Even though Yadavji comes from Eastern UP, he has completely assimilated into ethos of a Garhwali village. When the UP state was divided every government employee was offered a choice to revert to his parent state, Yadavji, for some strange reason chose to stay on in this remote village. Yadavji is a teacher in local school, teaches Hindi. Since there is a paucity of teachers therefore, he teaches Hindi from class 5 to class 12. He has a personality that is strikingly different from other villages therefore makes him conspicuous. His clothes are in the style of sixties, loose trouser and loose shirt, half tucked in half dangling out, zip never fully employed. Nobody in the village had any complaint against him.
Teachers in school are paid good salaries, some 70 K every month and then there is provision for other benefits like pension and health facilities etc. This compensation is very good even for towns where the needs are more but from village perspective it is handsome. Other teachers wear modern clothes, generally live in style commensurate with the payment they receive form the government, they don’t live in village but travel back and forth from a town, Kotdwar nearby. Yadavji’s expenditure is hardly Rs. 700 to Rs. 1000 not more, he lives in a room in our own village rented for Rs 200 a month. The unused salary he probably sends back home. Yadavji has no addiction, no cigarette, liquor or tobacco and attitude to work is an example for the villagers. He gets up early at 4 in the morning, lights candle in temple, waters the flowers etc, all this has gradually become his responsibility. Even after living so many years in the village Yadavji cannot speak Garhwali but this is no handicap for him in dealing with day to day life.
I hope you get the general picture. Yadavji is not very bright also not focused on personal appearance but he is hardworking, sincere and conducts appropriately with villagers; these attributes endear villagers therefore Yadavji is held high in their esteem as a result Yadavji is invited to all social activities of surrounding villages, marriages, bhajan-kiirtans, tyohaar etc and generally considered one of their own and not outsider.
Early spring is chilly at my village but provides nirvana moments when the sun rises and allows you to sit and soak its warmth applying 'Nariyal ka tel' on cracking skin. I was in the temple, it was about 10:00, taking in the March Sun. Temple, apart from its functional uses, also serves as a 'chaupal' , a place for assembly/gathering and gossiping ‘aDDa’. As usual a couple of village fellows were around and supply of tea of questionable quality was in regular circulation. Temple in our village sits in the center as well as at the bottom of the valley therefore villagers can know what is going on in the temple. Only the day before there was a marriage in adjacent village, Malyaan and the baraat had departed in the afternoon so still a lot of ‘mehmaan’ (guests) who had come for the marriage were loitering around, living out the nostalgia of their childhood. So, it was a usual uneventful day nothing to keep for lasting memories until unusual happened....
Then we saw a grim-faced party of about ten fellows purposefully walking towards us. As soon as they came, they began talking to the guy who was responsible for construction of the temple and known by the sobriquet ‘Mahant’ and like me visits village off and on. They were speaking rapidly and in rustic Garhwali which I was not able to comprehend. After a while, this fellow explained to me what has happened …
The day before a village lady of Malyaan had caught Yadavji surreptitiously stealing salwar hanged out to dry after wash. She was a gutsy lady, questioned Yadavji vigorously and also informed men folks of her village. Caught red handed, Yadavji made some excuses not very convincing but for the moment he was let off. The thing is, disappearing of ladies’ lower garments was happening for some time but this thing was known to women folks only, men were not aware of anything of this sort happening. Later in the evening two boys saw Yadavji carrying a bulging sack to the hilltop at the back of his house, again surreptitiously with the purpose of disposing it’s content in the wilderness. However, the boys informed elders who in turn confronted Yadavji. It turned out that the sack was packed to the brim with ladies' lower garments. An investigation of his room revealed another bag also packed full of similarly stolen garments. Since it was already dark by the time the discovery was made, the matter was left for the morning to be dealt with. The crowd appeared to me in very angry mood, this was a rank betrayal of faith; if not lynching and maiming they would certainly break this guy’s limbs.
I have always lived my life as an observer, avoided being the actor or instigator or councilor; even in school and college I always chose corner at the end of the class to sit and if I knew the answer to a question asked by the teacher/professor I would not raise my hand even if nobody else knew the answer I would still not raise hand lest spotlight fell on me. Here these fellows had put me in a fix, pushed me into an unfamiliar territory.So I told these agitated folks, ‘I will get this fellow down here and then we will sort this out!’
I walked some thirty forty steps and then yelled out for Yadavji. I could see him up there in 'baniyaan' and trouser doing some domestic chores. He gestured with both hands, meaning ‘OK I am coming down.’ So I waited for him, when he came down I told him, “Don’t speak a word”. At the temple, he stood like a child taking in assault of angry villagers one by one speaking not word. After half an hour the fellows had spent most of their anger seemed amenable to less violent suggestion, so I said, ‘Yadavji, clearly you are sick, you need counselling’ The suggestion appealed to some but rejected by others. Another round of shouting growling ensued for fifteen minutes after which to every one’s surprise Yadavji said, “Ab Khatam Karo” ( 'End this now'). He didn’t look repentant, refused to apologize to the ladies.
So, in the end it turned out that under the soft exterior, Yadavji is really a tough nut whereas all the aggression of villagers was just hot air. Finally, Yadavji was ordered to leave the village. As chance had it, he was going on vacation for a month, when he came back, he shifted his base to another village on the other side of school, not falling in our ‘Panchayat’ (consisting of five villages).
