HOLI OF CHILDHOOD
At that time, I was studying in my first year at S.K. Inter College in Badaun City. Holi holidays had started in the college, and I had come to the village to celebrate Holi. In those days, the festival of Holi used to last for at least a week. My village Chandokha was situated on the banks of the Ramganga river in Dataganj tehsil. In those days, our village was very backward in terms of education and development. There was no means of transportation from Dataganj to the village. The eight-kilometer distance had to be covered on foot, bicycle, or bullock cart. But despite all this, there was a lot of prosperity in the village and people had great harmony among themselves. The festival of Holi was celebrated with great pomp in the village. The people of the village who worked outside or the children who studied in the city, all came to the village on Holi. Two of my elder brothers also worked in the city. But every time on Holi, they used to come to the village with their children. The hustle and bustle of Holi used to start in the village eight days in advance. There was a Lambe Chaudhary in the village. Nobody knew his real name, everyone knew him as Lambe Chaudhary. He had a tall and broad stature, a well-built body, and a dignified face. He was completely illiterate. But his memory power was amazing. He knew many verses of Ramcharit Manas and many shlokas of Geeta by heart very well. When he recited verses or shlokas during conversations, no one could easily guess that he was illiterate. Lambe Chaudhary was very fond of listening to Alha. During the rainy season, he would often call me and make me recite Alha for hours. Lambe Chaudhary was very jovial by nature. It was his nature to talk for hours with women of his age in the village. It was his nature to laugh and joke with everyone. He was the eldest among his five brothers. He was not married and was celibate from childhood. He had twenty-twenty-two nephews. Each one of them was a very solid young man. That is why no one in the village dared to insult him. We used to call him Baba in the village relations, but Lambe Chaudhary never missed to joke and tease us.
This time we planned to reply to Lambe Chaudhary's jokes on Holi in his style. Teasing Lambe Chaudhary meant putting one's hand in a snake's hole. But we were firm on our decision. Our plan became easier when four-five nephews of Lambe Chaudhary of the same age joined our plan.
Four-five days were left for Holi. The joy of Holi was at its peak in the village. Holi songs were sung with drums at the big Chaupal for a long time at night and after midnight the campaign to make the village's Holi bigger and bigger would start. Two groups were formed. The first group included the adults of the village and the second included the youngsters and teenagers. Everyone would bring dry wood, branches of trees, and old stumps from far and wide and put them on the Holi.
One night when everyone went for the campaign to celebrate Holi, as per the plan we reached Lambe Chaudhary's Chaupal but we were surprised to see that Lambe Chaudhary was awake. For three consecutive days, we kept going to Lambe Chaudhary's Chaupal after midnight but we did not get success.
The next night when we reached Lambe Chaudhary's Chaupal, we were all overjoyed. He was fast asleep and his snoring was echoing far and wide. God was perhaps more kind to us today. Lambe Chaudhary was all alone on the Chaupal.
As per our plan, we tied Lambe Chaudhary tightly to the cot with a rope, and then four of us boys put sticks and put the cot on our shoulders and started towards Holi. To inform us about any danger, two-three boys were walking ahead at some distance and two-three were following us. It was a coincidence that no one saw us and we reached near Holi without any obstruction. We kept Lambe Chaudhary along with the cot on the Holi and then silently returned to their homes.
When the villagers woke up in the morning, they saw a strange sight on the Holi. The Lambe Chaudhary tied to the cot on the Holi heap was snoring. Slowly, a crowd of people gathered around the Holi. People were whispering among themselves. Hearing the voices of the people, the Lambe Chaudhary woke up. He tried to get up from the rope but could not get up as he was tied to the cot tightly.
There was a belief in the village that once something is kept on the Holi heap, it cannot be lifted back. Now what should be done with the Lambe Chaudhary, everyone was talking about this. Slowly, the whole village had gathered there. We too were standing on one side and watching this scene.
A Panchayat of some elders of the village sat to discuss this problem. After a long discussion, they unanimously decided that Lambe Chaudhary's brothers should put wood twice the weight of Lambe Chaudhary on the pile of Holi; only then Lambe Chaudhary could be brought down from the pile of Holi.
Now the problem of where to get so much dry wood was standing in front of Chaudhary's brothers. After many hours of hard work, they cut an old bullock cart with axes and placed it on the pile of Holi, only then Lambe Chaudhary could be brought down from the pile of Holi.
People were smiling to themselves on seeing Lambe Chaudhary's condition. Women were laughing with their veils on their mouths. Lambe Chaudhary was hissing like a snake and was abusing profusely. His abuses were also sounding like Holi prasad to us. That year, the Holi of our village was the loudest among the nearby villages.
Even today, when I remember the Holi of my childhood, my heart fills with excitement.
