HILARIOUS
DONKEY RIDE
It was the year
1955-56. One day, at about six in the evening, it so happened that both of
us, me and Taro Bua’s Duff hatched a plan.
A plan that was in our dirty minds for so long! We wanted to have a long
donkey ride from the town to a far off place and back. There were many kumr families in Village Gangath and each family had number of donkeys going out from town every day and, therefore,
there was not much problem in fulfilling our long cherished dream.
As we both were discussing the matter in a
lonely corner of the street going towards river Chaunchh, we saw a group of
10-15 donkeys going out of town towards the river. Duff said, “Wait a minute,
I know the owner of the donkeys. Let us go and talk to him". We both approached
the man and told him about our intentions and also requested him to co-operate
and take us along with him. At first,
the man looked adamant and clearly told us that he was going too far and would
return back at about mid night.
But we had already made up our mind, come what
may, today we will have the ride for sure. Duff further requested him and
manipulated him in such a way, the man agreed.
On this, we both felt like winners and shook hands and embraced.
We chose the donkeys of our choice and climbed up and were
gone tip-toe tip-toe feeling thrilled
with excitement and also feeling like as if we had won the battle. It was 7 PM already when we left the
town. The donkeys were walking
haphazardly. They sometimes walked in a
single row, sometimes in the middle, sometimes by the side of the dry river
bed. We were to go all the way through the river.
There were some stretches of
the river where ankle deep of water was showing up and had to be crossed by the
donkeys. When some more time elapsed and the sun started becoming orange
pale, and looked as if going down behind the hills in the west, our fears also
started surfacing on our faces. Since real
travel had just begun, we felt overjoyed and hilarious about our journey and
forgot about the world around us and also what might be happening back at home.
There were hillocks
on both the sides of the river, covered with trees, wild foliage and bushes.
Beautiful scenery on both the sides of the river looked enchanting. Now it was
going to be dark. The sun had nearly gone down in the west. Our shadows became
longer behind us. Hillocks at the both sides of the river presented dark and fearsome look. Our heart beat had
started thumping and throttling. Fear
psyche could easily be noticed on our
faces. It was about 8 o’ clock at night.
On a over century old peepal tree, we saw hundreds of bats hanging
upside down and their collective harsh crying sound was intolerably fearful at
the time of night. There were jackals in the jungle that were barking one after
the other, intermittently disturbing peaceful and quiet night atmosphere.
Gushing sound of flowing river water and
blowing of winds also sent out musical tunes in the ghostly atmosphere!
Clouds
of Jugnjus were flying all along the route and buzzing and frightful sound of
night insects and creaking crickets in the bushes created 'sansani' in our immature minds. Half moon and
twinkling stars in the clear sky above, however, helped us maintain our calm.
To overcome all imaginary fears, Duff asked the donkey owner as to how far we
may have still to go in order to reach our destination.
In turn, the man said
that since you people have come at your own will and pleasure, there is no need
to fear now. We will reach the farm within next half an hour. It was 9.30 at
night when we reached at the Farm. On
reaching at the Farm, some of the donkeys were unloaded and then re- loaded with onion sacks and then we started our return journey home at ten O' Clock. The man advised us to
remain calm and quiet and enjoy the
ride. As we had never experienced such a
long donkey ride before, we felt tired and uncomfortable due to increasing
stiffness in the body.
When we returned back and reached home, it was 1 O’ Clock at
mid night. We kept on standing outside the house quietly and surveyed the house
from all sides to see if we could find any other inlet into the house but
failed. I had lost my pair of chappals that I had borrowed from a friend at
Ladori. Duff was wearing Satpal’s
(Sattu) old shoes which were also showing teeth.
I was putting on an old school scout shirt and
nikkar. My nikkar pockets were torn from
inside. Right side shoulder button of my
shirt was missing and the shoulder flap was hanging downwards on the right arm.
I had not taken hair cut for the last one month and my hair became abnormally
longer. My forehead and ears were covered with the hair.
We both were tired and exhausted. We sat on a slab kept
outside main door. I was engulfed by the sleep for a while and I saw a flash
back scene of yesterday morning when I reached Bua’s house. After sometime of
my arrival in the house everything was okay. But when Satpal (Sattu), Dharampal (Duff), Gopal (Bounu), Devraj
(Kirlu) got together, we ransacked the house, started running inside, outside,
upstairs and downstairs and made a 'dhamaal' by doing the house upside down.
Ram
Rattan (Bantu) and Rajpal (Gorkhu) being seniors did not participate and kept
on enjoying our drama with smiling faces. Bua scolded us and also ran after us
with a 'jhadu' but in vain. Fufa Nanak also tried his best to silence us but
could not do so. Our activities were just intolerable and were seen just like
spoiled brats.
Makodi behan was another hard nut to crack in the house. She
was like a Hitler in Gangath house. She would not hesitate to slap or thrash
whosoever was caught by her, by playing a trick. We all were not afraid of any
one in the house except Makodi behan. But from inside Makodi Behan was not so
bad. She was kind hearted and lovable person too. Abruptly, I woke up from the
deep slumber and asked Duff “Arre Yaar, ab kya karen? Bahut maar paregi”. But
Duff said, “Koi baat nahi, dekha jaayega. Kharkao Darwaja”.
We could easily
guess that what might have had gone on in our absence in the house. We gathered
all our dare and knocked at the door. To our fearful surprise, when the door
was opened from inside, we saw Makodi Behan standing with a long stick in her hand.
Our faces got whitened and as if blood circulation stopped and hair shot up
straight upwards with the fear. She did not ask questions. Straightaway served
many sticks at our bottoms and behind the legs.
When the stick broke, then 'De
Thappar, De Thappar'. We could not resist and did nothing except giggling. She
commanded in a high caution “Stay outside the house for the rest of the night”
and she shut the door with a bang. I said to Duff, “Marwa dia na yaar, mein
kehta tha ki din mein ride par chalenge, raat ko nahi, lekin tu nahi mana. Ab bhugto, baitho bahar,bhookhe
aur pyase”.
After about an hour later, we heard that someone is trying
to open the door. The door opened and this time Bua asked us to get inside
quickly. She was quiet and did not say a word. We were very hungry and thirsty
too. Bua gave us roti, achar and lasaru ki sabji and we ate our full and went
to sleep. A week later of the donkey ride, I was to return to Ladori, there was
a pin drop silence in the house and everyone looked tired and sad.
Suddenly
Makodi Behan came out of her room and hugged me and also kissed me on my
forehead . She took both of us to the market and we both had our hair cut.
Behan also bought two pairs of chappals for both of us and came back home. I
touched the feet of Bua, Fufa and Makodi Behan. Makodi Behan gave me an 'Athanni' . When I got out of the main entrance, I looked back and noticed a tear rolling
down on the face of Makodi Behan. Duff accompanied me up to Chaugaan where I
sat on a Tonga going to Jasoor with a promise to come back again soon. Duff
waived his hand in despair!