So, villagers talked about this episode for next ten days ….until a fellow stone drunk slipped off the slope of hill and broke his legs. Then the talk shifted to this injured man. . ..
Teachers in school are paid good salaries, some 70 K every month and then there is provision for other benefits like pension and health facilities etc. This compensation is very good even for towns where the needs are more but from village perspective it is handsome. Other teachers wear modern clothes, generally live in style commensurate with the payment they receive form the government, they don’t live in village but travel back and forth from a town, Kotdwar nearby. Yadavji’s expenditure is hardly Rs. 700 to Rs. 1000 not more, he lives in a room in our own village rented for Rs 200 a month. The unused salary he probably sends back home. Yadavji has no addiction, no cigarette, liquor or tobacco and attitude to work is an example for the villagers. He gets up early at 4 in the morning, lights candle in temple, waters the flowers etc, all this has gradually become his responsibility. Even after living so many years in the village Yadavji cannot speak Garhwali but this is no handicap for him in dealing with day to day life.
I hope you get the general picture. Yadavji is not very bright also not focused on personal appearance but he is hardworking, sincere and conducts appropriately with villagers; these attributes endear villagers therefore Yadavji is held high in their esteem as a result Yadavji is invited to all social activities of surrounding villages, marriages, bhajan-kiirtans, tyohaar etc and generally considered one of their own and not outsider.
Early spring is chilly at my village but provides nirvana moments when the sun rises and allows you to sit and soak its warmth applying 'Nariyal ka tel' on cracking skin. I was in the temple, it was about 10:00, taking in the March Sun. Temple, apart from its functional uses, also serves as a 'chaupal' , a place for assembly/gathering and gossiping ‘aDDa’. As usual a couple of village fellows were around and supply of tea of questionable quality was in regular circulation. Temple in our village sits in the center as well as at the bottom of the valley therefore villagers can know what is going on in the temple. Only the day before there was a marriage in adjacent village, Malyaan and the baraat had departed in the afternoon so still a lot of ‘mehmaan’ (guests) who had come for the marriage were loitering around, living out the nostalgia of their childhood. So, it was a usual uneventful day nothing to keep for lasting memories until unusual happened....
Then we saw a grim-faced party of about ten fellows purposefully walking towards us. As soon as they came, they began talking to the guy who was responsible for construction of the temple and known by the sobriquet ‘Mahant’ and like me visits village off and on. They were speaking rapidly and in rustic Garhwali which I was not able to comprehend. After a while, this fellow explained to me what has happened …
The day before a village lady of Malyaan had caught Yadavji surreptitiously stealing salwar hanged out to dry after wash. She was a gutsy lady, questioned Yadavji vigorously and also informed men folks of her village. Caught red handed, Yadavji made some excuses not very convincing but for the moment he was let off. The thing is, disappearing of ladies’ lower garments was happening for some time but this thing was known to women folks only, men were not aware of anything of this sort happening. Later in the evening two boys saw Yadavji carrying a bulging sack to the hilltop at the back of his house, again surreptitiously with the purpose of disposing it’s content in the wilderness. However, the boys informed elders who in turn confronted Yadavji. It turned out that the sack was packed to the brim with ladies' lower garments. An investigation of his room revealed another bag also packed full of similarly stolen garments. Since it was already dark by the time the discovery was made, the matter was left for the morning to be dealt with. The crowd appeared to me in very angry mood, this was a rank betrayal of faith; if not lynching and maiming they would certainly break this guy’s limbs.
I have always lived my life as an observer, avoided being the actor or instigator or councilor; even in school and college I always chose corner at the end of the class to sit and if I knew the answer to a question asked by the teacher/professor I would not raise my hand even if nobody else knew the answer I would still not raise hand lest spotlight fell on me. Here these fellows had put me in a fix, pushed me into an unfamiliar territory.So I told these agitated folks, ‘I will get this fellow down here and then we will sort this out!’
I walked some thirty forty steps and then yelled out for Yadavji. I could see him up there in 'baniyaan' and trouser doing some domestic chores. He gestured with both hands, meaning ‘OK I am coming down.’ So I waited for him, when he came down I told him, “Don’t speak a word”. At the temple, he stood like a child taking in assault of angry villagers one by one speaking not word. After half an hour the fellows had spent most of their anger seemed amenable to less violent suggestion, so I said, ‘Yadavji, clearly you are sick, you need counselling’ The suggestion appealed to some but rejected by others. Another round of shouting growling ensued for fifteen minutes after which to every one’s surprise Yadavji said, “Ab Khatam Karo” ( 'End this now'). He didn’t look repentant, refused to apologize to the ladies.
So, in the end it turned out that under the soft exterior, Yadavji is really a tough nut whereas all the aggression of villagers was just hot air. Finally, Yadavji was ordered to leave the village. As chance had it, he was going on vacation for a month, when he came back, he shifted his base to another village on the other side of school, not falling in our ‘Panchayat’ (consisting of five villages).
So, villagers talked about this episode for next ten days ….until a fellow stone drunk slipped off the slope of hill and broke his legs. Then the talk shifted to this injured man. . ..
