(followin chapter is written after full permission of concern party. With full respect to jumma...)
JUMMA…..WHO WAS HE?
“oh boy! What are you doing?” you have no choice but to exclaim when you suddenly see something unusual.
“Can't you see? I am waving my shirt towards the girls’ hostel!” said the boy continuing his unusual activity. He had stripped off the shirt and was waving it standing in front of the girls’ hostel .
“but why are you doing this? there is no point to be half naked early morning in front of girls’ hostel.”
“abe yaar, my friends challenged me. They said no one have guts to do this in front of the girls' hostel. they say It can ruin the impression on girls. I told them I can do this…hell with the impression. Ha…..ha…ha…!” he gave laud winning laugh.
Really, any one in 1st MBBS would be very conscious for his impression on girls. One would do anything beyond his usual behavior just to “impress”. But this boy was different than others in our class. He was not at all concerned about his impression on girls.
Most of the boys, however, had only few ways to impress. Such ways routinely included a clean shave, tidy good clothes and soft low tone speech with the fair sex. Some of the boys used sprays and powders to get rid of their own body odors. There were no mobiles to impress. It was era of bikes but only few fathers could afford such luxury for their son. So, only a few boys had bike at that time. Some boys were really over conscious and sometimes imparted their knowledge of “how to” to poor fellows like me. It included not only how to dress, do in-shirt, how to speak and not to speak but also how to walk! I really was not able to follow any of their instructions.
But there were so called bajarang groups which not only kept distance from girls but also kept away from boys inter mingling with girls groups. Few boys were pitiable as they were forced to be bajarang groupers may be due to some personal reasons.
However, I must admit, the boy I am talking about was not at all bajarang. In fact, he had very good skill of communicating with girls. When few girls asked him about his unusual waving of shirt , he proudly told them how he won the bet!
The boy had joined the college late as he was given admission after re shuffle. He was a fair, bit small in height, with a pointed nose some what fatty and looked short in front of some of the tall girls of our batch. He used to dress himself fairily well but he had habit of scratching his head now and then on different issues and problems so his blond hairs were never set well. When some one commented “ yaar why don’t you keep your hairs fine at place? It is only your hairs that spoil your tidy looks.”
“ Man, think of a dining table in perfect shape. Think of flowers perfectly in middle of table. Now some one comes and throws the flowers disturbing the perfect tidiness of the table…now tell me..which table will look beautiful…the perfect tidy or the table with flowers thrown?...” He smiled “same is true with my un tidy hairs..!”
His spects were big covering most of his face and his eyes looked bigger behind the plus lenses of his spects. He was gifted a loud speaker instead of voice box by nature. His pitch was also very different than all of the boys. When he passed by the girls’ hostel, he was clearly heard even at the rooms on top floor.
Some girls used to comment “ this boy’s mother would really be a blessed one.”
“ Why?”
“ aarre she never would worry for whereabouts of his son. She could hear him even from a kilometer while her small son was playing!”
He was also a nagar by caste like me. As he joined late he was made our dissection partner. We soon became good friends.we shared many common interests like gazals- he was a mad fan of jagjeet singh while i was fan of gulam ali and ahemad hussain mohmad hussain. I had (and still have) great respect for mahatma and he also had the same. Being nagar was somewhat special for him and that was a point to tease my best friend-tapasvi- a darbar.
“ tapasveeee…listen… I am nagar and neh is also nagar, thus we ought to be good friends. Do you know tapasvi? We Nagars are inborn intelligent people!” to this tapasvi would reply with lot of dislike on his face “ Do you know? You are originally greeks. Alexander abandoned you in India. - Useless leftovers! You all should be sent back to Greece so that we original Indians live in peace!”
But this was only to tease tapasvi. In principal he believed all humans equal and so he never kept distance from any one in the college. He spoke with all and soon became a popular figure in class. He used to speak any thing and used to do many mischievous acts to entertain his friends.
