[Other possible title: Children
of Heaven
The story originally published in Dainik
Asom Puja special magazine, published from Guwahati, in Assamese
language, titled as Krishna Gosain (Lord Krishna) October 2010. This is the first
story of the triptych Actor: Agony: Ecstasy]
1
CHARACTER
He was living a life
full of humiliation. Ratan, the little boy, wherever he went, whatever did- a
slap, a kick, a sight of negligence followed. It used to happen at any
corner in the village. For the villagers
he was just good for nothing. It was a matter of hearsay in the village, what a
miserable life he got!
Well, it is hard to
explain in few words, exactly how was Ratan. It would form an epic if I start
speaking of his deeds. His name itself was the first reason. He was Ratan, or
Ratnakanta. What a awkward name in present day context, whereas his classmates were
Madhurya-Mandit, Anuraag, Anubhav, Boidurya, Amlaan, Plavan, Gaurav, Simanta
and so on - beholders of such beautiful names. He was Ratnakanta. Nobody knew
who kept that ugly and backdated name for him. Secondly what mattered was his
physical appearance. A ‘tribal look’ (as the villagers used to say derogatorily)
was there in his cheek - face was like a half cut watermelon, and eyes were
seemed to be just wake up from a long sleep. If you see him in the morning, you
will definitely feel, alas! My day is ruined. Nobody had any accident after
seeing his face, nobody caught any disease after seeing his face; yet he was
nearly an ill-omen for the people in the village. The day he goes for a bottle
of mustered oil, the bottle breaks on the way. The morning he opens the door of
the pigeons’ cage that evening a tom-cat snatches a pigeon. If you send him to
take some eggs, you cannot expect the eggs in their exact form. Still, every
one sent him to work, to do something. Everyone from his own family, as well as
everyone in the village did the same. The boys in the crossroad, that keep
playing carom or ludo the entire day, they used to have a paan, a wills flake
or a ghutkha only if Ratan brought for them. And Ratan too had no
problem if someone sends him for a job. As if his life was worth living when he
could help someone.
It made Ratan's mother
upset if someone sends Ratan for some personal job. She shouted at him or her,
and seized as far as she could. After all she was his mother, how could a
mother tolerate the child’s insult? And what about Ratan’s study? Who were
Ratan’s classmates… it is hard to say now. Each and every day, all the teachers
uttered his name in every class. What could happen to one who fails in the same
class again and again, to exemplify the fact Ratan was the best name. In that
regard, Ratan was a popular name in the school. Almost famous.
If you sent him to the
shop, he never knew the correct amount of money, how much to return. He knew
Jack and Jill went up the hill, but why they went up to the hill and what
happened next he couldn’t recollect. If seven five is twelve, how can five
seven is twelve, Ratan couldn’t understand at all.
But in some particular
cases you would be surprised seeing the memory-skill of that same Ratan. He
never mistook, banana leaves should be cut from whose garden for which particular
occasion in the village. He knew the best. While singing a Bihu song, he never stopped
ever. In the time of Bhaona (or Ankiya Nat, the
traditional performance in my village), he memorized all the dialogues of other
actors, before the actors could learn by heart their own.. He sang well,
without forgetting any single syllable of it:
“…the Kadam
tree at the roadside is bowing down;
Shri Krishna plays his
flute climbing on that tree…”
That was the Ratan, I’m
going to talk about.
2
BACKGROUND
“This guy is an evil. He
will ruin our family reputation. He took birth for nothing.”
Bakuli Burhi (Old woman
Bakuli) was very sensitive about Ratan and Ratan’s activities (though anybody
hardly had the guts to call her as Bakuli Burhi in front of her). Some believed,
witnessing Ratan’s insults in the village Bakuli was actually happy enough.
Whatever it was, you would hear Ratan’s name in Bakuli Burhi’s mouth for more
than one time each day. That was for sure.
There was a single
partition between Bakuli’s courtyard and Ratan’s family. At some point of time
it was not there. There was a single
family. In the time of Ratan’s grandfather’s generation there were some fight,
and it was still continuing. Not a single drop of drinking water the both of
the families shared. If somebody screams at one side of the fence made up of
bamboo, there was no response from the other side. The distance between the two
sides of this partition was more than that of Afghanistan from America.
