At around 7 in the morning stepped into Jain Dughdhalay for a litre of milk costing Rs.72. Ravi handed over the milk, took the cash and for a minute stared into a somewhere. Me stood and smiled; coming out of a trance, Ravi said, 'gaon ka yaad aagaya.' He comes from a Jharkhand village; a week since he returned to Yogi Nagar. That's the way it is for Niranjan, Ajit, Mohan and some of the attenders at the Milan Pharmacy; me dear friends in Yogi Nagar; Niranjan, Ajit and Mohan sell vegetables and in season Alphonsos or something close; they are from Benares and hail a 'Bhole Nath' when me meets them; the folks at the Pharmacy are from Palitana; those at the grain shops are from Udaipur; and there is a fruiter from Goraknath. Niranajan sent word Ajit had come. One day two years ago, Ajit, went; some guessed to Dubai; most did not know. One morning, two years hence, Ajit stood at Yogi Nagar corner selling kalingan and grapes. He is the same. The same pant, the same shirt, the same torn chappal, the same tambaku smile, the same mobile and Bhole Nath wrapped in a saffron gamcha (gamchas are must in Benares) --- two years old and healthy. 'Dubai gaya tha, do baras,' he said as a carpenter. Morning 8 to 8 in the evening and then an air conditioned room holding six more for a bite and a sleep. 'Kamar thod dethe hain,' he said, work in the sun and cold. 'Aap ke gaon bahut hain, sab jaga,' he observed of God's Desert Country. Still cant buy the story of Ajit, being a carpenter; it is like me rejects his contention of not making any Dubai rials. Niranjan put matter in shape: Ajit is scared of friends asking loans and they going phut. His wife and two children are at Benares while he helps Niranjan; they had a business break up but now it is not a talking point; friends arbitrated; the talking point is Yogi of UP. Ajit Yadav and Niranjan believe Yogi has been put in power by Mulayam Singh Yadav. Ajit is against cow slaughter and uncomfortable with Muslims; for Niranjan, hates lose money. But it is an imagination of India Interior; they are not billboards for Amul; Bhojpuri comes easily to Niranjan even as he has his children in a English medium school at Borivili; this summer his wife and children will go to Benares for three months to be with a rippling out family of uncles, aunts, and the rest; and then there is kheti-bari; and bathing in Gangamayya. Most of their clients are foreign to their imagination; cricket, Sachin, Kishori Amonkar, democracy, high rise apartments, Trump .... do not crowd their grammar, minds. Hindi films yes with Bhojpuri films more. They are not news for English media. After the mango season, Ajit will go to his family and pray to Bham-Bham Bhole Nath. Me can only be an outsider to their imagination. A tenuous link: a mobile and Aadhaar.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Ajit and Niranjan
At around 7 in the morning stepped into Jain Dughdhalay for a litre of milk costing Rs.72. Ravi handed over the milk, took the cash and for a minute stared into a somewhere. Me stood and smiled; coming out of a trance, Ravi said, 'gaon ka yaad aagaya.' He comes from a Jharkhand village; a week since he returned to Yogi Nagar. That's the way it is for Niranjan, Ajit, Mohan and some of the attenders at the Milan Pharmacy; me dear friends in Yogi Nagar; Niranjan, Ajit and Mohan sell vegetables and in season Alphonsos or something close; they are from Benares and hail a 'Bhole Nath' when me meets them; the folks at the Pharmacy are from Palitana; those at the grain shops are from Udaipur; and there is a fruiter from Goraknath. Niranajan sent word Ajit had come. One day two years ago, Ajit, went; some guessed to Dubai; most did not know. One morning, two years hence, Ajit stood at Yogi Nagar corner selling kalingan and grapes. He is the same. The same pant, the same shirt, the same torn chappal, the same tambaku smile, the same mobile and Bhole Nath wrapped in a saffron gamcha (gamchas are must in Benares) --- two years old and healthy. 'Dubai gaya tha, do baras,' he said as a carpenter. Morning 8 to 8 in the evening and then an air conditioned room holding six more for a bite and a sleep. 'Kamar thod dethe hain,' he said, work in the sun and cold. 'Aap ke gaon bahut hain, sab jaga,' he observed of God's Desert Country. Still cant buy the story of Ajit, being a carpenter; it is like me rejects his contention of not making any Dubai rials. Niranjan put matter in shape: Ajit is scared of friends asking loans and they going phut. His wife and two children are at Benares while he helps Niranjan; they had a business break up but now it is not a talking point; friends arbitrated; the talking point is Yogi of UP. Ajit Yadav and Niranjan believe Yogi has been put in power by Mulayam Singh Yadav. Ajit is against cow slaughter and uncomfortable with Muslims; for Niranjan, hates lose money. But it is an imagination of India Interior; they are not billboards for Amul; Bhojpuri comes easily to Niranjan even as he has his children in a English medium school at Borivili; this summer his wife and children will go to Benares for three months to be with a rippling out family of uncles, aunts, and the rest; and then there is kheti-bari; and bathing in Gangamayya. Most of their clients are foreign to their imagination; cricket, Sachin, Kishori Amonkar, democracy, high rise apartments, Trump .... do not crowd their grammar, minds. Hindi films yes with Bhojpuri films more. They are not news for English media. After the mango season, Ajit will go to his family and pray to Bham-Bham Bhole Nath. Me can only be an outsider to their imagination. A tenuous link: a mobile and Aadhaar.
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