Satya Narayan Sardar
Sugalal was playing cards with his friends. He was losing money and expecting someone to come to call him so that he could be gone from there. A jobless fellow could do nothing but play cards with friends and involve in gossiping.
Meanwhile mother shouted at him. “You stupid fellow, neither earns anything nor assists mother in household chores.”
Sugalal looked at her but did not respond.
“Come here or shall I call your father,” she shouted again.
“OK. I will come.” His one of the partners told about losing the money but he told her that that day was an unlucky day for him and he would reverse it some other day. He departed from there.
As he reached home, father stared at him. He did not say anything. Sugalal went inside the kitchen and took his lunch. Mother was collecting the utensils to wash it. He hadn’t finished it yet; the mom burst at him.
“Whole day from morning till evening, you hang up with your gambler friends and lose money. Father keeps working in the field. The harvesting time is approaching. Have you ever visited the field since the plantation?”
“Why are you so upset today, Mother? Is anything wrong?”
“Look Sugwa.” Mother called him ‘Sugwa’ with love.
“I have grown old. I cannot work as much as I could before. Your father also needs help during the harvesting. And you…?”
“Listen mom, I have been assisting him most of the time.”
“Look, don’t make excuses. You go to your in-law’s house and bring your wife home so that she will help in all the household activities.”
“Mother…”
“I said – no excuses. You must go by tomorrow and come back with your wife.”
“But Mother, I can’t go alone. I need a friend.”
“Ummm, why don’t take Manglu with you?”
“But Mother, he’s a fool. How can I adjust with him?”
“Other boys won’t be ready to go with you and he is close friend of yours.”
“OK, Mother.”
Sugalal talked to Manglu to go with him to his in-law’s house and he agreed. He began to prepare to go to in-law’s house to fetch his wife. The day they departed, Sugalal’s mother gave some coin to Manglu and told Sugalal to buy something in the local market because the way was too long and he would feel hungry on the way.
After a long walk, they reached to a small town. It was market day. Many villagers were selling different things from their fiend. Some were selling vegetables; some were selling, local fruits, some were selling lettuce. One of the villagers was selling arum. Manglu asked what that was. Sugalal remembered his mother telling him to buy something for Manglu. He said, this is the something mother told you to buy and eat. Manglu, to confirm, asked the villager what that was. He had heard the conversation. He also repeated the same like Sugalal and told him that that was something. After the confirmation, Manglu bought the arum for some coin and started eating.
Sugalal knew that it would give him acrid taste. So he ran towards another shop and managed some lemon. Due to acrid taste, Manglu began to feel uncomfortable and started asking some help. Still Manglu kept eating. After some time, he started itching outside his throat as his larynx itched inside. Sugalal gave him a lemon and told him to squeeze it and drink the juice. Manglu did the same and within few minutes, he felt a bit relief.
They hadn’t reached to their destination yet. After walking a long distance, they reached to their destination. As they reached, it was already late evening. When they reached, they were given a warm welcome. They were kept is a guesthouse and served cardamom, nuts, cloves and other spices as per their culture.
Both Sugalal and Manglu were anticipating the invitation for the dinner. After some time, Sugalal’s brother-in-law came with a jug of water to invite for the dinner. Sugalal asked what the varieties were for the dinner. His brother said there was something special and they would enjoy.
Manglu immediately remembered the item something he had eaten in the afternoon and the throat itching that he had gone through. He instantly said that he was not hungry. He had eaten enough and had been full in belly to eat anything. Sugalal also told him to go but he denied. Although Manglu was feeling hungry but didn’t express. After some time, Sugalal returned back with full satisfaction. Manglu asked if it was the same item that of the day. Sugalal exclaimed with surprise and expressed his amazement about the afternoon event. He said that he just wanted to make fun by giving arum. He also told Manglu that he was served delicious items with some sweets as dessert. Some saliva drops fell out of his mouth. But he could do nothing.
Both of them went to bed. Sugalal had a nice sleep but Manglu had not been able to sleep due to hunger. In about mid-night, Manglu got up and sat on the bed pressing his empty tummy. For a while, he stayed motionless. Something came in his mind. He began to wake Sugalal up.
“Suga.’ He whispered in his ear.
Sugalal was in a deep sleep. He didn’t listen to him. Manglu again whispered. Sugalal woke up and asked, “What happened?”
Manglu said, “I am feeling very hungry and am not being able to sleep.”
“It’s almost midnight. And this is not even our house,” Sugalal said.
“But I can’t sleep without eating anything. Please do something for me,” Manglu urged.
Sugalal got confused. He thought for a while and at last looking towards Manglu said, “If you can…”
“Please tell me. I can do anything for the food,” Manglu said.
“The food is in the kitchen. They must have kept it safely. While taking my dinner, I noticed the ventilator open,” Sugalal said.
“Then…,” Manglu looked at him with astonishment.
“Listen.” Sugalal said. “I will find a rope and tie in your waist. You go inside through the ventilator. Find the food and have it,” he further added.
“Then?” Manglu asked. “When you are done, shake the rope calling the word, “Gheench” (pull) and I will pull you out,” Sugalal said.
“It’s a brilliant idea. Wait, I will find a rope,” Manglu said and rushed out of guesthouse and returned back with a rope after some time. “Here you are. I got it in the cowshed,” he pointed out.
Sugalal took the rope and tied it around Manglu’s waist. He took Manglu towards the ventilator and helped him go in. with a great effort, Manglu managed to go in. Sugalal came back to the guesthouse and lay down on the bed waiting for Manglu’s signal with the word “Gheench”. He had left another end of the rope outside the wall. Unfortunately he slept within few minutes.
Manglu started shouting, “Gheench!” from inside the kitchen room. He kept shouting but nobody heard him. In spite of various efforts, he failed and slept in the kitchen.
Next morning with the first sound of–”Cock-a-doodle-do”, Manglu woke up. He again began to shout from inside the kitchen. Sugalal’s sister-in-law heard the sound coming from inside the kitchen. She got scared and ran from there and informed all the family members. All of them gathered in front of the kitchen. But nobody dared go inside. Every time they tried to go near the door, Manglu shouted, “Gheench!” from inside the kitchen and they ran away from there. Sugalal knew it but could do nothing. He kept waiting for the proper moment to take him out of the kitchen.
Meanwhile, a beggar came at the door begging alms. He saw the people gathering there and asked what was going on there. Someone told him that there was a Gheench inside the kitchen. The beggar was confused. Yet he thought to be smart among the villagers. He pretended enchanting some mantras for a while. After some time, he opened his eyes and said, “Gheenches are white.” (Gheench ujra hota hai.)
He collected his strength and said, “I will go inside and bring it out.” But in reality, he was highly scared. Manglu was continuously shouting. When the beggar entered, Manglu shouted more loudly. The beggar jumped. There was an earthen pot hanged from the ceiling filled with wheat flour. The beggar hit it from behind; it cracked and the flour poured over him. He totally became white. He ran out. As the villagers saw the beggar completely white, they began to beat him. He began to shout, “I am not Gheench; I am not Gheench.” But villagers only heard Gheench and continued beating. Meanwhile, Sugalal got chance to go inside the kitchen and fetched Manglu out of there. He immediately took him to the guesthouse and took a long breath.
The villagers beat the beggar very badly and chased him away from there. That afternoon, Sugalal returned back home with his wife with a funny incident in memory and blushing himself.
[Satya Narayan Sardar is a writer and anthropologist. He teaches at the St. Xavier’s College and Kathmandu.]