Still why Bakuli Burhi was
so sensitive about Ratan, nobody could understand. Perhaps in those last days
of life Bakuli Burhi was becoming more conscious about her family history.
Though there were two countries on the both sides of the single partition, the
family had one origin, how could one forget the fact? A mistake on the other side
could spoil the reputation of the family as a whole. That is why Bakuli Burhi
remained so upset about Ratan. Ratan was a curse for the family, thus thought
Bakuli Burhi. An ill omen, a fellow just good for nothing. “I usually don’t
talk about other people, but this boy will ruin our family, I can vouch for it.”
Bakuli Burhi used to say this sentence repeatedly. Mostly Bakuli Burhi said
about something and said, “I can vouch for it”, those things that Bakili Burhi vouched-
nobody could ever prove it wrong.
3
TIME
AND SPACE
Anhattali Gaon.
Only five days were left for the death anniversary
of saint Madhav Dev[i]. Yes, five days. It was the time to get festive.
Dadul was coming from the nearby village Banhattali to play the role of Bhima
and Ananya to dance as Shree Krishna. That seemed, the Bhaona this year would be
a good one for sure. Usually the people
of this village did not like the Bhaonas of that village, but
whenever some actors came to this village and performed, they did well. The
entire Bhaona took a new shape. But problem appeared somewhere else.
On the specific
auspicious day of Madhav Dav’s death anniversary, the people of this village
performed a Bhaona. Before the actual Bhaona begins, an one act short play
‘Bhojan
Bahar’ composed by Madhav Dev was being performed in the eve. It was an
age long practice. Nobody could recall exactly from when the villagers had been
playing Bhojan Bahar on this particular date of the year. Nothing on
earth could ever stop the villagers from performing this particular Bhaona,
be it flood, earthquake, emergency rule or ULFA strike. It was a rule written
nowhere, but never meant to be broken. The script of the core Bhaona
could be drawn from anywhere, from Mahabharata, Ramayana or any imaginary script
based on those two epics. Sometimes the main Bhaona appeared good - sometimes
bad, but the performance of the Bhojan Bahar turned always good.
Even if rehearsal did not take place properly, the Bhojan Bahar went always
perfect. That day Tarun, Jintu and some other guys go to the Padumani pool for
a Lotus flower. Jivan and Harakanta go for collecting the Banana leaves for the
auspicious occasions. women gather to pounder rice and make offering laddus
for the festival. For The whole year they awaited for this occasion. If you
once bow down your head at the time of this particular performance, your wish
would be fulfilled. This was the greatest auspicious moment that each and every
individual waited for.
Perhaps you know, or
don’t know, about Bhojan Bahar, the play by Madhav Dev. In this play Lord Shree Krishna
goes for a picnic with his friends, the Gopashishus, the children of Gokul. It
is full of fun and miraculous deeds of the Lord. Every child of this village desired
to appear as the children of Gokul, Vrindavan, Mathura. Who would refuse the
chance, if one gets a chance to dance with Shree Krishna, the Lord? All the
parents were excited to make their child a Gopashishu to dance with Lord Krishna.
If you had any wish in life, you could pray at this particular moment. It would
come true, that was the belief the villagers had. And surprisingly it happened.
After all at that very moment all the villagers prayed, the prayer of the mass
definitely have its own value. However, the moment a little baby starts walking,
the family starts dreaming of him dancing with Lord Krishna at the performance
of Bhojan
Bahar. (Actually this particular dream was applicable with the boys,
only they dance with the Lord Krishna. I know very little about the girl
children.)
4
THE STORY
This time a problem
appeared. It happened never before. Before saying about the problem, I should
tell you one more fact about the performance of Bhojan Bahar. Any body
from any family, without any concern of the race or caste or economic status could
take part in this performance. Nobody asked ever, that particular performer
belonged to which caste - was he from higher one or lower one. In this village,
no actor’s community was there. Anybody could perform. I have spoke about this
aspect several times in various places in the country. This was the pride of
the villagers. Nobody ever asked which caste it was that Bhima belonged to. And what about Duryodhana?
Was he a Brahmin or non-Brahmin? The villagers of this village only wanted to
see performance, who ever it could be. That performer could be a college-professor,
a bank-manager, a paan shop-keeper or
just anybody else.
