Monkey Menace

In Varanasi our house is situated near two famous temples. One is Durga temple, which is described in the age old literature “Puran”. The other temple is Sankat Mochan temple. This is the place where Tulsidas wrote “Ram Charit Manas”.  People believe that Shri Hanuman gave him a ‘darshan’ here (rendezvous with Tulsidas).

Beside history and mythology these temples are ruled by macaque monkeys. I never could understand the  logic behind the fact that if  you feed a monkey, you'll be cleansed of your sins and your bad times will go away. These monkeys are eating puree, halaw, besan ke ladoos made of pure ghee (clarified butter) + chana, gur + fresh seasonal fruits. These well fed monkeys have thus increased their population. They are now an  absolute menace for us. We cannot spread our laundry outside for drying. We cannot keep pickles or papad in the sun light. My garden is destroyed and they've even bitten my children. The list is far too long to even bother writing about.

Yesterday I was coming back from an area called Kabirnagar to Durga temple through a narrow lane (called “gully” in Hindi). The lane is barely four feet wide. One side of the lane is an ill maintained public toilet and other side is a personal property with six and half feet high boundary wall. I was walking alone. I saw a young monkey was peeping under the door of one close toilet. Most of the doors have corroded by 5-6 inches from the bottom. I felt pity for the person in the toilet. Suddenly a big male monkey aggressively jumped up the wall. On the other side, 10-12 monkeys were jumping and screaming on the public toilet roof. I was scared. I increased my pace. 2 shopkeepers rushed towards the monkeys with large bamboos. I reached the market. I was breathing fast. The bread shopkeeper offered a plastic stool. I sat down and felt better.

I remember that once Sanju (one of my best friend’s younger brother Dr. Sanjiv Sharma) told us about his experience with these nutty animals. He said -

“When I was doing my MS from Agra medical college I was living in hostel. Our toilets were separate from our residential area. First day morning I was going to toilet with a tin can filled water because most of the time taps were not working. My friends gave me a bamboo stick. I asked them ‘why’ with curiosity. They said  that it would be needed to save the water. I did not understand the use of a stick in the loo. At that moment I push the toilet door something jumped over me and ran away. My tin can toppled down and spilled.
Now I got the answer. I spent the next two years with them. They would enter the toilet from anywhere.”

I now got up from the stool and started walking on the roads of Varanasi. The roads full of idiotic traffic, pot holes, filthy garbage and stupid monkeys. They are always ready to snatch your shopping bag.


I returned home safely. Thank you o’ lord almighty.

The sixth sense of a man's best friend

The Hindus believe that a dog’s howling is a very bad omen. A dog’s senses are much more active than humans. Their smelling ability is used by security department worldwide. Dogs can visualize the paranormal activity. Whether this is true or false, I don’t know but I feel that something is there.

Last year on 13th September my elder brother passed away. I lost the childhood part from my life. There was a stray dog that was attached to his family. Dada (my elder brother) gave it food regularly and pampered it. When his daughters went somewhere it would follow them like a body guard.  The day when he was hospitalized the dog was howling the whole night. After his death it howled for 10 days. Then it stopped coming their house. No one had any logic for this phenomenon.

In the year 1976 I was an 11th standard student. Beside my parents and big brother I had a pet play mate with me. It was a dog named Munmun. Many times my friends asked me “Why does this masculine dog have a feminine name?”  I told them that I wanted to play with girls only and we laughed. The dog did not mind anything because of a feminine name. We were very good friends.

I had a cousin sister at my age. Her name was Shukla. She was very dear to my mother. She had a brain tumour. Those days the survival rate of the brain operation was just 0.05%. My uncle decided that without operation death was certain, so he would take that 0.05% chance. Beside that, the girl’s health was deteriorating day by day. In the month of March Uncle took her to Vellore hospital. This is still situated in South India. For us, March meant exam season. Via land line phone he told us, “Tomorrow morning doctors will do the operation for the tumour.” Next day I and dada went to school. Father went to office but my mother sat down in Puja room (worship place) in front of god and goddess. When I returned home she was still in the Puja room.

At 10’o clock in the night, suddenly Munmun started howling.  My mother shouted at me “Mini! Chup kora oke!!!” (Mini! Make the dog shut up!!!.) and prayed to god “May Shukla be alright.” I grabbed Munmun and settled on my bed. Few moments later, he went to the courtyard and howled. We scolded it but all in vain.

Every day my father called my uncle over the hospital’s telephone and asked about Shukla’s health. She was in coma. Doctors took care her nicely. Uncle said “I hope she will be all right”.

