Went to Saldana, a village near Meerut, for a day outing yesterday. Me, Bubai and Vikas with his school friends. One of his friend Sumit is the brother of the village pradhan there. 'Bade bhaiya' is the mai-baap of the entire region, and the region we are talking about (Meerut to Muzaffarpur) is the worst crime belt in India. He was part of the infamous Tyagi gang at one time, then went into legtimate business and then politics. His drinking buddies make up the rest of the region's who's who, and our main agenda was to experience what it felt like to be the guest of such a person.
The ride was hot and dusty and to combat the discomfiture everyone got busy in going through a gigantic database of MMS scandals that one of the guys had on his phone. By the time we reached there it was high noon, and everyone got down to their chaddis and plunged in the deliciously cool tube well tank. The next 5 hours was just sit in the water, get your drinks served up to you and talk.
What was amazing was how these guys recieved us. It was bade bhaiya who cooked country chicken for us (absolutely mindbogglingly delicious, with real spices), chote bhaiya who served us our drinks and a member of the village panchayat who served us food. These guys are not only politically powerful, they are also stinking rich. But i havent seen any guys of this stature who are so down to earth. When it was time for us to go they promised us that the next time they will get permission to go hunting and asked us to try and make an overnite trip (THAT will be one memorable post I can assure you).
At the end of it all I was pretty confused. These are the real criminals of India, who have broken all laws of the land, raped the political system and destroyed thousands of lives. On the other hand, personally, they are wonderful, warm and down to earth folks. How does one reconcile these two things?
7 comments:
reminded me immediately of tiku's dhanbad days...and the story of the local koyla don who was his close friend, and the exact type u have described. stinking rich, absolutely down to earth, and criminals to the core.....amazing. i am sure u have heard of the story tiku tells (with all the heh heh in between) of being a baraati in one of their marriages.
There is nothing to be reconciled. If you are on the right side of the lawless its a completely different world. Just as you when u r on the right side of the law.
So the right is pretty right and nice. The problem is with the wrong whevever everything becomes wrong and horrendous.
i have known some obnoxious rich and powerful people. people like them are quite easy to understand and put in a slot. the reconciliation comes when u have to understand how people like 'bade bhaiya' can stay so simple. he can afford cuban cigars but he is absolutely satisfied smoking biris. its a quality that is to be admired.
they have bigger problems to deal with bro.they would not waste any of their energy being rowdy to any of u guys.in fact it must have been quite an amuzing 'break'for them to deal with goody goody,soft hearted,lovey dovey and polite city guys like you.
r u in the photograph shuv?
hey shuv,just got this book 'Fodor's guide to the Da Vinci code'. quite interesting.actually it threw light
on lot of things which are in haze in the main novel.i think this book would be a hit too once the movie hits the market.
lemme see if i can grab a copy. should be interesting
ahhhhh missing this, we will plan a trip to saldhana when i come in october......
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