Poochho Kyun?

I peeped out of the window as I could hear a tiny bird stirring outside.  It was only 6. 30 AM, and a crescent moon still clung to the sky, with a couple of stars for company. Soon more birds woke up and started trilling. This was the cue for me to head for my walk.  The labourers were up and about, and one group was building a fire, setting up a pyramid of wood and discarded newspapers.

The young couple, was also there, but the toddler was still sleeping, I guessed. They smiled expansively in my direction.  I smiled back; the crescent moon, one sliver of a smile, soon evanesced.
Soon the entire neighbourhood was astir.

Someone had complained to the municipality, and their garbage collecting van had finally come.
There was Kanchan coming towards me with a huge smile.
“Madam, these new people have no manners, poocho kyun?”[Ask me why].
She said pointing towards the trees.

It was indeed weird that all the vacant plots had become huge dumping grounds. Some occupants who had just shifted to the newly constructed apartments, had no qualms about hurling their plastic bags of garbage down from the third floor, and in their descent, some plastic bags had  got entangled in the trees in a colourful chaos and the tress  appeared almost Daliesque.

“Yes, it is so weird,” I said, looking at the morose looking trees, which seemed to be listening  to the eerie music that the polythene bags,  surrealistically caught in the trees, were making,  in sync with the chirping of birds .

“Madam inko itni bhi akal nahi hai? (Don’t they have even a little intelligence?) In our village, people have dug a trench and we dump all our garbage in the trench, and sometimes we make a bonfire of it. Our village is very clean, there is not one polythene bag around. It is so dangerous for the cows, why don’t these people realize it?”  she said, deftly dodging a blob of tobacco spittle which a morning walker had aimed at the ground.

There is no dearth of weirdness around; just the other day, my act of tending to a battered kite, was no less weird. Similarly, for some, splashing the roads with blobs of spittle could be quite rejuvenating and edifying, I thought, trying to keep pace with Kanchan, who had suddenly morphed into a squirrel on steroids.

Morning Meanderings by Dr Santosh Bakaya

“My brothers-in-law are vagabonds, Madam. They do nothing but play cards the whole day long under the Peepal tree in front of our house, and drink tea, which they take on credit from the tea-seller under another Peepal tree. My mother-in-law is keen to get them married. But, tell me Madam, which fathers will want their daughters to get married to them? Poocho kyun?”

“Why not?  They look quite handsome!” I remarked, looking at a dog which stood royally on a hillock of concrete, looking around with the air of a newly coronated king.

“Kya hansum, madam! You have seen my husband, haven’t you? He is the most handsome of the lot.” She said, with a bright smile. “He works a lot. And they…! Just waste their time under the Peepal tree!”
“Handsome is that handsome does!”
“Kya, madam?”
Before she could hurl some more questions and some more ‘poochon kyun?’ and ‘poocho kaisey?’ at me, I scurried towards home, waving out to her.
“Madam, Ek ghantey tak aati hoon,” (I’ll come in an hour) she shouted at  my back. Her sprint from one house to another had begun.
The Superwoman.

Watch this space for more Morning Meanderings every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. 🙂

Illustrations: Antara

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More to read in Morning Meanderings

Don’t You Know What MUNCH is?
Our Daily Bread
The Old Man and the Dog
Thunder, Lightning and Rain

About the Author

Santosh Bakaya ( 177 Posts)

Dr Santosh Bakaya is the author of three mystery novels for young adults, and a book of essays titled Flights From My Terrace, which was recently published as an e-book on Smashwords. Her poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Ballad Of Bapu has been published by Vitasta Publishers, Delhi, India in May 2015 and has been receiving rave reviews from everywhere. Although a Political theorist, with a doctorate in political theory, it is literature which has been her first love. She was awarded the Reuel international award for language and literature 2014 for her long poem Oh Hark!, which forms part of the Significant Anthology. Many of her poems have figured in the highly commended category in Destiny Poets, a UK based website and many are part of international anthologies. Right now, she is giving the final touches to her satirical novel, tentatively titled Sanakpur Shenanigans.
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