesty dripping out of his eyes which is a very rare commodity found in the politicians of today, expressions of a contented man and simplicity like a common man giving a warm and welcoming gesture. He was conveying the assurance that the nation handed over to him will be looked after well as is in the right and strong hands so I as a citizen do not have to worry anything about it. The best and the most surprising part was that he did not leave my hand for such a long time and shook it vigorously as generally one leaves after 5 to 6 seconds of shaking the hands and for a PM who has to meet thousands like me every day the time was at premium. I had heard some critics calling him a weak PM but I would like to tell them now that they should first shake their hands with him and then give such comments as a weak person cannot have such a strong hand; only the strong willed person have such ones.(Kindly refer to the book on ‘Body language’ by Allan Pease). It was exhibiting firmness, honesty, transparency, brilliance, accessibility to the common man and substantiated by cheerfulness on his face all in one go. After he left my hand he met others but had left a deep impact on me, a real memorable one and I was one of the happiest man of the day.
Soon he waived his hand to everyone, boarded his BMW car and within minutes the whole motorcade vanished as he was to go to other places. I considered myself to be lucky to have shaken hands with the most powerful and honest person of the nation who transferred his blessings to me through it and the day which would always be remembered all my life.

The bear story

The Bear Story
It was Dalhousie a beautiful place in Himachal Pradesh in 1969 about 40 years back and I was a kid of 5 years then. My Father was posted there and we were staying in a beautifully located area called ‘Balloon’ which was far away from the main city and in the cantonment. I was a student of Sacred Heart Convent there and in a KG class but I remember each and everything. Our house was surrounded by forests and there were about 10 houses only in Balloon area. The wildlife could be watched both during the day as well as night. In the day one could notice langurs, jackals and at times bears also. In the night one could hear the loud cries of Hyenas and jackals clearly. Not only this everyone locked his door tightly during the nights as I myself had seen my mother shooing away leopards during the night from inside the door through the grill who used to sit like a pet dog in our verandah. They used to frequently come to protect themselves from extreme cold during the winters and used the covered verandah of those old British houses which provided them a good shelter from it.
We had a servant with us named Kishori who was a local from that place and used to come daily from a far of village located about 10 kms away for carrying out his duties . By the time he returned home he would encounter darkness before reaching his village so he carried a big bottle of kerosene with a wick fixed in it which he lighted in darkness to prevent any wild animal from approaching him to avoid any attack by them. The most prominent risk those days was attack of a local bear called ‘Reech’ during the night as it generally ambushed from the rear of its prey as many such cases had come to light. As result of this the villagers avoided going out during the late hours of the day. The area was mountainous and had restricted foot tracks which were used by the villagers and the bear was well aware of these as well on which he used to plan his attacks. There were deep ravines along the foot tracks and some open places on the way to village with a large number of pine trees which gave hissing sound when the wind blew across them making the atmosphere more scary especially for a person travelling alone. Some villagers carried a long stick (Lath) with them when they ventured through that path for their defence in case of any attack. The best way to avoid the attack was to move in groups : the technique which was generally followed by most of them.
Kishori was a good friend of mine and used to play all sorts of games with me, he in fact first taught me how to play ‘Gulli Danda’ (a local game of India played with a small stick and a small oval shaped piece of wood) and would always keep me engaged narrating his interesting and adventurous fables of his village. In return I used to teach him carrom , ludo and my mechano set with which we played indoors when my parents went for the party in the evenings. He would light firewood in the fireplace, and give me milk and pakoras and I alongwith my other friends used to have a gala time. Kishori was about 22 years old then, had an athletic and stout body with short height as generally the people from the hills have. He was a fearless person as he always ventured alone even if it was late at night inspite of our insistence many a times to stay at night. He loved adventure.
Once he left late from our house and did not agree to stop even on our insistence saying that he would join the group of some men enroute and carry on to his village with them and there was nothing to fear since he is used to it. He filled up his empty rum bottle with kerosene right upto the brim inserted a broad and a long wick into it through the pierced lid of the bottle and made his lamp ready. He lighted it to test then switched it off and inserted it in his cloth belt duly secured and kept a matchbox in his kurta (An Indian shirt worn generally by villagers) pocket and wore a pull over it. He also hung a cloth handbag on his shoulders thereafter and started his journey home to his village. It was 6 PM in winters and it had started getting dark. As he reached the start of the forest foot track he waited for sometime for the company and then joined a group of three going towards his village. They all started off their journey which would take about two hours for them to reach their village.