The howling continued for eleven days. We observed that exactly at 10‘o clock it started misbehaving and we scolded it. On the eleventh day it did not howl. My mother said “May we get a good news tomorrow.” Same night at 12:30 Munmun was restless and scratching me. I said Munmun please let me sleep. I grabbed it in my bed. But it escaped an started howling and restlessly walking in and around the courtyard . I tried to grab it, but it react violently. Dada tried to sooth it but it kept reacting violently. We left it there and came back to our bed . It stopped howling but stayed in courtyard. I fell asleep. At 3:30 am, I woke up. My mother was screaming “Shukla... Shukla! Stop… Shukla...” She was breathing fast. This time Munmun was growling aggressively. It was moving around my mother’s bed. I served some water to mother. My father patted her. She said, “Bad dream...  may god bless us all.” Munmun kept behaving in a weird manner. We could not sleep that night.

Next morning Uncle called and gave us the massage “Last night, at 12:30 am the doctor declared her dead.”

An Evening Prayer for peace

I will begin writing this experience with two lines written by Ravindra Nath Thakur’s

Bahe nirantar anant anand dhara
Baje asim nabh
Majhe anandi rav
Jage Anaya ravi Chandra tara

Simple translated as ‘a steam of pleasure flows in the endless universe. This sound of pleasure vibrates in the endless sky. May the sun, moon and stars exist for ever’?

I am staying with my son at Bangalore. A few days ago I met a lady. She is living in the same building as us. Her name is Mrs. Rama Roy. In my first introduction I came to know that she is a regular visitor of Ram Krishna Mission. I asked her “Why??” she said that “I go to listen to their prayer”. I did not ask her anything more. But she said “there are enormous powers in their prayer. If you come with me, you’ll feel it too.” I don’t believe in these things. I am a typical house-wife, God fearing and my whole world is limited into the boundary of my house. My thought process starts from husband and children and end up to them. But I accepted and went with her. I had two reasons. First - I wanted to explore the city and the second reason was curiosity. So I told her that I would go with her.

So, Yesterday I went to R.K.Mission (Husur) with Mrs. Roy. In the evening, at near about 5 pm we took an auto-rickshaw for Husur. She was living in Bangalore since 2001. She knows the city very well. She gave the direction to rickshaw driver. It took us 20 minutes to reach our destination. In the ashram we walked through the pathway and both the sides were blooming with flowers. Some were known to me, and some were unknown. The atmosphere was calm and quite. I felt a kind of peace inside me. The lady and I entered the hall. There were three big pictures of Swami Vivekanand, Shri Ram Krishna Paramhans and Maa Sharda in the hall. The ‘dari’ (a handmade floor spread) was spread on the floor. 50-60 people were sitting in the hall. I loved this silence but the woman near to me said “silence is not synonym of peace; peace comes from inside the soul. It cannot create, but a prayer gives you a little peace for a few moments”.

Rama Roy asked me if I had any problem with my knees then I could take a chair, but I preferred the ‘dari’. A monk came up to the mike and gave a speech - a text from Vedanta. He read the text in Sanskrit and explained in English. As the sun set, the bulbs were turned on. Two monks came with harmonium and tabla and sat down in front of the pictures. First they sang a few ‘Richas” (the Vedas hymns). The sacred Vedic sounds are healing music to our ears. Then they sang prayers to the Almighty and followed by Bengali songs. These songs are dedicated to Mother Goddess.
I was engrossed in the music.

7:30 we returned home. We were not talking with each other because we both did not want to come out of the vibe of that prayer.

Yesterday night I could sleep at least 5 hours. Past 6-7 months I am suffering in sleep disorder problem. May be I am insomniac. Prayer blessed me with one night sleep.

My Birthday

26/11 is my birthday. It is a very painful day for a Mumbaiker (someone living in Mumbai). All kind of abstract nouns can express love, lust, wisdom, fear….etc, but the pain has no expression.

In year 1985 I was living in Hardwar. Second week of September my 3 year old son, Pakku had cough and cold. His father went to Germany for an official tour. My in laws were staying with me. My mother in law tried to sooth him with home remedy.  He had no fever so we had nothing to panic. But as time passed he became restless. Within two days, the intensity of the cough increased. Next morning I went to nearby clinic. The doctor said that this was an allergy, and gave anti-allergy syrup. It was a temporary relief. But as the night fell, he was becoming more and more restless and coughing continuously. Gradually he became inactive. He hung his head on my shoulder and stuck to me. By then my in laws were also worried. We were feeling helpless. It was 9:30. That day was Saturday. Entire neighbourhood went to the club as they had a Saturday program. It was a cloudy night. Pakku was breathing very slowly.

