Aging Angel

With wonder in my eyes I kept looking at her beauty blossoming in her teenage. I still remember her coy face and a blush sweeping across it. And her eyes full of dreams are still lingering in deep recesses of my mind. However, millions waves have risen and fallen on the ocean of time since then. I cannot help averting my eyes from her when in a vain she tries to obliterate the indelible lines drawn by time on her ephemeral body- the body that has housed plenty of loves and yielded with thanksgiving shining stars of dark nights of love.

English Language Teasing

Gambhirsinh, a very gullible rustic guy, recently caught a whim of learning the English language. Therefore, he visited several English classes and decided to join the one called Jai Ambe English Classes, which seemed to suit him.
On his first day in the class after paying all fees he took a seat in the front row and struggled hard, but in vain, to comprehend what the teacher was speaking in English. When other students noticed trace of discomfiture on Gambhirsinh’s face, they offered to translate the teacher’s talk and he became happy to hear everything in his mother tongue. While this private conversation in students’ mother tongue was going on, the teacher had a disdainful look at the group and consequently the group understood tacitly that the use of any language other than English was not welcome. So they stopped talking and resumed listening to the teacher intently.
After some time the teacher gave them a passage to read and asked them to answer the questions printed below the passage. Everybody was going through the passage easily but Gambhirsinh was wrestling with the text. His writhing movements drew the teacher’s attention to him and the teacher asked him, ‘Gambhirsinh, is there anything that requires my help?’. And Gambhirsinh responded, ‘Sir, please tell me the meaning of ‘baboon’’. ‘Any of a genus (Papio) of large gregarious primates of Africa and south-western Asia having a long square naked muzzle; also : any of several closely related primates,’ was the teacher’s answer, which caused more bewilderment to Gambhirsinh as he was an utter novice in learning the English language. The meaning of ‘baboon’ given by the teacher included a good number of words that Gambhirsinh had never come across. He asked the teacher, ‘But what is ‘genus’?’ And to his dismay, the teacher pontificated, ‘As you know this is an English class so it has no room for use of any other language except English. I’m not expected to explain to you things in your mother tongue, neither is any of the students here. I suggest you look up unfamiliar words in this dictionary.’ He passed him a bulky dog-eared dictionary.
Gambhirsinh felt a little embarrassed. However, he looked up the word ‘genus’ in the dictionary. It said: a class, kind, or group marked by common characteristics or by one common characteristic. Obviously, this was vague and did not make much sense to Gambhirsinh. He had a long list of words whose meaning he did not know and so wanted to ask the teacher but the teacher’s recommendation to consult a dictionary deterred him. As the teacher further went on giving an academic talk in English, Gambhirsinh’s mind was besieged by a very fundamental question: am I going to learn the English language in this way? But he did not have guts to ask anything.
The next day before coming to the class, Gambhirsinh had decided to speak his mind. He approached his teacher in private, summoning all his courage he spoke, ‘Sir, I request you to explain some things in my mother tongue. You know my English is very poor.’ The teacher answered him, ‘You know that we guarantee complete mastery of the English language after the completion of the course. And I hold a PhD in English from an “English” university. So nobody can stop you from learning English.’ These words silenced Gambhirsinh and he went back to his seat.
Two months passed but Gambhirsinh was not making any progress. English remained just as distant a possibility to him as ever. Now he really began to regret his decision and wanted the fees back. Utterly frustrated he met the teacher in private and demanded the fees back. On hearing this demand the teacher grimaced cunningly and said, ‘As you now that according to the policy of Jai Ambe English Classes, fees once paid can never be returned in any condition.’ ‘But your teaching is useless for me. I don’t think I’m going to learn English in this way.’ Then the teacher had a placatory smile and spoke, ‘Trust God, there’s no wave that does not reach the shore. If you have a strong desire, nobody can stop you learning English.’ This utterance injected temporary hope and transient enthusiasm in Gambhirsinh’s mind. Poor Gambhirsinh went back to his seat.
At home also he was making an ardent effort to learn English by reading English books, listening to BBC radio and watching English films. When he was in the classroom, he asked his teacher to tell him meanings of some words that he encountered in his reading and that were not given in his dictionary. There descended a formidable hush in the whole classroom and the teacher scrutinised Gambhirsinh and said, ‘A meaning does not lie in a dictionary; a meaning of a word does not lie in translation nor in explanation. The meaning of a word lies in constant interaction between the reader and the text.’ This made Gambhirsinh gobsmacked. He said, ‘Sir, sorry. I did not understand anything of what you have said.’ There was no answer from the teacher but sheer indifference on the teacher’s face.
The next day, Gambhirsinh was hell-bent on taking his fees back. He met the teacher and demanded the fees back. The teacher told him, ‘There can be many reasons for not being able to learn English. Some of them have been listed in this pamphlet. You might as well go through them.’ Gambhirsinh started reading the pamphlet. ‘First, you cannot learn English because you do not believe in patience. Second, none of your parents is of English origin. Third, you might have committed some sins in your past, which prevents you from learning English. Fourth, you cannot learn English because you have never been to England. Fifth, your dislike for English culture can also be responsible for your not being able to learn English. Sixth your teacher is not English.’ After going through these strange reasons for not being able to learn English, Gambhirsinh became more fuddled. When he vociferously demanded his money back, the teacher motioned at an office-boy and the office-boy started rubbing a stone on a brick. Pointing his finger at this bizarre thing, the teacher said, ‘Look at him.’ Gambhirsinh asked, ‘What’s he doing?’ The teacher answered, ‘He is trying to make a mirror of the brick by rubbing it. How long do you think it will take him?’ Gambhirsinh said, ‘The brick is not going to become a mirror, even though he keeps rubbing and polishing it for all his life.’ Then the teacher grinned and said, ‘Now you got me. You are a brick. And I can’t transform you into a mirror, however hard I rub you. A babul tree never bears mangos. You cursed soul...! You are genetically engineered in such a way that you can never learn the English language.’

