By: Gyanendra Yakso Subba Translation: The DC team
So that is how we were living... away from home.. in someone else’s barn... which was made of stones in the bottom and mud and bamboo on the top, and a tin roof. All of us used to sleep on the floor... all in a row...
In those days, if someone shouted “Aaayooo” all of us would automatically start to run.
All of us, including the adults were so terrified that no one would stop to ask who came? Or where from? as soon as someone shouted “Aaayooo” we would run away... The reason being, if women got caught... chances was that they would be raped... and if the men/boys got caught chances are we would be beaten to pulp... imagine... we were around 12 kids and Ama... having to run like that.
One night all of a sudden we heard someone hitting the walls of our barn with what sounded like a wooden beam. I woke up with a start... looked around there was no one... everyone had run away, it was just me an one of my cousin brothers who were left behind.... outside everyone was running helter-skelter. Perhaps out of fear or confusion Ama and our elder sisters had run away leaving us behind...
My cousin and I got out of the bed in panic and ran... looking for Ama... in the dark...
In the dark someone fell and I remember the sound of cardamom seeds popping with the weird sound – pa ta ta ta ta ta ... I knew someone must have fallen on the cardamom plants but who fell and where I couldn’t tell... we ran and hid in the bushes... and I guess we felt asleep there in the bushes.
In the morning, as we got back we came to know that my eldest sister and maila bhai had fallen from a ledge near the place where we were staying. When I think about it now, I realize that they must have fallen at least 30 feet... thank God they fell on the thick cardamom bushes that cushioned their fall.
When I ask my eldest sister about that night... she says, “Ama picked up Kancha and started to run pulling those who were awake... so I picked up Maila and carried him on my back and started to run... Abuiiee Naaro Khamele Sesigebanet hau [in Limbu language]... which translates to ‘Abuiieee we nearly died that night...’ Didi survived... she is still with us...
Later when we ask who were the people who chased us away like that... in the middle of the night? People say they were GVC Cadres.
After that incidence, we could not continue to live in Badi ko ghar... we had to move to a more safer place. Ama decided to take us to our aunt’s house which was in Singbung Dera, Batasey. Baba wasn’t home... so Ama and my sisters decided to go to Fupu’s house... We carried all our worldly belongings which were just the clothes on our back and a few clothes for changing... Our cousin brother (badee ko chora) reached us halfway... but we had to walk a lot...
I remember walking by the stream and the forest... I remember dust flying all over the place as we walked in a big group... I remember the sharp edges of Amleeso ko Pat cutting my face... I remember that walk... always will...
At nightfall we reached a house and were given white kholey (prepared without putting any turmeric) to eat and I remember the lady feeding us constantly saying “Bicchaaarraaa... Kaan gako inaru liyera?” I don’t remember much after that... maybe it was the effect of warm food after a day long march through rough terrain... When I ask Ama where were we? Ama explains it was her Fupu (our Fupu boju’s) place.
Next I remember is of us playing happily at our own Fupu’s place
One day an old man teased me a lot... I could not contain myself... so I threw a pira in his direction and it caught him right on his face... he started to bleed from his nose and the gash on his cheek. I came running home and told Ama, who hid me in the house.
Recently Ama told me, when I was hiding in the room inside, that old man had come looking for me, full of anger with a khukuri in his hand. Ama had to offer him 1 bottle Raksi and Rs 10 to placate him and ask for his forgiveness. It is God’s cruelest joke that, that old man today happens to be my father-in-law (my wife’s kancha kaka). After I got married and went to put tika for the 1st time, he was looking at me carefully... perhaps he remembered the Pira and the bleeding...
Funny thing is as long as we stayed at Fupu’s place, he was our Fedangba (shaman/traditional healer) who would cure us using traditional methods if we got sick.
Fupu’s house was made of stone, with small windows and a large door, we used to play in the veranda all day long. Fupu had a son whom we used to call Lunga and a Dewar (brother-in-law) whom we used to call Mama.
Mama was rough and tough, in fact he was a legend of sorts. He would go to Sukhia haat and come home having beaten up someone or the other, but he would never hit a woman, or so people used to say. It almost felt like he was born to play Cards and Dice, his love for these vices were so strong, people used to say that he would even travel to Sukhim and back just to play Cards or Dice.
He would wake up at 3 in the morning, and would go to till the fields with his Goru.
One day he was digging out the Iskus ko Jara (Chayote roots), Ama and I were nearby... a puppy was entering the hole he had dug time and again... after a while.. all we heard was the puppy go kuuyyiieennnkkk... apparently the puppy happened to come in the way when Mama was bringing down his kodalo and in one hit the puppy went to heaven... quietly he buried the puppy in the bushes nearby. Mom sent me running away from there... perhaps horrified, she didn’t want me to see a bloodied puppy.