10 O’clock I saw Mrs. Doctor Majetia enter the building. She was living at ground floor.  I wrapped my son in a small blanket and rushed to her. She was just entering in her flat. She stopped and asked me “what happened?” I told her the whole thing.  She put her hand on his back and said intensely “you must take him immediately to hospital he is serious.”  Hospital! How I will take him there? What was wrong with my child? Hospital was two Km. far from my house.

It was raining. My father in law said, “Wrap him in a rain coat; we will walk.” I did the same. When we came out of the building we saw that the people were returning from club. A motorcycle’s headlight hit us. The motorcycle crossed us and stopped. “Meenu!”  It was Ranjana’s voice.  Dube bhaisab was returning with his family. They stopped and asked us “In this weather where are you going?” .I could say just two words - Help Me.

Dube bhaisab left Ranjana and Sona (their son) at home and took me and Pakku to the hospital.  He stopped his bike near emergency in the hospital. He parked his bike and snatched pakku from my arms and throughout the rain coat and went into the medical room. Male attendant did not allow me. I was watching from outside through glass panel. Dube bhaisab, dr. dutta, a nurse and a paramedic were standing surround the table. I could not see my child. I was waiting in half wet clothes. A kind of unknown fear grabbed me. It was raining and the night was cold.  15 minutes later, bhaisab and Dr. Dutta came out and said he was out of danger.  Bhaisab said, “Abhijit ka beta hai use kuch nahi hone dunga.” (I will not allow anything to happen to him because he is Abhijit’s son). They went in the room and I stayed outside. Night passed and dawn came Dr. Dutta came out and said, “You may go inside now.”   

In the room bhaisab was sitting on a stool beside the bed and kept his head on the bed with eyes closed.  I put my hand on pakku’s chest. He was breathing normal and his heart beat was little fast. I.V. Tube was settled in his arm. He was sleeping. I kneel down beside the bed and joined my hands to say “Thank You God”. My eyes were closed. Someone pat my head. That was Mrs. Dr. Majetia. I stood up. She said “Pakku’s bronchia were choked due to mucus. He is now out of danger. You have to stay in the hospital for a few days. Mucus will be cultured only then we start antibiotics.” Bhaisab raised his head.

He did everything he could and he and his wife took care of my in laws. We spent 15 years together in Hardwar. Lots of merry time we spend together. 26th April 1996 bhiaisab expired due to cancer. But Ranjana never failed to give me good wishes on my birthday because 26/11 is bhaisab’s birthday. She said “Happy birthday Meenu. Have a happy and long life…” every time I feel the pain in her voice.

Witness of a tragedy

On the 7^th March 2006 in the city of Varanasi - the day was a normal day, as any other day would have been. It was spring. Cold days had passed and warmer days were yet to come.

I spent my day doing normal routine work. At 5 o’clock in the evening I went to Lanka market. The sun was about to set. The distance between my home and Lanka market is hardly 1 kilometre. In the year 2006 I used to pay a rickshaw puller Rs 10 only for that distance. Sankat Mochan temple is situated on the way to Lanka. Normally rickshaw pullers took Rs. 5 from my home.

In the Lanka market I purchased a lot of green vegetables and few house hold things. I hired a rickshaw for going back to home. A thought came to my mind that according to the Hindu calendar the day was very auspicious. Lots of marriages were performed in the city. I should go to the temple. So I asked the rickshaw puller “Take me to Sankat Mochan”. He turned the rickshaw towards the temple. 

I got down from the rickshaw and gave him a Rs 5 coin. I started to enter the temple gate. During those days, there was no security checking. The rickshaw puller called me “Didi. Give me two rupee more.” I was irritated and said “No! For this distant Rs 5 is enough. “Then an argument started between us. I was not going to give him Rs 2 more but he demanded. Few minutes had passed. He continued “You people gave thousands of rupee to the temple but like us poor labourer you cannot spend 2 rupee.”  Finally I gave him 2 rupee in a very irritated manner and said “One should not be greedy”.