But the case of Bhojan
Bahar was little different actually. Any child from any family could
appear as Gopashishu, and could dance, could play with Lord Krishna. But they
couldn’t become the Lord Krishna. Till the date children from the Gosain[ii]
family were playing the role of Lord Krishna. Yes, only a child from Gosain’s
family had the privilege of becoming the Lord Krishna. This time the son of Mathura Gosain was supposed to be the Krishna.
But lately he was not
well. All the villagers were tensed
as the little boy was in hospital
for last two nights. Gosain assured the
villagers that there was no need to panic,
the Gods would help them and the boy
would get well soon, only if the villagers prayed for him. But days were rolling,
and the boy couldn't revive at all. His health was deteriorating . Later we
came to know that a little boy from Mathura Gosain’s relatives was summoned
from the nearby district to play the Lord Krishna role. Most of the villagers were excited at this. Was
there any scarcity of a little boy in this village that could dance the dance
of Lord Krishna? Then why should we bring someone from outside for this
auspicious tradition? Yes, there was certainly a point. Other villagers were
okay with the decision. After all a tradition was a tradition, how could a
child from outside of the Gosain’s family dance the dance of Lord
Krishna? Yes, there also was a point.
Two days were remaining
for the auspicious occasion. Finally the decision was made, this time Krishna
dance would be performed by another guy, an ordinary boy, outside of the Gosain’s
family. But who would be that boy? Each and every child in this village knew
how to dance like Shree Krishna. They learnt how to perform when they were in
their mothers’ womb . All of them knew how to take a pause according to which
particular beat of orchestra. So it was hard to choose one. A charming boy was
needed to represent the Lord Krishna. Who would be the Krishna? The debate went
on. Today evening, the Namghar [iii](the
congregational hall, the meeting place and the performance arena) was full of
people. We never witnessed such a crowd in the time of rehearsal before. Days were
changing. People were no more farmers like old
days. The livelihood was changing its pattern and people got very less
time now days to engage in socio-cultural activities. If somebody got some
leisure time, mobile phones, televisions, computers killed most of that time. Today
was exceptional. We’re happy that the Namaghar was crowded after so many
years even in the time of rehearsal. Actually who would be the Lord Krishna,
the debate made everybody excited. In between the discussions, cleaning his
throat Harakanta spoke out, “Okay folks, suppose we decide that this time some
guy from any family, outside of the Gosain’s family, will be the Krishna.
But who will dare to come forward, that is also a question.” “Hey guys,” he
addressed the boys that was just taking a rest from dancing as Gopashishus,
“take your decision by yourselves. Let see who dares. Raise your hands. Whoever
is interested to dance as the Lord Krishna, whoever is confident enough to be
the Krishna, whoever thinks that – yeah, I can dance better than any other ,
raise hand. Let's see who has self-confidence. Raise your hand.”
All the boys remained
silent. Nobody came forward. No, it was not some sort of stage-fright. It was
something else, being Lord Krishna was not a matter of joke, and any silly
mistake could turn to a curse. It was not simply a matter of raising hand.
After a while of silence suddenly a boy raised his both hands and jumped and
shouted: “I’ll dance, I’ll dance, and I’ll be the Lord Krishna.”
All the villagers remained
stunned. Harakanta himself thought what a wrong announcement he made! Some
people laughed out at a large. Tapan was standing behind that boy who raised
hand. Tapan slapped the boy with his long right hand: “Keep quite idiot. Is it
a matter of joke for you to dance as the Lord Krishna?”
It was Ratan.
5
SUBTEXT
Atul was not feeling
good. Madhav Dev’s anniversary was coming in a few days, but presently he was
in a city far away from his own village. It was so far that he would not be
able to reach his village before the day of Bhaona, even if he
wishes. If you make a line to
horizontally divide the map of India, in one end was his village and on the
other end he was roaming around. Assam and Gujarat. “I don’t understand now,
why I took a decision to come Gujarat in the name of looking for a business!”
Atul repented.