One day we were all playing and all of a sudden there was loud cries... a neighbour of ours was brutally hacked, and even though he had managed to get away, he came to the village all bloodied... so there were loud cries telling Ama to hide the kids... Fupu had her mother-in-law who helped us to hide in her room... she bolted the doors from the inside and got us to sleep.
Later my Syanu didi and I joined a primary school in the village, I don’t remember much but few lines from a poem... “Tabai tare Paitare... bhyaguta le ful parye... mauri le kadee hurkaye...”
One day after the Andolan had quietened down a lot... Mama had come to our place and I remember him tying some money on our eldest sister’s barki. Now when I think about it, it was a tradition in our place... before you would elope with someone, the man had to offer an advance of sorts, and that is what Mama had tied to my eldest sister’s barki (sort of an engagement gift). One day when Ama and Baba were not home, Mama and my eldest sister ran away and got married.
I could never comprehend then, why would my elder sister marry such a rough individual?
Finally after many years, curiosity got the better of me, and I asked my sister how could she marry such a rough individual, and my sister responded... “he is a gentlest person I know”... Perhaps... but she doesn’t know about the puppy, and I don’t intend to tell her.
Today I see my sister and my brother-in-law (whom we used to call Mama) and my own Bhanij and Bhanjee have grown up, I feel happy...
My fupu, her mother-in-law and pusain are all long gone... These days I go to my sister’s house which is on the way to my own in-law’s place... I take some rum for my brother-in-law and we catch up to talks from the old days... while enjoying the freshly cut kukhra and wachipa... I ask... so do you still beat up people? And he responds... “no, I don’t have that kind of strength anymore... I have gotten old”
We all laugh... My sister and my bhena laugh the loudest... It was the Gorkhaland adnolan of 1986 which brought these two love birds together...
Amidst all the misery, trouble, pain, wretchedness and gloom... these two had found love... how beautifully tragic is that
When I reflect on it... I find it beautiful and poetic and tragic... much like the rest of Darjeeling and its stories
Flashback 1986 – III [For Part I please read : SPECIAL SERIES ON GORKHALAND ANDOLAN - Flashback - 1986 - Part one]
[To be continued....]
So that is how we were living... away from home.. in someone else’s barn... which was made of stones in the bottom and mud and bamboo on the top, and a tin roof. All of us used to sleep on the floor... all in a row...
 |
| SPECIAL SERIES ON GORKHALAND ANDOLAN - Flashback 1986 - Part three |
All of us, including the adults were so terrified that no one would stop to ask who came? Or where from? as soon as someone shouted “Aaayooo” we would run away... The reason being, if women got caught... chances was that they would be raped... and if the men/boys got caught chances are we would be beaten to pulp... imagine... we were around 12 kids and Ama... having to run like that.
One night all of a sudden we heard someone hitting the walls of our barn with what sounded like a wooden beam. I woke up with a start... looked around there was no one... everyone had run away, it was just me an one of my cousin brothers who were left behind.... outside everyone was running helter-skelter. Perhaps out of fear or confusion Ama and our elder sisters had run away leaving us behind...
My cousin and I got out of the bed in panic and ran... looking for Ama... in the dark...
In the dark someone fell and I remember the sound of cardamom seeds popping with the weird sound – pa ta ta ta ta ta ... I knew someone must have fallen on the cardamom plants but who fell and where I couldn’t tell... we ran and hid in the bushes... and I guess we felt asleep there in the bushes.
In the morning, as we got back we came to know that my eldest sister and maila bhai had fallen from a ledge near the place where we were staying. When I think about it now, I realize that they must have fallen at least 30 feet... thank God they fell on the thick cardamom bushes that cushioned their fall.
When I ask my eldest sister about that night... she says, “Ama picked up Kancha and started to run pulling those who were awake... so I picked up Maila and carried him on my back and started to run... Abuiiee Naaro Khamele Sesigebanet hau [in Limbu language]... which translates to ‘Abuiieee we nearly died that night...’ Didi survived... she is still with us...
Later when we ask who were the people who chased us away like that... in the middle of the night? People say they were GVC Cadres.
After that incidence, we could not continue to live in Badi ko ghar... we had to move to a more safer place. Ama decided to take us to our aunt’s house which was in Singbung Dera, Batasey. Baba wasn’t home... so Ama and my sisters decided to go to Fupu’s house... We carried all our worldly belongings which were just the clothes on our back and a few clothes for changing... Our cousin brother (badee ko chora) reached us halfway... but we had to walk a lot...