He had good command on spoken English. Many a times, I used to imitate a reporter using my hand as microphone to ask questions on various subjects to him. To my query, he would give a big lecture in American English imitating himself as a big world leader! Not surprisingly the 1st fishpond awarded to both of us was "class na Buddhao (aged and older people)"
He used to get depressed in small matters. "buddhao" was such a thing.
" Be yaar neh , since we don't talk rubbish and behave maturely, some one has written such word to show his or her envy...don't you think so?" at such times he had typical whinning voice.
On the dissection table, I used to try to dissect even very small structures. To this he would make a serious face and would say “ neh , I will come to your funeral and will tell everyone there that this doctor was a very sincere man. He has seen even minute nerves of the superficial skin!!...ha….ha…..ha…!”
Despite his popular acts, he was very sincere in studies. His handwriting was beautiful. He used to make good notes not only in class lectures but also in hostel while reading. He used to study a lot and so he soon became ranker of our class. There were students who used to hide their “precious" notes from others even in routine times so that no one could get advantage of their hard work except themselves. But this was not true with this boy. He believed in healthy competition, He would give best of his notes even if you demand it just before exams . Not only that, if you ask him to teach anything, he would try his best until you are satisfied.
Despite being genuinely honest , there was one paradox in his behavior. He was from ahmedabad and it was routine for him like many other students to rush to home every Saturday. He would board the train at anand railway station but would never buy a ticket! Like many of my friends, to travel WT was a kind of thrill for him. He was caught for a couple of times and had to pay the penalty!
He had very clear idea about love and marriage. While many boys were dying to “fix” themselves with the girl of their choice, he was not at all interested in such activity. There were a few couples in our campus.
“ see neh, To fall in love is real childish and immature act. No one should do this while studying. This can ruin life of both.” On query of his ideas on marriage he would proudly say “ Just Think of delight and joy of a nagar successful man in his 60s getting a qualified doctor as a groom for his beautiful daughter … Nagar boys should not waste themselves in out caste. I will never do that…”
A song “ jumma chumma de de” was very popular at that time and he also liked that song very much. He used to sing that song kakophonically in hostel and in college as much as some of his friends started calling him “jumma” !
One day he came to me with mystery on his face. He seemed in a graet problem. There was a post card in his hand.
“ Neh , can you believe this?” he gave me the card.
Some one had written “ dear jumma how are you? I am one of your old school mate and I really miss you --your old girl friend”
the letter was addressed to “jumma” with his room number and surname!
“ Really surprising!” I exclaimed “ Now popularity of your nick name has crossed the walls of our campus!”
“ Neh , firstly I have churned my brain but I do not remember any such girl friend of mine in school days who would write such letter. Secondly, who would have told her my campus nick name? can you think any thing?”
“ Look …the stamp on the card is of anand only. So some one has posted this letter at anand post office. Can you remember any such girl?” I investigated further.
He typically scratched his head. “ I really do not remember…”
“Think on this dear friend! Ask your old school mates . they might give you a clue…”
I adviced. The card was written with green scetch pen.
As usual the letter became talk of our small town. The boy never kept anything secret. Not even such personal letters. He showed the letter to all the friends and tried to solve the mystery. His frantic efforts lasted for about a week but all in vain. There was not a clue at all.
When he was tired of the issue , one day I told him “ yaar the letter you are investigating was written by me.”
“you!!” he was shocked “ I never can believe such a good friend of mine can fool me like this! I refuse to believe this..”
“ This is the truth . I sincerely apologize with my confession…” I told him how alone I hatched the plan to fool him. I also showed the secret marks on the post card made by me.
His face was serious. “okay..” he took a deep breath. He was really hurt. I looked to his eyes . I really went a bit more than needed. I should have told him the truth when he came to me very first time.
He thought for a while. “ any way neh… i forgive you….but I really felt betrayed…”
As he said, he really did forgive me and our friendship remained the same even after this incident. There were few more such acts by me even after this incident but he has forgiven me everytime….
