fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya
fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya
elite section they came from : and theyshouldn't be faulted for want of dedicationor care.The ladies of the family personallyserved the hungry and the afflicted presentamong the guests. Sharmaji and Vermajiwere doing the job with zeal, but the seniordaughter in law said : 'Give us too a chanceto repay our debts to the dead. Will ourfather in law die and go to heaven againand again?’The diners' hunger was endless.Swooping down upon the poories andvegetables like birds of prey, they calledfor more, more — called unendingly.When their din went up too high the chiefpriest told them to pipe down and staycalm, meaning eat whatever you getwithout your din and clear out from herefast.The younger girl was unwell, or hadher periods, perhaps. She was not takingpart in any ritual. It did displease her sistersin-law.The middle one said the departedone was father to her too, she too hadsome duties to him. The senior sister-inlawsaid sadly, 'The poor thing! Her servicesare probably not acceptable to the fatherhimself. Did she have her last sight of him?If she was fated to hold his touch in herhand would she have landed up four daysafter his death? And now, going uncleanat this time — must be having a meaning,her period coming up now...'The youngest sister-in-law kept quiet,though she too wanted to grumble thatfgndi •the girl had lost faith in customs. Else,couldn't she have eaten some pill orsomething to put it off ? So many waysthere were these days...!Her sisters heard it all and got busyscraping out the halwa from the pan. Whatwere they to say? The girl had turned upfour days after father's death. By then theyhad gone half dead with their mourningbouts. Eyes wide open and dry she hadkept staring at the lamenting women. Andwhen she did cry it was at the wrongmoment, when the soul of the dead feelspain at crying. Everything she did waswrong, ill-timed. Dead set against learningthe ways of the world as she was, whatwas anyone to say to her? And now childrenof her own too, she has.The youngest one had actually wipedoff the drops of tears risen in her eyes atthe sight of the lamenting women : asthough making her private grief public haddemeaned it : although a competition wason in the room for the most tunefullament, for the best weave and compositionof words.The city's entire populace of the lameand tottering, of beggars wrapped in rags,scratching dirty heads and thighs, plonkeddown in rows. Shoveling in handful uponhandful of food, bent on filling up withall they could. Someone choked over a puri,someone coughed kha-kha, but the canyonsin their stomachs wouldn't fill.The chief priest came over to the sons,punctuating his speech with sonorousApril-June 2013 :: 113
salutations to the Ganga : 'These poor,hungry ones today are beside themselvesat the sight of halwa and puris. Earlier theyused to go away leaving half the fooduneaten. Who feeds them full meals thesedays? No, no, nothing to do with the risingcost of living and so forth! What otherthings are they economizing on, tell me!Just charity work it is that they thinkdispensable, to be thrown overboard'.'Look here, look here! What's thisyou're doing? Paying each sadhuindividually one by one! Give me themoney, here, I'll take care of thepayments...Sadhuram! You there,Sadhuram! Come up here...'Sadhuram came over on fast feet : andthe chief priest now engaged with hispatrons more vigorously : 'You need nottarry, sirs. Have something to eat, milk,fruit... Leave this job to us. Tackling thesesmall fry is not for you...'The three brothers were intelligent,took the cue. Setting out for their pilgrimcentre the third brother said to the chiefpriest : 'Everyone should get his share, youwill ensure that, won't you?''Of course! Of course! Without doubt!We don't have to be told!'Lines of displeasure creased the chiefpriest's brow. Brother number one witha sign made number three pipe down.They'll manage. Don't fret. Meaning,expressing doubt is a sign of smallmindedness.The crowd of alms seekerswatched the departure of the patrons withnervous eyes. Perhaps they had already losthopes of getting any of the money. Anywaytheir stomachs were full, for the time beingat any rate.After their meal of fruits and milk, theyleft straight away for Lakshman Jhoola forsightseeing. The children got busy clickingtheir cameras at pilgrims by the riversidedoing their poojas and other rituals, sacredthreads slung across shoulders, at womenwrapped in saris dipping into the waters.Roundabout stood the green hills ofRishikesh. Gusts of clean air filtered intolungs and made the body feel weightless.Sharmaji sought permission from sonnumber one for clicking a group photoof them —'Forget it, it's not a picnic we'vecome on, but for father...' Despite his no'showever, a group photo of them allstanding at the head of the bridge didmaterialize, with the whole family wearingthe prescribed, appropriate, sad looks ontheir faces. The children clowned, strucksome comic poses, but children from tento sixteen years of age, how'appropriatelysad'would they be?At the rows of temples they stood inreverent worship before the gods andgoddesses : admired the carvings on thepillars and walls, dropped coins and notesinto the collection boxes. Looking at anidol of a goddess with clean, aquilinefeatures, Worthy Son Number Two saidto his wife : 'This goddess looks exactlylike Parul, doesn't she?'114 :: April-June 2013fgndi •
- Page 61 and 62: Not only this the hunger which I go
- Page 63 and 64: 3. We the Janvadi PoetsWe are write
- Page 65 and 66: 5. A FarmerThis time paddy crophas
- Page 67 and 68: isolated, lonely and stained with p
- Page 69 and 70: 3. A COFFIN AND A BOTTLEIn this roo
- Page 71 and 72: The omnipresence of your super imag
- Page 73 and 74: As I look at the black and white pr
- Page 75 and 76: But when I touched the door of the
- Page 77 and 78: 7. LIFEThat day when I entereda mag
- Page 79 and 80: 2. TEA WITH DONNEGood Morning, dear
- Page 81 and 82: 4. HI, KRISHNA!Hi, Krishna!What’r
- Page 83 and 84: Malbe Ka MalikMohan RakeshJai Ratan
- Page 85 and 86: 'Everything else has changed but no
- Page 87 and 88: feet, on a brick path near the open
- Page 89 and 90: ightened up on seeing Rakkha Pahalw
- Page 91 and 92: 'So what happened?''Nothing happene
- Page 93 and 94: Mad DelightMohan Rakesh was as much
- Page 95 and 96: In continuous rhythmic movements, h
- Page 97 and 98: is the silence within . . . silence
- Page 99 and 100: ehind. The man remains alone once a
- Page 101 and 102: stretching road ahead."And how much
- Page 103 and 104: the car."Tell me what do you want?"
