Fistfight between friends - Part IV

 Dear readers, A weekend has again cropped up in our life ......If you start the ending of week from friday night then Saturday night can be rightfully termed as median of the weekend.I was trying to write this piece on Saturday but it got delayed few hours due to ongoing US Open.How can I leave Federer playing alone in hurricane-hit NewYork. No problem....thinking of weekend now........This concept of workweek and weekend is one of the most underrated discovery by human civilization. Imagine, if you had to work on all 07 days of the week. Tiring, isn't it ? So,you must be thankful to Henry Ford who decided that his automotive factories will close shutters on Saturday & Sunday way back during early years of 20th Century. Since that era, we are celebrating every week. Dining and drinking on weekend became the norm. Normally,weekend is based on cultural ethos of community........Friday for Muslims, Saturday for Jewish (Shabbat) and Sunday for Christians is considered as God's day i.e. Rest day. The funda of TGIF came pretty late,may be during late 1960's. You guessed it right buddy, it started as a Restaurant name.......Thanks God It's Friday........people liked it .....then came the movie TGIF ...which made it a cult concept during 1970's. Bheja Fry & Vinay Pathak contributed immensely to make this concept popular in Indian minds. So, the weekend is certainly rejuvenating when you know these facts ...............now before you head for partying somewhere....dedicate at least one peg to Ford baba....In fact, if you can afford to buy a Ford SUV...do it for his invention of weekend. May his soul rest in peace. This was a slight distraction to keep your mind busy on a sunny Sunday.In earlier blogs I have discussed the various facets of Benaras ....so you can not complain now about the lack of knowledge about ethos of Benaras. To cut my story short, I will now deal with actual politics of the fistfight between friends ...........hold your desktop screen dost........you need to ask me now before taking a pee- break....read this whole story in one go ...otherwise the thrill of narration is lost. So,Coming to the actual story of fistfight.......... I told you earlier that caste played a pivotal role in our BHU politics. I realized this fact very late during those days.Bhumihar & Rajputs were the dominant group those days. May be BJP-effect in UP politics was finding shelter in hostels of BHU. Kaushal was a nice chap during first year ...when he joined the A.N.D. Hostel as a fresher. Nice fellow ..not bad in studies. I think ...he was a Navodya product...not sure about this fact.10 years has passed since we left the hallowed precincts of BHU. He was a fine Volleyball player ...in fact one of the best in BHU during those days ......he was a great spiker..can hit the ball accurately from any part of the court......he used to literally bury the ball in opponent's court. He should have pursued this game. He was a hidden talent yet to be discovered by Volleyball federation of India. He was also a founding member of award-winning A.N.D. hostel Kabbadi team captained by me. He was also a decent Carrom player who challenged the hegemony of Basanti on the Carrom board. Don't get ideas dost...it has nothing to do with dream girl Hema Malini......Basanati was a sweet lanky boy of our hostel. Spoils of A.N.D. mess spoiled Kaushal. He indulged in neck-deep corruption & money is a great motivator. Bhumihar boys glued to him like flys.He emerged as a potent gang leader. He got intoxicated by money & muscle power of this small coterie. Sharad was another member of this group. He was a cunning fellow who strongly believed in caste supremacy. He was unable to do anything on his own but was shrewd enough to use strong shoulders of others to advance his own agenda. Chandan was a studious fellow. He was like intellectual head of this group. He mentored this group and was a staunch believer in caste politics. He enjoyed free food and other benefits which come with the package. He was the policy maker ...some sort of Kallu mama for this group.Go and watch Satya if you are not familiar with Kallu mama.But this boy was pretty good in Economics. Then comes Vivek Shukla ....a very interesting package......he was the most sophisticated Convent-educated member of this group.Fluent English speaker...having a deep understanding of current affairs as well pretty good at debates....Group discussion etc. He was a misfit in this group. Nevertheless, he was the chikna face of this group.Till date, I am unable to fathom the reason..why he bacame a part & parcel of this caste group. In fact, he was one of my closet friend.....Me, Naveen & Shukla used to be a troika in watching movies. We watched several movies ...English ,Hindi.....and even belonging to adult category... side -by -side sitting in dark & dingy...unkempt cinema halls of Benaras. There were two special cinema halls which were designated as adult theaters namely Shilpi and Sahoo. Sahoo was situated few hundred metres away from sanctum sanctorum of Kashi Vishwanath temple. But this fact did not deter it from showing pirated A- rated English films. But, the interesting feature in these two theaters was not the English film......but the triple X clippings which were added in between the running movie. It was funny sometimes....suppose main protagonists of the movie were having lunch with family on dining table during the flow of story.......suddenly you find explicit videos of human intimacy. But, it was un-adultered fun. One activity was notable here. When such videos were running on the screen, you will find theater personnel moving between the rows of seats with a torch gleaming in their hand.In first glance, you think that they were looking for some lost luggage......but actually these men were trying to prevent some dirty minds from pleasuring themselves by using Apna hath Jagannath method.After all, cinema hall owner was very fussy about cleanliness