The winds were cold and creating hissing sounds with the pine leaves, the birds were returning home , the cattle were not seen and dog barks at places could be heard giving a feeling of security. The distance of man to man was about 3m and all were moving fast so that they could reach home early before it gets very dark and colder. After covering about three kms two of the villagers turned to other track as they had to proceed at a different place and now only Kishorie with one companion, Ramu were left . Ramu was ahead about 3m from him and he was in his rear. It was nearly dark and the birds chirping had settled down as had reached their nests since it was their rest time .The sound of crickets could be heard and Kishorie lighted his lamp now to face the darkness. On his right was a deep ditch and one could barely hear the sound of the stone thrown from the track into it which indicated its depth. There was pin drop silence and only winds could be heard and felt. On to the left ahead was a plain area of about 30m by 20 m where both of them sat down over a hung branch of the tree grazing the ground for some rest as they had covered about more than half of their journey. Kishorie went to free himself to loo behind the bushes in a half moonlight night and while going there he kept his lamp near the tree where his companion was sitting.
Suddenly Kishorie heard a loud shriek. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! and it was quiet after that: a stunned silence. He immediately called for Ramu, his companion but did not get any reply nor was there any noise of any disturbance of the bushes and grass but a total quiet atmosphere. Kishorie ran towards Ramu and found him lying unconscious with his face bleeding from his neck and temple side. As he was thinking what had happened he heard some movement in the bushes which was advancing towards him. He all of a sudden could see silhouette of a great bear of his height with two sparkling eyes like a torch .There was no way to run except towards the track and the bear suddenly emerged out of the bushes in front of the track starring at him to attack. Kishorie understood the situation and had only one way to escape and that was the village way as we have heard in old stories that the bear does not harm the dead or the body which does not make any movement. He immediately dived on to the plain ground with his face towards the ground covering his head with his arms and back towards the sky. He lied down still with no movement.
The bear came near him advancing slowly, with his nostrils gushing air out of them intermittently and finally reached Kishorie for examining him. Like a dog he sniffed his ear causing tickling sensation in them with his wet nostrils, then his back, his lower back, inner thighs and finally his feet. The bear was smart, and not as the one we heard in stories who would let him off so easily thinking he was a dead man. He with his razor sharp claws pulled kishorie towards him by siderolling him to turn his ventral side up for he wanted to doubly examine him whether he is really dead and harmless or not. Kishorie was rolled and now his stomach was facing the sky and arms over his face which he somehow managed while taking a sideroll so that the bear does not do any damage to his eyes . The bear again sniffed him in his ears and his nose this time .I do not know how long could Kishorie manage to hold his breathe when the bear was sniffing his face but he did succeed. It was easier for Kishorie when the nostrils of the bear went down for his further post mortem examination as he could afford to breathe slowly now. He released the compressed air out of his lungs slowly as the nostrils of the bear were away now near his torso. The most difficult part which Kishorie described me while narrating this incident was the time when the bear touched his nostrils to the bottom of his feet which had shaked him for a while as it became very difficult for him to be still while he poked his nostrils on the base of his feet.
After carrying out the scanning the bear did not attack him but was however still not satisfied since he kept sitting there for some time. Maybe he had some future plans in his mind . He then suddenly got up sniffed kishorie's stomach and then went near the edge of the ditch just about 5 m from the place where Kishorie was lying down. He went there and stood still at the edge of the deep ravine looking at its depth and then in between used to glance at Kishorie by turning his neck to his back watching that if still Kishorie was making any movements. Kishorie was watching him by managing a peep hole between his arms and wondering what the bear had in his mind now. Then he got the idea of what the bear was planning to do . Kishorie guessed that the bear was thinking time and again that if he manages to bring Kishorie by dragging to the edge and push him in to the ravine will kishorie die after falling from such a height or not and he must have guessed it right from his experience. A smart bear indeed.
As this thought came to Kishorie's mind he decided to act immediately before he gets late as now there was no chance of survival if his intuition of bear's plan was rightly guessed. As the bear was bending to see the depth again by moving his front legs ahead more towards the edge with his front body further lowered towards the ditch to have a better view Kishorie got up quietly and ran with full speed towards the bear to gain enough momentum and kicked the bear at his back with his leg with all the strength he had in him and down went the Bear tumbling after into the deep ravine never to be seen again.
He then immediately ran towards Ramu ,sprinkled water from his water bottle and wiped his face with wet cloth who came to senses and was slowly out of shock but had severe bruises on the back of his neck. He helped him walk for the remaining part of the journey and with the help of that lamp and a stick they both managed to reach their village by 9 PM . The villagers loaded Kishorie with money when they came to know of his act as a reward since they were also fed up of this bear since long. Next day when the area was searched there was nothing left except a few bones of the animal as vultures had their meals to their hearts content and that was the end of that bear and my story too.