- Page 105 and 106: "Was it necessary today itself ?" f
- Page 107 and 108: laughed father “not a morsel to e
- Page 109 and 110: Rites for The DepartedChandrakantaR
- Page 111: gazing at the swiveling waves of th
- Page 115 and 116: He won his mukti in that instant of
- Page 117 and 118: a rush for a plank she suddenly see
- Page 119 and 120: The Voice Which was Progeny...Tarun
- Page 121 and 122: growl, blare and shouts had compell
- Page 123 and 124: Broken bamboos and thatches strewed
- Page 125 and 126: forest and open land. The man and w
- Page 127 and 128: "But I have already taken the money
- Page 129 and 130: Ramrath and Bhagirathi's fate gave
- Page 131 and 132: than their son.That boy knew this m
- Page 133 and 134: of power of the original to be tran
- Page 135 and 136: the time. "That raises a question i
- Page 137 and 138: The novelist was translating her ow
- Page 139 and 140: 13th paragraph, Arundhati used the
- Page 141 and 142: Referencesi. 'Arundhati Roy, transl
- Page 143 and 144: translation of literature in Englis
- Page 145 and 146: Sons published it under its Traditi
- Page 147 and 148: here that he forgot to smile.'"Afte
- Page 149 and 150: are the opulence of royalty, strugg
- Page 151 and 152: wide web (www) which has created ap
- Page 153 and 154: in it move beyond Cultural Studies
- Page 155 and 156: Prize. Wasn't it in the early years
- Page 157 and 158: deep insight into the life and work
- Page 159: 25. Ms. Kanan Jhingan, 48, Swastik
salutations to the Ganga : 'These poor,hungry ones today are beside themselvesat the sight of halwa and puris. Earlier theyused to go away leaving half the fooduneaten. Who feeds them full meals thesedays? No, no, nothing to do with the risingcost of living and so forth! What otherthings are they economizing on, tell me!Just charity work it is that they thinkdispensable, to be thrown overboard'.'Look here, look here! What's thisyou're doing? Paying each sadhuindividually one by one! Give me themoney, here, I'll take care of thepayments...Sadhuram! You there,Sadhuram! Come up here...'Sadhuram came over on fast feet : andthe chief priest now engaged with hispatrons more vigorously : 'You need nottarry, sirs. Have something to eat, milk,fruit... Leave this job to us. Tackling thesesmall fry is not for you...'The three brothers were intelligent,took the cue. Setting out for their pilgrimcentre the third brother said to the chiefpriest : 'Everyone should get his share, youwill ensure that, won't you?''Of course! Of course! Without doubt!We don't have to be told!'Lines of displeasure creased the chiefpriest's brow. Brother number one witha sign made number three pipe down.They'll manage. Don't fret. Meaning,expressing doubt is a sign of smallmindedness.The crowd of alms seekerswatched the departure of the patrons withnervous eyes. Perhaps they had already losthopes of getting any of the money. Anywaytheir stomachs were full, for the time beingat any rate.After their meal of fruits and milk, theyleft straight away for Lakshman Jhoola forsightseeing. The children got busy clickingtheir cameras at pilgrims by the riversidedoing their poojas and other rituals, sacredthreads slung across shoulders, at womenwrapped in saris dipping into the waters.Roundabout stood the green hills ofRishikesh. Gusts of clean air filtered intolungs and made the body feel weightless.Sharmaji sought permission from sonnumber one for clicking a group photoof them —'Forget it, it's not a picnic we'vecome on, but for father...' Despite his no'showever, a group photo of them allstanding at the head of the bridge didmaterialize, with the whole family wearingthe prescribed, appropriate, sad looks ontheir faces. The children clowned, strucksome comic poses, but children from tento sixteen years of age, how'appropriatelysad'would they be?At the rows of temples they stood inreverent worship before the gods andgoddesses : admired the carvings on thepillars and walls, dropped coins and notesinto the collection boxes. Looking at anidol of a goddess with clean, aquilinefeatures, Worthy Son Number Two saidto his wife : 'This goddess looks exactlylike Parul, doesn't she?'114 :: April-June 2013fgndi •
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