Gaya And His Girlfriend

"Mile ho tum humko

bade naseebon se

churaya hai maine

kismat ki lakeeron se

mile ho tum humko

bade naseebon se

churaya hai maine kismat ki lakeeron se

teri mohabbat se saansein mili hain

sada rehna dil mein kareeb hoke...."

"What nonsense..? Get lost or I will shoot you all..!"

Gayadhara flung open the door and looked downstairs menacingly. The wicked boys played this song at least three or four times a day.

To his disappointment, there was no one except two dogs snarling at each other over some leftover chicken bones by the edge of a drain.

The old man slammed the door shut screaming abuse at the "sons of bitches."

Then one of the boys cried:"Gayia...!Tayia...!

Mayia....!Jayiya..Chayia...!"

Gayadhara didn't care to react and stayed indoors.

The song was irritatingly blaring out of Nandu's room located on the fourth floor of the building adjacent to Gayadhara's. Nandu, however, was downstairs with his cronies and cousin brothers. It was one of the romantic songs meant to satirise and make a game of old Gayadhara who had just brought home a "beautiful" bride from Thailand.

Gaya was around 60 and his wife less than thirty.

"Gross Domestic Product...!Gross Domestic Product.....!" shouted Nunu to his grown elder brother Chintu. The other two cousin brothers Nandu and Chandu were rocking with wild laughter....." The crotchety oldie Gayadhara was still inside. Now it dawned on me that GDP stood for Gaya Dhara Purohit.

"Is the old fellow sleeping?" Chandu asked Nunu with a giggle.

As far as I knew Gayadhara was a retired political science professor. His estranged wife and two sons lived in his father-in-law's house in a far-off part of the city. The old man appeared eccentric and unusual, for who would consider it common if he came out of his house with a long, imported cigarette held between his thin lips and carrying a huge gun assuming some characteristic regal airs in 2015...? Was it a fashion..? This was something smacking of the Raj when the landed gentry copied the British every way possible.

  Then my grandmother was alive. She thought Gaya was intelligent and well-bred. He had talked to her thrice. Now the whole colony was abuzz with the report that Gaya had remarried. People would be on the lookout to have a glimpse of Gaya's new wife who had an unusually broad face, small black eyes and a yellowish stocky build. The bob-haired woman mostly appeared in pants or in hot pants. People speculated amongst themselves about the country of her origin. Eventually, it transpired she was a Tibetan nun domiciled in Thailand and her name was Diki.

Once Chintu said to me, "Uncle, have you seen oldie Gaya's young wife...? She eats frogs...!"

"How do you know that.....?" I said.

"Why...? I always see two boys carrying big yellow frogs in polythene bags to his house. Particularly after a downpour...?When the poor creatures come out of their hiding and start a cacophony...They tell me Gaya's wife gives them money for that..!"

Dukhishyam Sethi, the laundryman who pressed the colony people's clothes was in the habit of acting like a know-all. He was listening to us. He couldn't write but he was able to concoct wonderful tales. My usual gibe at him was:"Dukha (sorrow), your life is full of Sukha (happiness)." He reacted to the taunt with his wide gap-toothed smile, and invariably each time he said, "Where is sukha (happiness), Sir? I am a poor person.."

To confirm Chintu's allegation,Dukha

said, "O my goodness...! You can never believe it..! The way that girl munches away live frogs with chilly sauce and black salt..!"

"And Gaya....?"asked Chandu.

"He is not lagging behind either...! He is also fond of eating raw frog meat in the same fashion."

Nandu said, "This is a complete lie...!" The other boys burst into an uproar.

An enraged Dukha spewed out some angry words: "This is the only thing about these boys I dislike the most....." He walked back to his tumbledown wooden cabin furiously.

Old Gaya came down to the ground floor of the building and charged at the lonely security boy saying: "What are you doing here..? People are making noises and disturbing us..and you are enjoying yourself..? Sitting here?" Before the security boy could say something, he went to the nearby grocery store and ranted,"Ambika, this is my last warning to you..! Tell your son to stop his nasty activities... Otherwise,I will do what I can..!"

After the old man had left, Ambika shouted at his son Rudra desperately. The boy came up to his father cheerfully, but the father swooped down upon him like a hawk and slapped his both cheeks mercilessly. The boy began crying and sobbing as he didn't know he had done anything to deserve such punishment. Rudra pleaded he had not passed any comments at the "old buffoon" and his father duly chastised him for using that derogatory phrase. Rudra being Nunu's best friend had oftentimes ruffled old Gaya's tempers.

The next day Rudra told Nunu how his father had slapped him and vowed vengeance upon the old man and Nunu got lost in deep thinking. Nunu thought hard late into the night but almost nothing interesting occurred to his mind. In the morning, he badgered his mother for a cup of hot coffee contending that it would kill the deadly Coronavirus clinging to the inside of his windpipe. After that, he went out for a walk through their lane. As he was thinking and walking, he suddenly saw Gaya's new car. It was a new model Maruti Dezire. It was white and shiny. He contemplated the oil seal of the car. It bore blue yellow circles with a P in the middle. He reached into his pocket and produced his mother's smartphone and making sure no one was watching, took a photo of the oil seal. Rudra and Nunu then held a minute-long serious talk.

It was a brilliant Sunday morning. Gaya and his girlfriend Diki decided to make a visit to Konark. Gaya and the girl went sightseeing four or five times every month. They started the journey in their new car full of joy and excitement as usual like lovesick teenagers.

The old man drove to the filling station at Chintamaniswar. As a boy came up to him, he said to him matter-of-factly, "Fill the tank." There was a traffic jam on account of a fierce fight between two bulls. When the people were watching the bulls fighting with bated breath, Gaya was censuring the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation authorities most vociferously. In English. His sweetheart too was enjoying the scene.