Pigs

It was a sizzling summer afternoon in an Indian village. A group of five pigs was wandering in the street probing in search of food. They were all scavenging through heaps of trash in order to get some food but their luck did not seem to favour them. They walked a good deal of distance but they could not get anything to eat. Their hunger had divested them of their energy and the scorching sun made it very difficult for them to go on walking on the street for food. Nevertheless, they did not lose hope and perseverance. Ultimately their perseverance paid and they got hold of rice that was discarded near a lamp-post.
All pigs started eating rice and as a result all rice was eaten up in no time. However, they were still hungry, so they went on looking for some more food. One of the pigs saw a house whose door was ajar. He went there and entered the house and the other pigs followed suit. By chance, the place where they all entered was a kitchen, where was a good amount of food lying on the floor. They all started gobbling down the food, while the people in the house were having a siesta. One of the pigs stepped on a bowl that was lying empty on the floor; the bowl bounced and rattled, waking up the owner of the house. The owner went to the direction of the noise and on reaching the kitchen he found five pigs engrossed in savouring the food. The owner closed the front door quietly and hurried to the back door and latched it as well. Now the pigs were caught inside the kitchen but they were so much lost in eating the food that it took them some time to realize that they were confined in the kitchen. Then they started banging their heads on the door.
The owner of the house called a squad that catches stray animals. The squad arrived and cast a net outside the back door of the kitchen and opened the door. In the blink of an eye, all of the pigs got sprawling in the net. The squad brought all the ends of the net together, tied them and carried all the pigs into a lorry that they had come in and drove away. The owner of the house became happy because he had got relieved of the menace.
The lorry arrived in a wilderness; the lorry pulled up and a man sitting inside it opened the door. Another man hauled the cage out of the lorry onto the ground. Then he opened the cage; freed all the pigs from the net. The pigs, who were very apprehensive, jumped for joy and ran wildly here and there. The lorry purred away.
One man in the lorry said to the man who was driving the lorry, ‘Poor pigs! They must be enjoying themselves now that they are free.’
‘I can see the resemblance between man’s concept of freedom and animals’, but I think both of them have failed to perceive the greater and subtler freedom that pervades a cage’, said the driver.
These words sent all the squad thinking.
The pigs, who were now enjoying their freedom, were walking together to a pond to quench their thirst. A sweet fragrance of some strange flowers permeated the area they were walking in. They thanked their luck for getting them out of the trouble. However, a growl of a wolf petrified them and suddenly a gang of eight wolves emerged before them. The pigs bolted in panic. The wolves started chasing them. Even though the desire to live had enabled the pigs to run faster than usual, two wolves managed to catch one of the pigs. The wolves started mauling the pig and other six wolves were running after the rest of four pigs. One wolf duh its nail deep into the pig’s stomach and the other wolf bit the pig’s ear off. Seeing this one pig rushed to the wounded pig to rescue it. This pig started mauling the wolves that were attacking the pig. The other wolves came to the spot and fought the two pigs violently. The wolves tore two pigs’ stomachs open and started chewing their intestines.
The life, which encouraged these pigs to run away and fight their enemies, disappeared like a flame that surrenders to strong wind. Now, all the wolves, leaving the dead pigs on the ground, ran to the three pigs. Two wolves caught one pig; the other three caught the other pig and the other three wolves charged at the remaining pig that was trying to hide in a dense bush. Their fight stirred up so much dust that nothing was visible except dust hovering in the air. A pall of dust shrouded the place, as death blindfolds its prey. Nothing could be perceived except growl of wolves and cry of pigs. After some time the pigs became silent as the sea that went wild once becomes silent in the end. The pall of dust became thin and gradually disappeared. The wolves had a howl of victory; the pall of dust cleared.
The ground was wet not with rain but with pigs’ blood. Limbs of the pigs were scattered on the ground. Near the carcasses there stood some of the wolves whose eyes glittered with innocence as confirming their conviction that they had done nothing wrong and the wolves whose faces radiated with blessed ignorance as if they did not know what they had done.
Is it the hunger or the belief that one is different from other that causes one to kill?
Heeren Bhatt, MSU Baroda.

26th Jan,2009

The moment when you were walking by me and marching like a tide, your eyes drifting from one object to the other like a butterfly, your smile disarming me and infusing a novel type of enthusiasm in my soul are the moments when I lived centuries in every single moment.
Yes, dear, my being with you was my being in an eternal peace and bliss.
When I stood by you I stood by the brook of life humming its own song to itself; when i walked by you I walked by the time. Thus time stopped for me and I found myself flying in a silent moment of eternity. Ultimately no word escaped my lips except- Kai nahi khali bas emaj......!
It is virtually impossible to fathom the meaning of the blissful moment I've lived with you. Therefore I can forgive people for their calling all this meaningless chatter..........
but at least you, yeah dear you, CAN understand it all.
12:10 p.m.
26th January, 2009.
Heeren