"Sukun wala Itvar"

"Itwaar/Sunday/Ravivar the most loved day of the week for every single individual, right from a nursery attending 2.5 years old to a 60 years old. Even God enjoyed his weekly off on Sunday after creating the universehe, it is that sacred day of the week. We all love it and at the end of it wish "if we can get some more time wish if we can add one extra  minute to this precious Sunday" but our wishes fetch us nothing Sunday comes and ends like any other day in our lives, yet we all love it and wait for this "Sunday".

The ways to spend Sundays have changed/evolved since my childhood days. After lengthy week in school Sundays always came as breeze of fresh air. Mom didn't ask me to get up early nor there was any hurry from maid who used to come a bit late to clean the house and back then Sunday began with some nice songs which were played in "Rangoli" and for a change day used to start with some melody. Since mom was a not a homemaker on Sunday she used to prepare breakfast for us, which me and my two sisters used to enjoy thoroughly. Though the menu wasn't as fancy as today's breakfast menu, typical Maharashtrian dishes like Sheera & Pohe used to make all three of us drool :). My father used to go out to get non-veg, in those days having non-veg once week (that too on Sunday) was almost like ritual and one through different aromas could actually smell different versions of curries and spices used to prepare them. Having a late lunch i.e. by 2.00 in the afternoon was followed with a nap as not many had the luxury to sleep in the afternoon on weekdays. 

Evenings were spent either by going to public parks or to some relatives place or some relatives or family friends used to drop in to have some "chai and gappa-tappa session".

Sunday's back then used to end on a positive note giving me enough energy for the coming week.

The clock kept ticking, and meaning of Sundays kept on evolving. During teen years my Sundays were spent in attending coaching classes where I wasn't keen on finding values of X & Y or chemical compositions of metals yet had to sit there as I had chosen Science. I was asked to get up early and attend Coaching classes and had classes right from 7.30 am to 2.30 pm. This was the time of my life when I used to hate Sunday and wished it never came. 

In subsequent years, during college days, Sundays were utilized to roam around in Pune on bike, catching up with friends having breakfast in some restaurants though the taste in the food served in Restaurants never matched Sheera, Pohe & goad churma prepared at home yet I kept on spending time and money in these Restaurants. Sundays in those days were like any other day as I almost followed the same schedule 24*7, 365 days..

Today, at this stage of my life there is no hurry to get up  and rush but still I feel like getting up early and watch Rangoli but dont I end up not watching it as I have a "remote" in my hand which prompts me to change channels constantly. After the breakfast we both call our parents who live in a different city and talk to them  about routine things for few seconds. I'm pretty sure all my relatives, family friends, my sisters their families also must be spending their Sunday's likewise hence, the question of catching up, meeting does not arise we "whatsapp" each other wish well to each other and end conversations with "take care" message.

Next thing on agenda is shopping of regular stuff which can't be done on weekdays and it also gives a chance to urban couples like us to spend some time together. (which we can do even by sitting at home and doing nothing, but cannot afford to do coz the shopping cannot be done on weekdays) So with a duel purpose of spending time and doing the shopping we plan to go to nearby Mall.

After spending almost the entire day in the mall eating out becomes a compulsion and not a matter of choice so you eat out somewhere remembering the aroma of curries which were prepared in households in childhood days. You come back home after having "fun" in mall tired and sleepy and worrying about your "Monday's schedule" and preparing a to do list in mind. Sunday now days ends making me realize the correctness of brilliant lines of a poem,

"Sukun ki baat mat kar e Ghalib, bachpan wala Itvar ab nahin aata"

 

"Papiha"

I grew up in a locality which was at the heart of the city and in an era when cooperative societies were a new thing in Pune, people were fascinated for moving into flats from "Wada". It was not only economical but a social & cultural change for people in Pune. Societies back then were not like today's residential complexes with proper defined lay-outs with demarcated areas for Residential & commercial activities. Most of the buildings had commercial establishments like shops, restaurants, garage etc.  Our Brahmadarshan was one such building located at the heart of the city, very close to a railway station. It was a cooperative society (at least for records) but still it had traces of Pune's famous "Wada Culture". We had "open door" policy amongst neighbors and sharing  food items &  gossips on a daily basis was a routine. People didn't need any invitation to walk into each others houses and things like getting a new gas connection were celebrated by all. Our Brahmadarshan had three wings and one could clearly make out three different economic and social strata represented by these wings.

Our wing had all one bed room hall kitchen flats and me and other children in this wing used to go to Marathi medium schools, our parents were government employees and we didn't have a telephone connection or a vehicle for that matter. One wing out of remaining two had two bed rooms, hall kitchen flats, kids in those flats were in English Medium/Convent schools and most of the mothers in those houses were house wives and the "Men" of the house indulged in business activities. The kids in this wing never played with us or interacted with us as the Economical divide was too disticntly visible even at such small age. 

The last wing was a different equation altogether coz it had flats of people from other cities in India especially Mumbai & were kept locked most of the times. The owners came once in a month or so. Elders in their discussions used to say "because of these people" our flats coasted us more and we kids who heard this used to hate these people :). 

Growing up in this locality with so many people around was special & I enjoyed every bit of it. 