Khajur: The dates

Calendar
A sophisticated Christian lady who was wife of some senior official once came to subzi mandi to do some shopping of vegetable and fruits herself accompanied by two men to help her who were holding the shopping bags and walking behind her. She went from one shop to another asking various rates of the items displayed. Also she would touch the vegetable or a fruit and hold it in her hand turn and twist the item and comment on the quality to the shopkeeper who would although not like it but kept mum fearing the status of the lady. She also would ask rates of most of the items, touch all of them and would finally take one or two of them thereby wasting the time of the shopkeeper who in that time would have sold three times the quantity she purchased to the other customer. After finishing her shopping she finally came to a hawker’s cart who was selling date palms and his cart was full of them in different bunches as per the quality. The hawker was watching the Lady since last three shops which she visited. As she came to him the following conversation took place between them
Lady: How are these dates?
Hawker : Kya Madam?(What Madam?)
Lady: Yeh dates kaise diya aapney?(At what rate are you selling these dates?)
Hawker: Madam isay to khajur kehtey hain.(Madam this is called Khajur)
Lady: Haa hum wohi bola ki tum isko kitne rate mein dene ko sakega (Yes I said the same that at what rate you will be able to sell these to me ?)
Meanwhile the helper accompanying her went from the side to the hawker to tell him that khajur is called date in English and clarified him for easy communication with her. The hawker then came to the frequency of the lady and tried to help her out by explaining his way.
Hawker: Madam this English date from Saudi Arab one hundred Rs kg mein hota and yeh desi date sattar ko 5 Rs kum mein hota. Aap ko which khareedna? (Madam this English dates from Saudi Arabia are costing Rs 100 per kg and these local dates are costing Rs 65 per kg. Which one do you want to buy?)
The lady did not reply as she was busy checking the quality of dates by piercing her long fashionable smoothly polished pink coloured nails into the dates to check its hardness whether they are fresh or not and in turn had pierced about 6 to 7 of them which the hawker did not like but kept quiet for sometime to avoid getting into argumentation with her. But when he saw that she still continued the process and the other customers were bye passing his cart resulting into his financial loss his patience ran out. So he gathered courage and told the lady clearly with his hands folded.
Hawker: Memsaab humary request hai ki kripa apna ladyfinger wala naakhun humaari date mein na ghusayrhey nahin to humara sara calendar kharaab ho jayega
(Madam I request you not to poke your finger having long nails into the dates otherwise my complete calendar will get spoiled)
Everyone standing there who knew that a khajur is called date in English burst out laughing and the lady immediately told her helper to get 1 Kg of those dates and pushed away further without saying a word to the hawker.

The painless injection

The painless injection

A friend of mine, Kamal was very afraid of getting injected from his childhood and would always avoid it by requesting the doctor to substitute his treatment with pills instead of getting injections. He once got hurt in his workshop as a rusted metal cut his hand and there was risk of getting infected which would have resulted in septic if immediate treatment was not given. We went to the doctor who subscribed a Tetanus(TT) injection and adviced to get it at the earliest on the hips instead of shoulders as it contains more flesh and would give lesser pains comparitively . He requested for pills as usual but the doctor denied his request as the injection was mandatory requirement to be on the safer side. We came out of the clinic and as we were proceeding towards the chemist shop he said that he would do without injection since the wound was not so severe but I disagreed to his proposal and tried to convince him that there is nothing to worry and he should not behave like a child over such a small issue. The chemist overheard our conversation and said that he knows a technician who is a very skilled person and injects in a way that there is no pain felt by the customer and above all the best part of his technique is that he does not even ask any one to remove his clothes but injects directly from over the clothes with a disposable syringe. Saying this he gave his address which was just nearby. On hearing this Kamal was impressed and agreed for the injection only from this technician. I hesitatingly accompanied him since I was not convinced. When we reached there we saw a long queue of patients getting tratment from him and so did Kamal who joined the queue. When his turn came the tecnician filled the medicine in the syringe and asked Kamal to bow down in the standing position itself with his back side towards him and as he did he injected the syringe in the centre of his right bum, emptied the syringe and said it was over.
"Over ?" asked Kamal
"Yes" said the technician
"But I didn't come to know even" said Kamal astonishingly and I also watched amazingly.
"That’s what I am famous for " replied the technician smilingly.
I paid Rs 20/- to the technician while Kamal was adjusting his clothes and having the feel of his backside by touching it and there was no pain even after the medicine had entered his body and we came out.
While returning Kamal told me to stop near a fruitshop so that he could buy some good bananas as there was fruit market enroute . I stopped the car near a fruit shop and we both went to the fruit shop to buy the fruits. After buying them Kamal took out his purse to pay the money to the shopkeeper and handed over a hundred rupee note to him. The shopkeeper saw that note and returned it saying,
" Oh! saab! ye geela sarha hua note kyo de rahein hain isko change kar dijiyeh."(Sir,Why are you giving this wet and dilipidated note kindly change it)
Kamal took the note and saw that what the shopkeeper was saying was true as the currency note was actually spoiled so he took out his purse to change it and when he took out the other note he noticed that it was also wet and the next one was also in the same state and so were all of them . Not only this his purse was also sticky.
I understood the cause and with great difficulty was able to control myself from bursting out my laughter as the technician had injected into his purse instead of his hip and that was the reason he did not experience any pain and the complete medicine was spilled into his purse thereby making the currency notes sticky and dilipidated them with the effect of the medicine. I paid the money and told the shopkeeper
" Lagta hai saab ka purse washing machine mein galati se dhul gaya hoga " and we both sneaked out from there.
Kamal never hesitates to get himself injected now at the right time, from the right person, the right way and at the right place for he has learnt a lesson