Saturday, April 30, 2005

The day I learned swear-words

Satyadeo,mere ko bhi pass karo na.. I say(trying to conceal the plea intended)
chal James, aaj isko nahin denge ssale ko. yeh le,mere ko pass kar and Satyadeo tosses the football towards James who skilfully grabs the ball, with his left foot, as soon as it lands, not a single bounce, and gives a ground pass back to Satyadeo.
Just three of us, first year (class VII) kids of twelve, playing football on a sunday afternoon on ground number 4. After the typically hectic sunday morning routine of "vishesh safaai" (cleaning of the mess,aangan,four verandahs,all the five rooms with soap and water, with water brought from the handpump sometimes!!!!!!), somehow the seniors had spared us from the "obligatory" fielding at the grounds where they played cricket (I don't remember how did this happen as a hectic day was no reason enough to get too tired to play(in any case,how could 4th yearites do a menial task and get tired and somebody else got tired or not - it was their discretion!!). Maybe there was some more serious business like some 3rd yearite might have annoyed some 4th yearite(ANY 4th yearite was no less than a GOD, except when amongst the other GODs!!!) due to some action of his and he was to be put to task or whate'er..)
So, we three (rest two - Ashutosh and Abhishek - probably preferred a quick nap) decided to make the max out of this exceptional day. Took the football from the store-room and ran, we three, to the farthest ground from the house (else who knows, some senior sends Ashu or Abhi to get us back to the house (please dont ask me "why")). Atleast that would delay our being found out!!!!!!)
Back at ground 4, my requests turn to pleas but with no results.bhag saale, hum na de rahe, muhalla ssala
I said gaali kyon de rahe ho. hum nahin gaali de rahe tab tum kyon de rahe ho
Satyadeo who had all the making of a bully-to-be says to do na gaali, humne kab mana kiya hai saale, bol saale bol. haa haa haa haa
James is in no mood to help me(there is no second thought about whom to support - me or Satyadeo).
My self-respect protests hum gaali nahin de sakte to tum gaali kyon doge. mere ko bhi bolna aa sakta hai
bol na kameene, bol na. bol to paayega nahi, siyaar ki tarah paad raha hai. sala. haa haa.
ssaala, gaali deta hai mere ko. samjhhta kya hai. hum bhi saala bol sakte hain. saala mota. kameena saala...and torrent continues
With nonplussed eyes the two look at me. Of course, never could one use swear-words inside house(No, even a senior dare not do that to a junior as there were "GODs" in each house, to look after these things),but being batchmate they very well knew this meek homesick momma's boy who was too scared to use swear-words. It was like breaking some well-inculcated religious beleif, using expletives. But finally its you who have to face the world and not those who wrote the religion or moral codes for you or who taught you those. That what must have occurred to me then(I can hardly remember now) and impulsive that I am now, I must have been more in childhood, i guess. So I didn't take much time to respond thus. My poor vocab might have played a spoilsport but it was my FIRST time afterall, I didn't miss much :-).

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