When we talk about Atul,
it was neither an inspiring one. He was just running his family somehow and
other. The farming land he got from his father was also divided into two after
their joint family was divided. The grain he got out of it was not enough for
the year long. Neither was he a good farmer, so to speak. He had a keen
interest in ‘business’ from his childhood. His father was also a paan
shopkeeper. When he thought of a business, the paan shop came to his mind; most
people of this village did the same. But since he had some strong arguments
against his father, he didn’t continue the paan shop of his father. For a
couple of months he worked as an electrician, then started a business of a
restaurant, then joined a cloth store as a salesman, then started a business of
a travel agency and as nothing went well finally he pulled out the calendar-painting
of Lord Krishna (it was dark and dusty and obscure) from his father’s old paan
shop and putting some incense sticks in front of it he started another paan-shop
only.
Atul was an unfortunate
guy. Whatever business he started, it didn’t work. While he was in a restaurant
he noticed, people from this locality didn’t have a habit of having food
outside. It was a decent sub-urb, and nobody had the culture of having food
outside. When he was at a cloth store as a salesman, he noticed, the “shopping
culture” was not developed in the locality. People were used to wear the same
old baniyan until all the threads were separated. At the time of Bihu people
mostly bought Gamocha[iv]
(holy-towel) only. With those Gamochas imported from Hyderabad it
was hard to survive a business for whole the year. When he was in a travel
agency, he noticed, people of this locality, moved no where. There were many
people who spent the entire lives within the span of hardly twenty kilometers. Nobody
had any idea about – what is called luxury. All were happy enough with their
families, minimum needs of livelihood. People only moved from home if somebody
dies, or somebody gets married. And to attend a funeral ceremony or a marriage
ceremony, it was not necessary to rent a car or a van. So, Atul couldn’t run
his travel agency. And then remained the job of an electrician. If you would
throw a stone to the sky, wherever it falls there was an electrician. In each
and every family there was a jobless young guy, and that jobless guy started
practicing some electrical jobs. In such a condition how could one survive? As
a result, Atul came back to a paan shop. Whatever it was, people from our
village would have a paan, a piece of betel-nut for sure. If they didn’t buy
anything, at least the young jobless boys would place a regular set-up of carom
or ludo and turn it to a regular adda. In the name of that regular adda,
at least one customer he would get per day. If nothing sales, gutkha,
tiranga,
harpal
would sale definitely. “I’ll pay you later” saying such things the customer
might not appear that way anymore, yet a paan shop could survive.
Still Atul had faith on
himself; he could survive this way or the other. But his family life also was
not peaceful . The pain of seeing Bakuli Burhi’s face each morning on the other
side of the bamboo-made partition turned Atul’s life into a hell.
Oh! I haven’t told you
yet, Atul was Ratan’s father.
6
CONTEXT
A childhood friend of Atul
kept saying for long that surviving a business in that village was not possible
at all. To have an idea on business, one had to see the outer world. The friend
forced him a lot and with an enthusiasm of doing ‘something new’ Atul went to
Gujarat. If he had to see how business develops, if he had to see what is
called ‘work-culture’, he had to come to Gujarat. Spending whatever money he
had, Atul came to Gujarat.
In the first couple of months in Ahmedabad, Atul was doing
fine. He observed the market. But realized such market condition could not be
replicated in his village. Every place
had its uniqueness. And he had no interest in staying in Gujarat for life long
for the sake of starting a new business. Actually to be candid he liked nothing at first. For him, Gujarati
people didn’t even know what to eat, how to eat. But as day passed, he started
liking things. He noticed how people could dance at the time of Ganesh
Chaturthi even with an empty stomach. How in a narrow passage, (where
two Maruti car couldn’t overtake), people celebrated an entire marriage
ceremony.
All were fine. But the
death anniversary of Madhav Dev was coming; Bhaona was there in a couple
of days, how could he forget the fact?
Looking at the pot belly
of Ganesha Atul smiled. He had pity
for people who were bound to have a marriage in a narrow passage. Looking at
the Jay Ambe being seated on a tiger; Atul thought, who was that Goddess? Whose
icon it might be? He had never seen before.
One day his friend took
him to visit a town named Baroda. He saw a huge crowd on the street that day.
He saw a huge number of students from the Faculty of Fine Arts with slogans.
Atul was never interested in any political gathering. But that day he found something
interesting. He heard them singing on the street, “Din dahare angan mein tere machi hain kaisi hulchul, jaago re manwa
jagna hoga aaj nahin toh kal”. He found, it was a song as if vary familiar
to him. He stopped a while and listened to it.
Out of curiosity he
asked, why so many people were on the street.