in the hall premises. You can find paan/gutka stains everywhere except on the screen but why find white liquids in cinema hall. In hindsight, I think how can a sane person visit those dirty dustbins named Sahoo & Shilpi. But, those were the days , I had not seen glossy multiplexes. But,the concept was good. A former chairman of Censor Board had suggested that we need to have separate theaters for A-rated movies. I like the idea,what is the harm ....buddy. We need not to act as moral police in 2011. If an adult person wishes to watch porn in privacy...why not allow it.By preventing it, you are only forcing it to go underground. Think on the lines of liquors..it is bad ....everyone knows...but Govt. is earning huge revenue. In fact, Vijay Mallya is sponsoring NREGA in our country. You simply can not banish human desires. Prostitution is the world's oldest trade. Even Samudragupta was unable to banish it during his reign around 350 A.D. .... think......1650 years ago.If a Chakravarti ruler/absolute despot can not eradicate it....how can you expect a democratic govt. to to banish it. You have to realize that pigs can not fly. So, drop the idea. Try to regulate this trade......earn revenue....secure the health of User and Practitioner. Same with porn movies..anyways people are watching it for free on INTERNET...regulate it by imposing flexible guidelines.Earn some revenue. What's your opinion .....do enlighten me by your noble thoughts...... What the heck...words are like magic...they flow like a mountainous river.....it takes its own course..............Here I was talking about Vivek....but got entrapped in Bhulbhulaiya of independent thoughts.....sorry readers for distracting again...... Next boy is Dhiraj..a jolly fellow from Begusarai. He was merely a foot soldier without brains. Raghwendra is another star in this saga. He is a very religious Benarsi Bramhan..typical inhabitant of Benaras. Belongs to my subject Political science......my combination ...Politics,Socio & History. In some way, he can be termed as my langotiya yaar. My first......day scholar friend.He possess a golden heart ......that's why we became bosom buddies in first place. I sipped my first glass of beer in the august company of this bosom friend. Haywards 5000...see ....I remember the brand. He bought a Hero Honda Splendour...learned to ride it in my company. I was his first tutor as well as pillion rider. He became an expert biker within few days despite some minor accidents here and there. I introduced him to the colourful life of A.N.D. Hostel. Somewhere he got entangled in a fight with few hostellers of other faculties...I didn't knew it.....here Kaushal and his minions supported him and settled the score on his behalf. He became indebted to them due to this generosity & unfortunately tried to put his leg in the bloody battle of AN.D. hostel. This was a brief background check on the opposite group participants. Back ground of the fistfight of 22nd January 2002 can be traced back to several unrelated events of earlier years.This group had a habit of beating weak individuals who had no backing /godfathers in the hostel. One such victim was Ekka..another was Manpreet.....next one was Debashish who opposed the pilferage of Petrol from a Luna. Actually, Viky and Neta had bought a Luna jointly to attend some tutorial class for MCA. During some festival holiday, when Viky and Neta were absent from hostel, the custody of Luna was with Debashish. Kaushal had also purchased a Luna-type vehicle from Mess Funds. He had a habit of staying in hostel during leave period, so one fine day he decided to steal petrol from Neta's Luna. Debashish opposed and was beaten fair and blue. These incidents gave rise to Hockey stick culture in hostel......some of us bought hockey sticks to play figthing games with each other....Naveen,Kunal ,Tiwari were propounder of this theory.Later on several boys stocked hockey sticks in their rooms...it was not very costly....may be Rs. 250/300........This fact was proved when these hockey sticks broke like pencils when hitting human bones only a few times. Hockey sticks are supposed to be sturdy...we have seen several Hindi film heroes using them like iron rods. Another incident happened one day...Aniket was my room partner for last 02 years in BHU. He attended PT Tutorial for MCA. He used to talk to a certain girl named Sahi at that place.She was a Bhumihar....this fact was resented by Kaushal group that how can a Bengali boy talk to a Bhumihar girl. They decided to take matters in their own hands one night......came near to my Room No. 90 and tried to manhandle Aniket. Here, I tried to protect him.......those days I could have handled 3-4 boys without any sweat greeting my face. After all, Me and Raghwendra were Gym buddies,who had used iron rods to harden our body. I was nicknamed Shakti by some of my well-wishers.But,how do you fight in a crowd...some boys like Chandan were trying to soften my temper and Sharad was trying to fight. In the ensuing melee..someone hit a wood or something on my shin bone. But, here our will prevailed and fight stopped. Nothing of significance happened here. It only aroused our feelings. I involved myself for the first time in murky politics of hostel..and theoretically decided to purge the hostel from evil forces. Yes buddy , this was the spirit then. Enticing stuff..isn't it ? So why eat such delicious stuff only today.....put it in Freezer.....eat next week......because.....the fun is the journey not the destination...... If I tell you everthing now...why will you wait for this series next time.......real fun is in hiding some flesh at the same time flaunting some curves....... And I am not an office typist who can type 35-words per minute for a long duration. This typing thing is boring ...next time I will discover some equipment which can read my voice....I will speak and my computer will write it on the screen...... So.....happy reading ....till then.............Next weekend when else ?