As mentioned earlier we had commercial establishments in and around our building one of such establishments was a kitchen unit of a sweet shop in our locality. This shop was owned by one Marwadi man and all the people in our locality referred to him as "marwadi" and all the employees working there were from some village in Rajasthan & used to speak in a language which we never understood. They also used to play music continuously in order to entertain themselves, this was a point of conflict between our society and "Marwadi". None of the workers in the kitchen survived and used flee away in less than six months time from the kitchen and were replaced by new workers. 

During my 6th std summer vacation one such worker was brought in to the kitchen. This was a kid of 11-12 years, short in height he was very slim and always used to wear black chaddi & baniyan. He being the youngest in the lot got a lot of stick from other workers in the kitchen. They used to beat him up for small small things and he had a peculiar way of crying loudly. Me and my friends were very curious about this little fellow as he was working in an age when we were going to school and forget about we cooking our own food we didn't even know names of items in our kitchens. 

One day while playing cricket our ball went towards this kitchen site and one of my friend went there to get the ball  and the incident transpired as below -

My Friend - E ball de na.. 

response - blank stare...

My Friend - are sunai nahi deta kya ball de again no response ...

My Friend screaming back at us - are to ball gheun baslay det nahi (he's not giving the ball back)

We - To? Kon to? (He who he?)

My Friend - Are to radto na jorat to lahan mulga (the same little one who cries loudly)

Boy  - Muze khelne loge kya? (will you allow me to play with u)

My Friend - in shock screaming back at us -  are to vichartoy mala khelayla ghenar ka? (he's asking will we allow him to play with us)

We - Chalel tyacha naav kay aahe?

My Friend - E tera naam kya hai?

Boy - Papiha

My friend - busted laughing and told us his name, we all started laughing. 

Finally we allowed him to play with us. He told us he has two hours off everyday and he can come and play with us we also didnt mind it coz he never complained even if we didnt allow him to bat. Over a period of time he told us many things about him which were shocking for us. Marwadi had got him from his village and Papiha's parents had taken loan from him and since they were unable to pay it back & this little boy of 10-12 years was working here free of cost. As his salary was a part of repayment process and this boy was working just for twice a day sabji roti. We asked him how could he? the answer was , "are gaon mein to ye bhi nahi milta". We asked him why he cries so loudly his reply was agar mein jor se rounga nahi to aur marenge, as per his logic his further beating was prevented by his loud crying. 

Me and my friends innocently asked our parents can we take him to school with us which was curtly rejected by our parents. All these things continued for a while his seniors in kitchen stopped paying any heeds to his loud crying and his beating increased, our schools had resumed and playing time with "Papiha" reduced drastically. Once Papiha told us "mein idhar se bhag jaunga" ("I will run away from this place') we asked him will he go back to his village he replied "nahin udhar khana nahi milta aur baap marega karja nahi bharoonga to" (no i won't get food there and my father will beat me up for not repaying loan") We all laughed about it because we all thought it was impossible to sustain without parents or any support system (in his case that kitchen was his support system) and did not pay attention to whatever he said. 

One day none of us saw Papiha in kitchen nor did we hear his crying. We inquired with the kitchen staff they told us he was shifted to other shop's kitchen as one of the worker there had gone back to village and will be back next week. But he never came back we again inquired about him this time we were told "Papiha" escaped from this "Marwadi Sheth's" kitchen  and did not even go back to his own village his parents were also searching him. 

Papiha actually did what he told us, he just vanished from the kitchen without saying goodbye to us or telling us his probable whereabouts. He vanished from the scene as if he was never there...   

"Re" Union

It's been long since i wrote something and wow it feels good to be corralling your own thoughts after a long long time.

Its been around 20 years since I passed out from school and around 18 since I passed out my + 2  exam and around 15 since I finished my basic graduation and 9 long years since I passed LL. B. The reason for putting down all these numbers and years is now I think I have entered into the phase of "Reunion" and most of my "friends & acquaintances" are busy in arranging reunions and Alumni meets. Although everyone is aware about each others geographical location, social standing thanks to Facebook and whatsapp still appeared to be very keen on having a "Reunion" as soon as possible. 

This made me wonder, why everyone is so keen on meeting to those people who faded away in course of time? why everyone is so keen on reestablishing or exploring those lost relationships which did not survive the test of time? why there is this urge to know where are the people who at one point of time merely existed in our lives?

I haven't got conclusive answers to all these questions but I think this happens with every individual. I think there comes a time in our life where "our own people" remain occupied in their own routine, our life attains stagnancy, not much is happening in life apart from celebrating few occasions and repaying EMI's. This is the time when we realize that we are very much "lonely" in this phase of our life. This being alone in the presence of many people around is scary and we start to realize, "boss time is running out". This realization about the finite span which we have got and this journey towards the definite end makes us resist the passing time, we deny to believe that time is running out. We try and hold out on a smallest and thinnest thread of our own past which gives a false belief that time hasn't moved on and in order to make this false belief more believable we prefer being connected to our past. 

These Reunions are perfect examples of such futile efforts of holding on to our own past. We try and feel secure by our past glories and we boast our present achievements in front of  those who were a part of our past and we expect at least these people will give us our due recognition, attention and will make us feel there is plenty yet to come. 

In the end I was able to conclude that these Reunions are nothing but futile efforts of clinging on our own past and feel there's yet a lot come and I for sure don't want to cling on my past and live in any fallacy or denial and that's why I would be more than happy not to be a part of any such nonsense of "Re" Unions.