Some student painted the
Gods and Goddesses nude. Some other people claimed it obscene and reported the
cops. . Atul was surprised a lot. As if people had no other job to do! Why one
draws the God nude, why other people are concern so much he had no idea.
Somebody was put to jail, somebody was suspended from the university, and some others
were shouting at the streets… the whole series of events seemed to be a funny for
Atul.
That night, lying on the
bed, Atul was into deep thoughts. Exactly how the God looks like? Atul’s father
(that means Ratan’s grandpa) kept an age-old picture of Shree Krishna in the
old paan shop. Perhaps it was a picture cut out of a calendar. Smoke of regular
incense sticks made it dark, almost murky. Atul didn’t continue that paan shop,
but, later on when he started a new paan shop, he pulled out that particular
picture from dumped garbage. Till now, he used to light a lamp and pray in
front of that particular picture only. After putting lamps and incense sticks
in front of the picture for so many years, the picture was literally buried
with smoke, dust and ashes. Nobody could recall how originally the picture
looked like. Neither Atul knew. Today only he suddenly remembered that picture.
He put lamps, bowed down, prayed in front of it regularly, but never looked
closely at it. So he didn’t know exactly how the picture was. If you asked how
your God looks like, to whom you pray regularly, he would have no answer. That
night, he thought a while; in fact nobody in our village was ever concerned
about how the God looked like! But simultaneously, everybody knew how the God
looked like. Lord Shree Krishna was blue skinned. He had a feather of peacock
on forehead. Lower costume was yellow colored, a flute was in hand. But nothing
was clear, blue meant what sort of blue? Only one picture he could remind
clearly when he reminded the Krishna of the Bhaona, a young boy from
his village with heavy make-up, dancing with the beat of Khol[v]
played by the Bayan[vi].
Finally he got a picture, however! But the God in his memory had no resemblance
to the visual depiction in his surroundings. Even the picture in the calendar
did not match. Once he saw Jagannath
of Orissa, it was different. Some Gods from southern India he saw, they were
different. The north Indian women wearing choli and ghagra never resembled
with the Yashoda or Radha of his imagination. That night
Atul felt restless. He couldn’t sleep at all. He missed the Madhav Dev’s
anniversary and the Bhaona of his village.
He recalled about Ratan.
Ratan used to sing a song very nicely: “Don’t climb the trunk of the Kadamba tree, Krishna,
the trunk is very fragile…”. Atul laughed, as if the God was an
ordinary naughty boy of his neighborhood! How fragile could a tree trunk be to harm
the supreme God?
Atul cared a lot about
Ratan. All the villagers used to laugh at the little boy for no reason. The boy
was ignorant in many ways. Only God knows when he would be matured enough! When
Atul was about to leave his home for Gujarat, Ratan was arrogant. Atul
regretted that he slapped Ratan just before making his journey..
Atul made his presence
in the village in many ways. In the time of Bhaona, he knew, the
villagers also would remind him a lot. In a play drawn from Mahabharat, he used
to play the role of Nakul or Sahadev. He most often played a role
of Rhishi-muni,
holy saints, in imaginary plays. Once or twice he played the role of Parvati
also, he beautifully could dance. He was ever an inseparable part of the Bhaona
of the village. He had a wish in mind, he never told to others, that he wanted
to become Bhima or Bali or Sugriva at least once. Remembering
all these things he was caressing his own chest in pain..
Among his endless random
thoughts, one thought appeared in his mind again and again, how the Lord Krishna
exactly looked like? Did he looked like the elder son of Keshav-master, like
Sunil from Gosain’s family, like Dadul from Bhir-gaon, like Tarun from
Jamugurihat, like the calendar-picture that nobody ever looked closely, like a
photograph that people put on the roadside (so that passengers do not spit or
urine there), like the picture the controversial student of Faculty of Fine
Arts made? Or like what? Like what? How many options do we have to think of it? Whatever it was, recalling the fact that Bhaona
was coming very close, Atul realized, it made no sense to stay so far away from
home in a time like that. The very next day he booked a ticket and jumped into
the train.
On the way, when he was
in train he got a phone call. He heard, this time no child from the Gosain’s
family was going to dance as Krishna, but a boy from an ordinary family, from
any ordinary caste. Who was that boy? Nobody else, it was Ratan, a boy that was
“good for nothing”. Ratan, ratnakanta, Atul’s son!
