131. Childhood Reminisces – Karol Bagh Memories – 2

More Karol Bagh memories…

Sometimes, during the walk with my friends, our other friends too would join in for the walk.  There was S Nari (Narayanan actually), who also mostly used to come with us.  He is now in Canada.  There was also Badri, who also is in Canada now!! 

I remember an incident when Badri was with us during the walk.  There was this toy seller who was selling toys and he was demonstrating some of the toys to get people attracted to it, so that he can sell it to them.  He was demonstrating a toy which was a pair of boxers.  He had used rubber bands to bind them together and then when he released them by putting them down, both the boxers seem to be fighting with each other and continuously falling down and moving here and there together.  There was a crowd around this toy vendor and everyone was fixated on the toy as to how the fight was going on.  I and my friends too stopped to see this spectacle.  Since there was a crowd (about 15-20 people) around the toy seller, some people were squatting down, some were standing.  Suddenly we see Badri’s hand coming through the crowd and lifting the 2 boxers and innocently asking the vendor – “bhai saheb, yeh kya hai?”😊😊.  Next moment, everyone’s eyes are on Badri in anger and the toy vendor is also looking at Badri with anger.  Badri had just disrupted a fascinating contest between the boxers😊.  The shopkeeper came to hit Badri.  Badri just dropped the toys and ran for his life😊.  We 4 friends started laughing wildly and couldn’t stop our laughter though our entire walk that day😊. It brings in laughs whenever we think of it, even now😊!!

During one of these walks with my friends, we met one more of our school friend, Venkat.  He was accompanied by another person.  I had a feeling that I had seen him somewhere, recently. Suddenly it struck me that I had watched him in the latest Rajnikant movie.  I did not know his name.  When Venkat asked me if I can recollect who his friend was, I told him I don’t know his name, but I know that in the recent movie that I had seen of Rajnikant, this guy gets a big fresh cow-dung hit on his face😊!!  Venkat’s friend didn’t know where to look😊.  Venkat then said his friend is Chinni Jayant and introduced him to us.  Later when I was alone with my friends, they asked me why I talked about the cow-dung.  I told them that was the first thing that came to mind, so I blurted it out😊!!  (Thanks Hari, for reminding me of this incident😊)

Another incident about Sashi.  When we were in college, he had shifted to RK Puram.  Once a week he used to come from there to Karol Bagh so that we can continue our walks on Ajmal Khan Road.  At that time, he was also dating a girl, who went on to become his wife😊.  He used to meet her often.  I think nobody in his house knew about this at that time.  We were all good kids who used to tell our parents where we were going so that they are aware of what we were doing.  He will tell his mother that he is meeting me and then will go and meet his future wife😊.  He used to call me on phone and inform me about this.  Since the phones were wired at that time and would be placed in the hall of the house, you had to go to the phone and talk.  And you can be sure that any conversation you have on the phone, people around you are bound to listen in on the conversation.  Our conversation would be like this…

Sashi – Sesh, I am coming to your house today.

Me – Yeah sure, what time?

Sashi – No, I am coming to your house today.

Me – No problem yaar, what time?

Sashi – Abhey Saaley!! I am coming to your home!!

Then it will strike me!!  He was indicating that he is meeting his girlfriend and informing me that in case someone calls up from his house, I should handle the situation accordingly😊.  But luckily, no one called up from his home during “those” days and all was well😊!! 

One more coincidental thing about Sashi😊.  I had a connect with his brothers too!  His eldest brother has the same name as mine and his elder brother’s nature is similar to mine – carefree and “bindaas”😊!!

At Hari’s place, we used to listen to Hindi songs in a 2-in-1 stereo cassette player😊.  His brother had bought a new player and he used to keep it in a cupboard so that Hari should not use it😊.  When we went to his place, Hari would remove the player from the cupboard and we will listen to the songs.  Hari was staying in the 3^rd floor.  Whoever comes to his place, used to ring the bell for the 3^rd floor, which was kept in the ground floor😊.  This was done so that whoever was in the house can come to the 3^rd floor door and open it in advance.  Sometimes, when we would be listening to the songs, the bell would ring.  Hari would then immediately switch off the cassette player and hurriedly keep the player at its place😊.  He would then go to the door and open it.  We also would, in the meantime, either take whatever book was available there and would act as if we were reading it.  Sometimes, we would just go the balcony and start talking among ourselves.  Sometimes it will be some vendor who would have rung the bell😊.  Hari will then take out the player again and we would listen to songs😊 till his brother or mother came home😊!!  Apparently, his brother never knew that we were using his cassette player. When I met his brother a few years back in Chennai, and told him what we did when we used to come to his place, he was surprised and didn’t knew about it😊!!

Cheers till next time!!

Today’s Observation 

The reason why a deaf man cannot be convicted is because it is against the law to convict a man without a hearing😊!!