The filling station boy said,"Sir, sixteen hundred rupees...." Gaya said, "The tank is full..?" "Yes Sir..." said the boy smilingly. "What's the petrol price...?" asked Gaya his voice charged with disbelief. "Sir it's not petrol. It's diesel...!"

Gaya's big red eyes seemed to be bulging out of their sockets. He thundered, "You bastard....! Are you off your head...? Mine is a petrol car..! You filled the tank with diesel...!" Then he slapped the boy's cheek hard. Gaya was instantly surrounded by the filling station staff. The boy furiously growled: "Look at the oil seal..! Look at that everybody..!"

Gaya was disarmed and struck with intense shame. Embarrassment gripped him severely like never before. Diki who was wondering, said, "How come P got replaced with D...! How strange...!"

"It's those bastards..." Gaya said only this much and fell silent. The filling station boy was trembling with wrath. The old man explained in detail what had actually happened. Eventually, he thrust a wad of cash into the boy's hand and the filling station manager made arrangements for draining the diesel out of the oil tank. This was how their beautiful Sunday morning had turned tragic and unfortunate.

Someone who had witnessed the incident narrated it to Dukha. The gossipy laundryman welcomed the report buoyantly and freely served it to his customers with his own sensational additions to it. After this, Nunu narrated to me how he had played the trick. Poor Gaya and his woman Diki, who accompanied him everywhere, had now to hear boys shouting 'diesel', 'petrol' behind their back. A rumour circulated that Gaya had paid rupees twenty thousand to the filling station staff for his misconduct!

Every year the colony people celebrated the New Year with great fanfare. This year Gaya became the only centre of attraction. He regaled the people with his unique and matchless singing. Everyone exclaimed: "Wah...! What a fantastic voice...!"He sang the songs of Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi most amazingly.

The impact of this on the people was very deep but transitory. Nunu was still bent on mischief with Gaya.

We began to notice a new face at Gaya's house. He was his cook Turia. Though a grown boy of twenty, Nunu soon became his best friend. Gaya had perhaps noticed this and had advised Turia not to cultivate any relationship with the 'colony boys.' In spite of the warning, Turia never ceased from entertaining the boys to 'costly coffee' in the couple's absence. The boys extracted prized information from him about Gaya and his wife. For instance, they together smoked a single cigarette henceforth and used the same toothbrush and the tongue cleaner. These secrets also leaked to the people. Now the couple had turned into a perfect object of ridicule.

Gaya and Diki never skipped their morning walk. I too took a walk in the morning.Nunu, Chintu,Chandu, Nandu and some other people often joined us. One morning I and my wife while on a walk noticed a very strange thing. A violent altercation between Gaya and the boys was going on. I asked Nunu in a whisper what had gone wrong. A crowd had gathered there. Gaya had accidentally put on his wife's pants in a hurry. The boys had succeeded in detecting that. There were two big embroidered red roses on the back pockets of the old man's trousers...! There were angry exchange of words, boisterous laughter and caustic catcalls and some bantering.

At night, poor Gaya had to confront a most unpleasant situation. Around eleven o'clock, Gaya's house was plunged into total darkness. He thought it was a power-cut, but he was roused when he sighted light in other homes in the colony. Then came some peculiar sounds. Next, followed words like 'Gaya'....!Gayadhara....?GDP..! Sonny Gaya..! What are you doing..?"The door was latched from outside...! Old Gaya kicked the door violently. Then he called the security guard: "What are you doing there...? Some miscreants have bolted my door from outside..!"

"Sir, my door is also bolted....! I was inside the latrine defecating...Sir.."

Gaya had no friends in the colony. Who would help a licentious old man? The security guard called someone who opened his door. Next, he went upstairs and unlatched Gaya's door.

In the morning Gaya closely examined the CCTV footage. But it was of little use. He saw four tall figures clad in old newspaper down to their waists.

The next morning a mishap occurred. Dukha was stealing Champa flowers from Dr Rout's tree. He had a fall and his right leg was fractured. He was rushed to the nearby Sunshine Hospital at Cuttack Road. The doctors told us the treatment was going to be a costly affair. We were told it was going to be an expenditure of at least seventy thousand rupees...!

We decided to shift him to Capital Hospital which we knew would be cost-effective. My earnings had dwindled to an incredible low. I inspired the boys to request their fathers to contribute generously for the required treatment. In the evening the elders gathered to discuss how to meet the expenses. Each of them delivered a long lecture. Gaya's was the longest and most boring. A businessman Mr Togadia said, "Lectures won't help. What we want is hard cash...Yes, brothers ready cash.." I became sure that no one was genuinely interested in parting with their money at that time of crisis.Covid19 had emptied my savings.

It seemed everybody forgot about the matter after about a month or so. Last month, when Dukha was pressing my clothes, we were talking. A man I didn't know came and began abusing Gaya for mistreating his nephew who worked as his chauffeur. I said to him, "No need to speak about his wickedness. The man is a devil. He abandoned his lawful wife and two sons. She struggled like anything to bring them up. She was a teacher in a private school. She had to fight tooth and nail to provide for her children. Now the elder of the two is a doctor. The second son is a PhD student..."

The man said, "Sir do you think God will forgive Gaya..?"He went back with his ironed stuff.

Dukha said, "Sir did you know it is old Gaya who has brought me back on my feet? He is my God. He gave me a cheque for one lakh rupees. He told me strictly not to say anything about it to anyone. Please keep it a secret Sir.."

I instantly decided to make friends with old Gaya.

Later I knew Gaya and his estranged wife had constantly quarrelled. It was over a young man who was having a clandestine affair with her...