INDIAN SOJOURNER

SOJOURNER OF INDIA

Akilash and Akai where  packing their bags for trip to their native land –  Kakori, Lucknow, India.  They were living in Nottinghamshire, England. Their parents have promised to take them to their mother land once, and failed again and again because of their industrious schedules. This time the brothers where off age and understood their parents ineffectualness and started to plan their trip.  Money was not a big criteria, so the travel, stay, everything was arranged in a jiff.

They departed from England airport to capital of India, Delhi. The flight journey was comfortable, with savoury dishes (which they lavishly tasted and wasted), radiant terrain, and endearing air hostess service. Akilash and Akai kept their first step in Indian soil... uhmm, street with a background music   of “YEH DESH HAI MERA” echoing in  bollywood style, demoing the true emotion of pride and patriotism.  Their mama – Ranchan have come to receive them. Since it was mid-night Akilash and Akai missed the mundane traffic jam of Delhi roads.

Akilash “ Mama, Amma told Indian roads will be shabby, not well structured, but  I am seeing a well organised lanes and good infrastructures around, it is equivalent to our city back”.

Ranchan “Beta yeh election ka season hai, sab kuch acha lagtha hai !”

Akai “what season?  Election and climate season, mama, I can’t get you.”

Ranchan “Its election time, political party will do good things to public now”.

Akilash “But they would be doing this throughout their ruling period, what's so special now?”

Ranchan “heri baiyo Ye India hai, here everything will happen only during election time, still now I can’t understand, you are too young and alien to understand, leave this matter. You have come here, if the road is nice enjoy the ride, if it is bad just adjust, okay”.

 Ranchan mama's 3-BHK apartment was very comfortable to live in, they had yummy desi butter parathas, kheer, milk sweets and chaval to their tummy’s content and went for local site seeing. Ranchan mama has arranged a local tourist taxi to take them around Delhi. They visited Qutb Minar, Humayun’s Tomb, Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Rajghat, and finally shopped at chandini chowk.

Akilash “ Is there any food court nearby, where we can taste special eatables of  Delhi bahaiya”.

Taxi Raja “Ya we have a very good one near buy, will take you”.

With the help of taxi driver guidance they tasted -  Golgappe, Aloo-Tikki and  Dahi-Papri.

Akai “ Dude we had so much, still the bill amount is low!”

Taxi Raja “ Dilli dilwalon ka shehr hai bai, Indian people are kind hearted, they won’t tax much for food, if we were rich our country will provide free food to all”.

Akilash “ Ya, I know, that is why people became lazy, and started begging from door to door”.

Akai “ RAJA hindhustani please show me a place to piss off, its urgent”.

 Raja looks here and there and ask Akai to follow him. He goes to nearby alley and show a big wall and sign to the boys “ yeha pe kar lo jaldhe”.

Akai see the big yellow wall and various wet marks over “stick no bills” “don't litter here” closing his nose he runs back to Akilash with confusion.

Akai “Hey I want to piss this nut is showing a weird place, you ask him to show a toilet place.”

Akilash “Raja, he wants to urinate, can you show a restroom.”

Raja “ I understand, masters urgency, that is why I showed him a best place, no one will see, no need to be shy, hare ek adme ko atha hai”.

Akilash “ No, Raja we should not urinate here, it a public place take us to nearby toilet or restroom”

Raja to himself “restroom ke liya railway station jana hoga, pay and use toilet tho 5 km dhor hai”.

After 10 – 15 minutes of drive they spotted a pay and use toilet, and successfully accomplished the mission. 

Akilash “ Raja, thumara dilwalon ka shehr charges two-rupees for natures call ? And two – rupees for golgapa too?”

Raja “ That is why asked you to piss off there itself, you just wasted a half a plate of golgapa sir ji”.

 Next day they boarded a train from Delhi to Kakori, in Lucknow. It was a passenger train, the brothers where sitting in a first-class chair car, with considerable descent co-passenger. Just opposite to them a family was sitting, the kids were unstoppably munching foods, popcorns, chips, biscuit, chats, bhel... in the afternoon the mother provided lunch to the kids in well packed foil paper, the smell of the food dragged Akai's attention and he unknowingly peeped at the kids.

Mother “ hai, are you hungary? Have some. I have packed a lot, we all can share and have”.

Akai looked at this astonished elder bro.

The mother forced two parcel of food on their hands, and ordered “paratha garam-a-garm he, jaldhi kavo”. The lady forced them to have two more helpings, the brother's where spell bounded by her hospitality and eat her delicious food, remembering their mom.

Akilash “ Aunty thank you so much for the delicious food and your hospitality”.

Mother “ oh don't be too formal, you two are also just like my son, there is nothing great about   sharing two parathas with you.” and she got busy forcing her young ones to eat more.

 Mother “what are you looking for Akilash, what do you want?”

Akilash “ Aunty I was looking for a trash to throw this foil papers”.

Mother “Oh just open the window and throw it out”.

Akilash “Aunt train is over the river bridge, we can’t throw waste in river”.

The mother unexpectedly took the waste parcel form Akilash’s hand and threw it into the river “hare, in Kashi they throw dead bodies, believing that they will attain mukthi, let this foil paper also attain mukthi through our hands”.

Thunderstruck Akilash and Akai looked at the aunty's children  who followed their divine mother.

  They got down in Kakori, which produced hundreds of civil servants during British India; from here their family tree branched to Nottinghamshire, England. Kakori is famous for its mangoes, kebabs, palatial houses of Muslim gentry of Oudh and numerous mosques. The town is the seat of the Qadiria Qalandaria Sufi order and the Urs- feast attracts thousands every year. This year too it was   crowded  streets and walls were cleaned, with border line of pan-masalsa sputum; streets  illuminated with lamps, on the expense of power shut down in nearby residences; posters and banners added to the decoration, and ended up in as monument after few days; roads were blocked for celebration, and stupefied the routine traffic; audio effects enchanted the festival mood, deafened the local residences; still it’s the festival season, without chaos how celebration is possible? The brothers enjoyed and digested the typical Indian festival excitement and celebration of the locals and boarded the train back to Delhi, the same night.

Akai, woke Akilash who was sleeping in the upper birth of the train. Akilash was the panicked to see Akai's face, and enquired what happened. Akai pointed his fingers to the train window.

The site Akilash watched churned his heart. In the far corner of the station platform, a lady was reaching a trash bin, and feeding her infant with left overs.  He thought of the, rich paratha severed by his aunty, hospitality of the stranger in the train, surplus food severed in the Urs-festival, and few minutes back the food parcel thrown by his brother and him, tears rolled down his eyes.

 They flew back to UK, and whenever food was severed to him, the picture of the poor lady near the trash can flashed across his memory.

Akilash’s Mom “I don't know what happened to our kids, they have changed a lot after visiting India.”

Akilash’s Dad fingers crossed “ hope in a good way”.

Akilash Mom “Honey, I am serious, I have noticing they don't even wasted a grain served in their plate, the other day I saw them sharing a single pack of chips... there is no half finished cool drink cans, and strange of all I am seeing brochures of various asylums, orphanage, NGO'S charitable services all over the world, collected and kept in Akilash cupboard.

From the upstair through Akai's room, they here a auidio song “Hum logon ko samaj sako to samjo dilbarjani , jitna bi tum samjoge utni hogi harani ...”