I turned around and stepped in the main gate of the temple. Suddenly a boom sound hit me. The sound was very strong that hit my heart and mind. “What’s that??” I was spell bound. For about 2 to 3 minute there was absolute silence. Few minutes later some men and women were running outside the temple. They were screaming “Bhagoo……Bhagoo…..” that moment I didn’t realized what had happened to me. I could not move a step. Then an injured girl came out of the temple. Her clothes were soaked in blood. One after the other, people came out in bad shape. There were four men came out holding a rag and shouting “hato…hato” (clear the path). Under the rag the trail of blood dropped on the floor. Suddenly a women shook my shoulder in a histrionically and asked “Mera beta kahan hai” (where is my son) .I regained my consciousness.  Then I started running towards my home. Police vehicles were heading towards the temple. The shop - keepers pulled down their shutters. 

It took a good amount of time to overcome this experience. Later I thought that if I was not arguing with the rickshaw puller then I would have been on the spot where the bomb blast occurred…

Why did Sankat Mochan save my life?  

Posters abound

कैडबरी की मिठास जो मुह मैं घुल जाए 
कोला की ठंडक जो दिल मैं उतर आए 
सर्फ की धुलाई से सारे दाग धुल जाए 
फेयर एंड लवली  से रूप निखर आए 
बाटा के जूते और टाटा की कार 
चारो तरफ है पोस्टरों की भरमार 
इस साबुन से निखार, आये जवानी पर बहार 
एक गोली से भागे सर्दी, सरदर्द और बुखार 
एक ताज़गी भरी चाय से बन जाए परिवार 
एक कप कॉफ़ी से मिल जाए बिछड़े यार 
टीवी पर चलता रहता है दिन भर 
आपकी त्वचा आपके बाल 
हर प्रोडक्ट मैं होता है 
खाद्य पदार्थो का इस्तेमाल 
सड़क पर फिल्मो के पोस्टर 
देश का हाल बताते हैं 
जिस्म, जब तक है जान, Oh! My God
Dirty Picture, हेरोइन दिखाते है 
इस पर भी जी न भरे आपका सरकार 
नेट पर आए, यहाँ भी पोस्टरों का भरमार 

Small Talk Ladies

Two ladies are talking on the telephone. Both the ladies are aged between 54-55.  Before I write down the conversation I will write a little bit about them. These ladies have asked me not to mention their name, so I am not writing their names here.

Lady A is a very intelligent and educated lady with a good sense of humor. She is the wife of an executive and mother of two successful children.

Lady B is of average intelligence and not very educated, with no sense of humor. Of course she has a pure heart. She is the wife of an executive (now retired) and mother of two successful children.

B - Namaste (Hello). Am I disturbing you?
A - Namaste (Hello). No no ! How are you?
B - (In low mood voice) fine….
A - Your voice sounds low? I hope your health is ok.
B - Health is not perfectly ok, but I am fine.
A - What kind of problem is it?  Nothing serious I hope?
B - Oh! No no no ! Yesterday, I had a bad headache.
A - I hope today you are fine
B - Yes yes. Only a bit of backache left. Just leave it there. I called you to tell you something.
A - From where are you calling?
B - I am calling you from Ghaziabad.
A - Oh! So you must be at your daughter’s home.
B - Oh no! He has purchased a flat here.
A - Very good!
B - Nothing is good. The houses are like match boxes. He never listened to me. At this age how will we adjust to a new place? Father and daughter have decide to live here. For the past 30-33 years he never listened to me .What should I expect now?
A - What did you do the house in Lucknow?
B - (sabki najar lag gai) People evil eyed that house. We have now finally sold it.
A - Ok! Now congratulations for your new house. Hope Bhaisahab (B’s husband) is alright.
B - Yes he is alright. Nothing will happen to him .
A - At least in this age you have a partner with you. This is a great thing.
B - It doesn’t  matter if he is here or not. For the past 32-34 years he did not talk to me. What should I expect now?
A - What is he doing after his retirement? Is he doing any job?
B - No. He just sits in front of the T.V.for the whole day.
A - So he is killing his time by watching T.V.
B - I don’t know. May be watching or may be sleeping.
A - Don’t say  things like that. After all he cares you a lot.
B - May be. Yesterday he came in the kitchen and sang a song - Choli ke piche kya hai (a Hindi movie song. It means what is behind the blouse.) I got angry. I scolded him that he should take care of your own lungii (a long cloth men wrap around their loins). You are not at an age to see behind the blouse. Since then, he is angry with me. Now look I said nothing wrong.
A - When will you visit to Varanasi?
B - I don’t know. Let me talk about the reason I called you.
A - Oh yes ! Tell me please.
B - We purchased a house in Ghaziabad. We will be happy if you pay us a visit here.
A - Oh sure! Whenever I visit Delhi next, I will visit your place.
B - Please convey this to Meenu also.
A - Sure.

And the Conversation  went on…