Nanihal
When i was a child(5-15 qualifies that!), i particularly enjoyed going to my nanaji's place !It is a remote village in UP near kanpur,its called KOTRA.
It has river betwa flowing through it.
I particulrly enjoyed my time going to that village.We used to go to station called AIT by train.
AIT station is fmous for its awesome big gulabjamuns !!
Then from there we used to ride tanga for arnd 3 km to catch the bus to kotra.
The bus used to be filled by villagers, who used to look at us with awe(u know we were shehari babus!)
My mom used to buy me orange candies(5 paise each). I was generally amused when i saw a man for the
first time selling a gold chain for 5 rs!As the years passed i realised that all that glitters is
not gold :)
So there was a stange feeling whenever i used to ride that bus. It always seemed to me that plants and
trees on the roadside are happier whenever i am coming to KOTRA and somehow seemed dejected when
i was leaving kotra.(I still try to check this...whenever i go to kotra!!I guess no amount
of scintific knowledge is going to convince me that it happens due to wind...Me like to
be an emotional fool!)
So in village i was initiated with lavish love tht my naniji, mamajis, mamijis ,servants...infact whole
village used to shower on me! I could enter in any home in village and come out after
having sumptuous meal.
I have two brothers of my age in kotra- ajay and dipu.
We used to form an inseperable gang of three.
I still vividly remember how we all friends used to play RAMLILA in vinay's bada(the place
villagers ties their cows!).Makeup done with earthly paints and home made bow and arrows used
to give me the greatest pleasure of all time.It was so simple yet so cute...
We used to make tractors with the potters using mud.Then we used to race with those tractors.
We also used to play lattu(spintop) .There is this very interesting game in which u try to break
opponent's lattu by spinning ur lattu on it.
Then there was our dipu nanna who could have easily made to discovery channel.Unafraid of any
living creature, he used to grab them.Be it a frog,dog or a cow dipu nanna was king of all.
I still remember my mamaji(who is no more in this wicked world :( ),used to say to me-"Don't go
to the terrace to fly kite in afternoon,u will catch loo!!"
My father is very adventurous. Not only he used to fly kite, he is just an aquaholic.
Every morning he used to got to river to swim with his gang of villagers and i used to go
with him.We used to swim in the river for hours !!
Afternoons were spent in making that magical manjha(thread to fly kite).
Me, ajay and dipu used to spend hrs making the powder by powdering tubelight glass with
stone in a remote mandir outside village(mom used to freak out when she used to
see me crushing glass with gay abandon!) .Then we used to make homemade chulah and used to boil
saresh(animal fat) or potatos or rice(as it was not permitted at home .. children shouldn't play
with fire!).Then we used to mix the color,powdered glass and the glue and make a paste.
It was such plasure to rub that paste on the thread.
And it was sheer pleasure to see our manjha working, cutting kites one by one !!
Couldn't describe the joy i used to get out of those adventures.
Then we used to play tikka(It's an interesting game).Basically its a game where cards are the
two sides of a matchbox.Each card is called tikka. Its played like as follows:
1. Players hold their tikkas as a bundle,so that thay are not able to see which tikka is on top.
(As blank side face players).
2.Player1 puts the tikka at the top of his pack to the floor,showing which brand of tikka it is!
After that,Player2 also puts his tikka at the top of his pack to the floor,
showing which brand of tikka it is!If his tikka matches the tikka placed by player1 then he takes all the
tikkas accululted till now else the games goes on till a match is found.
So we all used to roam around whole village searching for the tikkas in afternoon on the roads,like crazy ppl.
Some of the ppl used to have 10000 tikkas with around more than 500 brand names , Can you beleive that ?
It was share ecstasy when we used to win tikka.
My mamaji used to go to chaupal to play shatranj and whole village used to
accumulte at chaupal to see what's going on in the game?
It was so simple !
I used to go to all mandirs with my naniji in village.
I used to enjoy standing in the trolley of my mamaji's tractor.It was sheer fun,infact big occasion for me!
Playing the cricket with cork ball on "the field"(cricket ground at kotra).
On debut I hit my first half century in 'MOOLCHANDRA CRICKET ANNUAL CONTEST' and took four wickets as well
in a 15 over match.My side consisting of kids(one of the weakest teams!) won.I hit the first six of
the tournament(i was 14 i guess then), and the ball got lost.Whole of the spectators came running to the pitch and
patted on my back.That was a special proud moment of my life.I simply treasure that moment.
After that,I came to know what instant stardom meant . Everybody in the village(speacially boys),seemed
to know me.Unknown ppl came to me and shook hands.It was sheer ecstacy for 3-4 days in my life !
Slowly the winds of change have swept both jhansi and kotra.
I have also reduced the frequency of my visits.
At both places,most of my friends have grown up and got entangled with life.
But me still a child at heart and i visualise all the good old days,whenever i visit KOTRA or jhansi.
Fortunately my childhood days overlapped with the golden ages of the both places.
And i owe my connection to my roots to those days.I know what the world is all about?I know
what is unadulterated happiness....I know who i am ..I know who i will be ...I know......
posted by maxi @ 7:52 PM
