A month in Meerut

In the summers after class IV, I went to Meerut at mamaji's home alongwith didi, bhaiyya and mummy. He too is in army, and I found him to be commanding his children in the same style. He has four children, all elder to me. At that time, eldest daughter Anita didi was aged 21 and she was more of a tomboy. She had sort of authority on her younger siblings. Babita didi aged 19 then, on the other hand was really beautiful and looked after all the responsibilities at home from cooking food to washing clothes, etc. Younger to her is Chetak bhaiyya, aged 14 and in IX class then, and most mischievous of all Deepak bhaiyya was in 7th and aged 12 then. Collectively we used to call them ABCD. In initial few days itself, we observed that both Chetak and Deepak bhaiyya used to talk of their school punishments at home with a lot ease, and Anita didi especially used to enjoy their narration a lot. Sometimes, she even used to call them 'Bade Murge, Chhote Murge'. Out of the four weeks that we spent there, we hardly saw anything unusual there other than this in the first week. But, in the remaining three weeks, I saw punishments being given to children at least four times, and in one of those instances, I too was involved. Now I think, it would have been better, if we had not gone there then. Because afterwards, my mother also started punishing us at home in similar fashion, as she saw there. Nevertheless, the experiences that I remember are as follows-

One day, after Mamaji returnned from home, he found mamiji was not well and Babita didi alone was cooking the food. He came to the room, where all we children were playing, and told us to keep quiet, as our noise was causing headache to mamiji. We calmed down. After a few minutes, we started playing again. He came back again to our room, and said that he was also having some headache, so we should not cause any noise. But, we hardly listenned. So, he returnned back after 10 minutes, call us all (Anita didi, Chetak and Deepak bhaiyya, my real didi Manju, real brother Harsh bhaiyya and myself) in his room and said, "Chetak aur Deepak tum dono ek ghante ke liye murga ban jao". Nothing else. They were dejected but obeyed him. And there was a pin drop silence afterwards. To rest of us, he simply ordered to open up books and study. Whether we studied or not, but we maintained absolutely pin drop silence for rest of the evening. Both Chetak and Deepak bhaiyya were allowed to get up after one hour, and they went back to their study afterwards. 

The very next day, it happened with Babita didi, that too over a very trivial thing. Mamiji made her a murga because she did not cook dinner properly that day. This sounds odd, and other adults in the home protested as well, but Mamiji gave a very strange logic that she had to prepare her for her life with her would be in-laws. After a few days, there was a friendly incident in which all the children in the home except Anita didi were made murga. After we had taken the dinner, we all but mamiji and Anita didi had spread the beddings on the roof and had lied down. We all were busy talking to each other in leisure. Don’t know what happened to me, expecting some pampering, I crawled upto mummy and requested, “Mummy kahani suna do”. She without even skipping a breathe, instantaneously replied, “pehle murga ban ke dikha”. I was embarrassed and everybody else started laughing. When people calmed down a bit, my mummy repeated, “muh (face) to kar le chaand (moon) ki taraf aur ek taang pe murga ban ke 5 min. ke liye khadi ho ja, tab kahani sunaongi”. That went people burst into laughter even more. I was no more willing for any story from mummy, but by then everybody else had started insisting me to do it. Finding myself left alone, I unwillingly tried doing it with a lot of hesitation. I faced the moon, and bent down to hold the ears by bringing my arms from under my legs. The moment I completed the posture, mummy slapped me on my butt, telling me that I was not facing the moon!!!! Actually, when you become a murga, your face and your butts are facing the same direction. That meant, I was facing away from moon. I stood up to turn backwards, but I again received another friendly pat on the butt, telling me to move in a circle in murga position itself. After, I did whatever was instructed, Mamaji said that because all the children will be listening to the story, so everybody must assume the same position for 5 minutes. All my siblings who were laughing at my till now, had found themselves in the same curry now. But, they all followed me. Mummy was repeatedly insisting me to take one leg up in the air, I tried several times, but I could not do it, and I do not know if anybody else could do it either.  Mummy kept patting me on my butts repeatedly. Soon, Anita didi also came, and she made a loud fun of all of us. But, we were soon allowed to be comfortable, and then mummy kept her commitment and narrated us a long and nice story.

A few days after that, while we were still in Meerut, all the adults had gone out of the home and Deepak bhaiyya were taking some photographs. After clicking some 7-8 photos, he called my name and told me to become murga, as he wanted to have my photograph that way and that would really be a nice pose. Initially, everybody supported him, but when Babita didi saw me in tears, she immediately ordered everybody to stop teasing me, and I was thus saved that day.

The last instance of murga punishment I saw on that visit was a day before we left Meerut. On something serious, Mamaji punished Chetak bhaiyya in a real derogatory way. He was made murga, and babita didi was asked to sit on a chair in front of him with her feet resting on his head and shoulders. Of course that was a serious embarrassment for Chetak bhaiyya, keeping her legs stationary in a given position for half an hour was quite taxing for Babita didi as well.

With this much, that horrible stay in Meerut was over. Unfortunately, murga punishment during this stay was not the last one for me in Meerut. Some three years later, Anita didi had got married by then, all the guests had left while I stayed back there with mummy for some extra days. One day hijras had come to ask for baksheesh. Terrified and somewhat crazy I climbed a tree in the verandah of the home. Hizras had long left but I did not come down. Mummy and mamiji tried calling me a lot, so did Babita didi, but I did not come down. Mamaji came in for lunch. When he learnt the entire matter, he was furious. He shouted at me, and I came down almost instantaneously. But, he knows no mercy. He made me murga in the open verandah itself, and kept four bricks on my back. Of course, those bricks fell down within a minute, and he did not say me a word for that, but I was very very terrified. It was not only the sun that was making me sweat, it was also the fear and the difficult posture, that was taking shit out of me. Some 10 minutes later, he told me to get up. But, anticlimactically, he loved and pampered me after that, and adviced me to obey my mother always.

So, whenever I remember Meerut, my heart almost undergoes an attack.