7
CLIMAX
The peculiar characteristic of Ahanttoli village was
that, whatever problem occurs, the celebration of Madhav Dev’s death
anniversary or the Bhojan Bahar performance took place with its own grandiosity.
Nobody ever dreamt that Ratan, that “good for
nothing” fellow would dance Shree Krishna so elegantly. After dancing a while,
Shree Krishna came to the Manikut[vii]
(the main shrine) and sat with a fan in hand and was waiting for a cup of tea.
Tea was taking time, so Shree Krishna put a piece of betel-nut in his mouth. At
that time one by one all the villagers came to Lord Krishna and touched his
feet and prayed. He was no more a human being today, he was the God. But the God
was in a trouble, after chewing betel-nut he wanted to spit. So many people
were at his feet that he could not stand up and go out. He showed his “abhaya
mudra” and blessed all. Then there came Bakuli Burhi also. She lied
down on his feet and started weeping. She prayed: “all the living beings are sleeping in “maya”, you are the only
Chaitanya Sanatana, the eternal spirit, keep me awake…” Ratan understood
nothing. He blessed. By the time one little event took place. Ratan saw his
father Atul appeared there. Atul came and lied down on his feet. Ratan could
not believe his own eyes. Lord Krishna swallowed the chewed betel-nut and
blessed all the villagers.
8
EPILOGUE
The sun was rising to the head, but Ratan was still
in his bed. It was quite obvious a scene in the next morning of the Bhaona. People
enjoyed the Bhaona for night long. Ratan’s mother called him several times, but
he was too tired that morning.
Tamuli Uncle came. Tamuli Uncle’s elder son died for
some unknown disease caused by local liquor. Today was his tenth
day-funeral-ceremony. Tamuli Uncle asked Atul, “What happened, I am not seeing
Ratan”. Atul came to Ratan’s bed and put a forced slap on Ratan’s cheek, “Wake
up idiot! Have you forgotten that today’s Tamuli Uncle’s elder son funeral
ceremony Who will collect the banana
leaves, wasn’t it your responsibility? Wake up, idiot, good for nothing fellow!”
THE END
Notes:
BIHU:
Bihu is the mostly celebrated ‘national’ festival in Assam. Actually it is
celebrated three times in a year, but, the spring one is the most important. It
is full of songs and dances.
Bhaona
or Ankiya Nat: is a traditional
theatre form formed by Srimanta Shankardev. Bhaona is one of the most long
lasting traditional Indian theatre arts, from the fifteenth century till now.
Shankardev established “Eksharan Bhagavati Vaishnav” religious practice in the
land and united people from all the castes through cultural activities.
Madhav
Dev is the disciple of Shankardev and
contemporary. Madhav Dev was fully devoted to his acts of social reformation,
religious practices and cultural acticities and he never married. Most of
Madhav Dev’s composition describes the beauty and deeds of Lord Shree Krishna.
His poetic excellence beyong any comparision.
Bhojan
Bahar is a one act play by Madhav Dev, that
narrates a playful event of Shree Krishna going out for a picnic.
Gosain,
is a higher caste in Assamese social life, the caste of religious priests.
Namghar,
is the prayer hall, congregational hall and performance arena in an Assamese
village. The Assamese Vaishnav temple, it is structurally quite different from
the other Indian temples.
Gamocha,
a hand-loomed decorative towel. It is mostly used piece of cloth in day to day
lives, as well as having some religious contexts. This cloth is multi-purposed.
It could be a holy-offering, gift of love, costume for dance or just a piece of
cloth for regular use.
Khol,
is the holy musical instrument, two sided drum, played by the Vaishnavs.
Bayan
is he who plays the khol. The orchestra of Bhaona is made up og Gayan (the
singer) and the Bayan (the instrument player). The gayan and the bayan recieve
the most respect in the village.
Manikut:
is the main shrine of Namghar architectural structure.
Madhav Dev is the disciple of Shankardev
and contemporary. Madhav Dev was fully devoted to his acts of social
reformation, religious practices and cultural acticities and he never married.
Most of Madhav Dev’s composition describes the beauty and deeds of Lord Shree
Krishna. His poetic excellence beyong any comparision.
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