I remember walking by the stream and the forest... I remember dust flying all over the place as we walked in a big group... I remember the sharp edges of Amleeso ko Pat cutting my face... I remember that walk... always will...
At nightfall we reached a house and were given white kholey (prepared without putting any turmeric) to eat and I remember the lady feeding us constantly saying “Bicchaaarraaa... Kaan gako inaru liyera?” I don’t remember much after that... maybe it was the effect of warm food after a day long march through rough terrain... When I ask Ama where were we? Ama explains it was her Fupu (our Fupu boju’s) place.
Next I remember is of us playing happily at our own Fupu’s place
One day an old man teased me a lot... I could not contain myself... so I threw a pira in his direction and it caught him right on his face... he started to bleed from his nose and the gash on his cheek. I came running home and told Ama, who hid me in the house.
Recently Ama told me, when I was hiding in the room inside, that old man had come looking for me, full of anger with a khukuri in his hand. Ama had to offer him 1 bottle Raksi and Rs 10 to placate him and ask for his forgiveness. It is God’s cruelest joke that, that old man today happens to be my father-in-law (my wife’s kancha kaka). After I got married and went to put tika for the 1st time, he was looking at me carefully... perhaps he remembered the Pira and the bleeding...
Funny thing is as long as we stayed at Fupu’s place, he was our Fedangba (shaman/traditional healer) who would cure us using traditional methods if we got sick.
Fupu’s house was made of stone, with small windows and a large door, we used to play in the veranda all day long. Fupu had a son whom we used to call Lunga and a Dewar (brother-in-law) whom we used to call Mama.
Mama was rough and tough, in fact he was a legend of sorts. He would go to Sukhia haat and come home having beaten up someone or the other, but he would never hit a woman, or so people used to say. It almost felt like he was born to play Cards and Dice, his love for these vices were so strong, people used to say that he would even travel to Sukhim and back just to play Cards or Dice.
He would wake up at 3 in the morning, and would go to till the fields with his Goru.
One day he was digging out the Iskus ko Jara (Chayote roots), Ama and I were nearby... a puppy was entering the hole he had dug time and again... after a while.. all we heard was the puppy go kuuyyiieennnkkk... apparently the puppy happened to come in the way when Mama was bringing down his kodalo and in one hit the puppy went to heaven... quietly he buried the puppy in the bushes nearby. Mom sent me running away from there... perhaps horrified, she didn’t want me to see a bloodied puppy.
One day we were all playing and all of a sudden there was loud cries... a neighbour of ours was brutally hacked, and even though he had managed to get away, he came to the village all bloodied... so there were loud cries telling Ama to hide the kids... Fupu had her mother-in-law who helped us to hide in her room... she bolted the doors from the inside and got us to sleep.
Later my Syanu didi and I joined a primary school in the village, I don’t remember much but few lines from a poem... “Tabai tare Paitare... bhyaguta le ful parye... mauri le kadee hurkaye...”
One day after the Andolan had quietened down a lot... Mama had come to our place and I remember him tying some money on our eldest sister’s barki. Now when I think about it, it was a tradition in our place... before you would elope with someone, the man had to offer an advance of sorts, and that is what Mama had tied to my eldest sister’s barki (sort of an engagement gift). One day when Ama and Baba were not home, Mama and my eldest sister ran away and got married.
I could never comprehend then, why would my elder sister marry such a rough individual?
Finally after many years, curiosity got the better of me, and I asked my sister how could she marry such a rough individual, and my sister responded... “he is a gentlest person I know”... Perhaps... but she doesn’t know about the puppy, and I don’t intend to tell her.
Today I see my sister and my brother-in-law (whom we used to call Mama) and my own Bhanij and Bhanjee have grown up, I feel happy...
My fupu, her mother-in-law and pusain are all long gone... These days I go to my sister’s house which is on the way to my own in-law’s place... I take some rum for my brother-in-law and we catch up to talks from the old days... while enjoying the freshly cut kukhra and wachipa... I ask... so do you still beat up people? And he responds... “no, I don’t have that kind of strength anymore... I have gotten old”
We all laugh... My sister and my bhena laugh the loudest... It was the Gorkhaland adnolan of 1986 which brought these two love birds together...
Amidst all the misery, trouble, pain, wretchedness and gloom... these two had found love... how beautifully tragic is that
When I reflect on it... I find it beautiful and poetic and tragic... much like the rest of Darjeeling and its stories
Flashback 1986 – III [For Part I please read : SPECIAL SERIES ON GORKHALAND ANDOLAN - Flashback - 1986 - Part one]
[To be continued....]
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