Note – Please don’t read if you don’t know hindi.
Sometime in 1995-96 (don’t remember exactly), place – a very “closely knitted together” neighborhood in Cantonment Jhansi, so much so that if you are seen playing around in the evening when it is time to study, every “uncle” on his way back home would stop and scold you. Somebody giving it a go on your face and take you back to your parents would not be too big a surprise if you are caught doing something not acceptable to “parents”.
3 boys.. Pinku (Pradeep), Pankaj Bhaiya and yours truly.
Pankaj bhaiya is here since about a week and Pinku and myself are with him on a literally 24X7 basis. After all he is our favorite bhaiya in here. We three have an amazing chemistry. He doesn’t mind if we want to try out a “puff” from his cigarette. If he asks our parents for us to go out and watch a movie, no one says no. If we are playing with him, no one asks us to come back. Other than being a brilliant student, currently doing his engineering, he is a superb cricketer and people think he might even represent India one day (don’t ask me what happened to that dream by the time he completed his college). So, no harm hanging out with such a talented guy.
On one lazy afternoon, immediately after our lunch Pinku came with the breaking news. “Saale Kanpur highway pe jo petrol pump hai wahan Coke Can mil raha hai” (Gas station on the Kanpur highway is selling Coke Cans). Now that was news. We would possibly be the first few ones in India to have a coke can as it was not yet officially launched. And we will surely be the first one in whole neighborhood to have it. What fun it would be to tell this to Ajju bhaiya and Anoop bhaiya, bahut style marte hain dono .. always telling stories from Baroda and Mumbai where they are studying. Saala Kapil aur Babloo ki to le lenge.
“How much is it Pinku?” What Rs. 30!!, let me see how much do I have. Hey I have only 15. Pinku has nothing. Pankaj bhaiya says he will take care of rest. We have just about 30 in total. But how do we go. Pankaj bhaiya’s bike is in Allahabad, his college. Babloo (Pinku’s elder brother) has taken their “shared” scooter to some friends place. If I ask my brother for his bike, he would ask me where are we going. Since he knows all Pankaj bhaiya is upto, he is not very appreciative of the idea of we hanging out with him at so early stages of our “real” education.
I just realized, my sisters moped should be at home. A wonderful and reliable TVS XT. Oh you guys don’t worry, didi wont even come to know that I have taken it out. So here we go. 3 of us.. on a moped.
On the way is local Bus Stand. We knew that a traffic policeman should be there, as always. But he is not much of a hassle. So here we are, in anticipation of a treat of our life time. One coke can and 3 pals (okay one of us too “elder” to be called a pal, but never the less we were and we are pals).
A whistle, one policeman with trade mark “Danda” and we were asked to stop by the side. “Kahan ja rahe ho teen betk ke be?”. “Sir, his mother is hospitalized in medical college. We are going to drop him there”,pointing finger towards Pinku, who by now is almost dead by first being stopped by a 150 KG police man, then being asked a question in a manner this guy would have never imagined and then by the fact that it was him whose mother, as per us, was hospitalized. “Don’t you know riding 3 on a bike is not allowed”. “Sir, we are hapless kids. We did not know what to do in this emergency so did not realize it. Please let us go”. “No, no,ab to sahib se hi bat karo”. Saheb is sitting in a brand new police jeep and is listening to our story. Either we were good actors or he was too jealous of himself for having finest jeep in his whole department, he decided to let us go.
Thanking him, we kicked start the thing and started sitting just when he descended from his luxury vehicle. “Saloon, %^%%, @#$$%$%^ abhi tumko choda hai aur abhi phir se 3 beth ke ja rahe ho, daroga ji inse kaan pakadwao aur 20 20 uttah bethak lagwao tab jaane dena”.
District bus stand, hundreds of people watching, 3 dudes, 20 uttak bethak later we finally reached the petrol pump. Gulped down our Coke can and lived to narrate this story after about 5 years for the first time when we did a get together of all our “mohalla friends” here in Delhi.
So Pinku while you are in LA (enjoying all those “lap dances” you say you go to which I outright refuse to believe) and Pankaj Bhaiya all set to come back to Gurgaon with wife and two wonderful kids, my heart is filled with joy. I know I am breaking that “kasam” of not making this story public ever.. I am doing it .. I am doing it coz I am just too happy to hear the news of pankaj bhaiya being here. Even when I know that one of my sister in law comes here and read this space.