JUMMA…..WHO WAS HE?
“oh boy! What are you doing?” you have no choice but to exclaim when you suddenly see something unusual.
“Can't you see? I am waving my shirt towards the girls’ hostel!” said the boy continuing his unusual activity. He had stripped off the shirt and was waving it standing in front of the girls’ hostel .
“but why are you doing this? there is no point to be half naked early morning in front of girls’ hostel.”
“abe yaar, my friends challenged me. They said no one have guts to do this in front of the girls' hostel. they say It can ruin the impression on girls. I told them I can do this…hell with the impression. Ha…..ha…ha…!” he gave laud winning laugh.
Really, any one in 1st MBBS would be very conscious for his impression on girls. One would do anything beyond his usual behavior just to “impress”. But this boy was different than others in our class. He was not at all concerned about his impression on girls.
Most of the boys, however, had only few ways to impress. Such ways routinely included a clean shave, tidy good clothes and soft low tone speech with the fair sex. Some of the boys used sprays and powders to get rid of their own body odors. There were no mobiles to impress. It was era of bikes but only few fathers could afford such luxury for their son. So, only a few boys had bike at that time. Some boys were really over conscious and sometimes imparted their knowledge of “how to” to poor fellows like me. It included not only how to dress, do in-shirt, how to speak and not to speak but also how to walk! I really was not able to follow any of their instructions.
But there were so called bajarang groups which not only kept distance from girls but also kept away from boys inter mingling with girls groups. Few boys were pitiable as they were forced to be bajarang groupers may be due to some personal reasons.
However, I must admit, the boy I am talking about was not at all bajarang. In fact, he had very good skill of communicating with girls. When few girls asked him about his unusual waving of shirt , he proudly told them how he won the bet!
The boy had joined the college late as he was given admission after re shuffle. He was a fair, bit small in height, with a pointed nose some what fatty and looked short in front of some of the tall girls of our batch. He used to dress himself fairily well but he had habit of scratching his head now and then on different issues and problems so his blond hairs were never set well. When some one commented “ yaar why don’t you keep your hairs fine at place? It is only your hairs that spoil your tidy looks.”
“ Man, think of a dining table in perfect shape. Think of flowers perfectly in middle of table. Now some one comes and throws the flowers disturbing the perfect tidiness of the table…now tell me..which table will look beautiful…the perfect tidy or the table with flowers thrown?...” He smiled “same is true with my un tidy hairs..!”
His spects were big covering most of his face and his eyes looked bigger behind the plus lenses of his spects. He was gifted a loud speaker instead of voice box by nature. His pitch was also very different than all of the boys. When he passed by the girls’ hostel, he was clearly heard even at the rooms on top floor.
Some girls used to comment “ this boy’s mother would really be a blessed one.”
“ Why?”
“ aarre she never would worry for whereabouts of his son. She could hear him even from a kilometer while her small son was playing!”
He was also a nagar by caste like me. As he joined late he was made our dissection partner. We soon became good friends.we shared many common interests like gazals- he was a mad fan of jagjeet singh while i was fan of gulam ali and ahemad hussain mohmad hussain. I had (and still have) great respect for mahatma and he also had the same. Being nagar was somewhat special for him and that was a point to tease my best friend-tapasvi- a darbar.
“ tapasveeee…listen… I am nagar and neh is also nagar, thus we ought to be good friends. Do you know tapasvi? We Nagars are inborn intelligent people!” to this tapasvi would reply with lot of dislike on his face “ Do you know? You are originally greeks. Alexander abandoned you in India. - Useless leftovers! You all should be sent back to Greece so that we original Indians live in peace!”
But this was only to tease tapasvi. In principal he believed all humans equal and so he never kept distance from any one in the college. He spoke with all and soon became a popular figure in class. He used to speak any thing and used to do many mischievous acts to entertain his friends.
He had good command on spoken English. Many a times, I used to imitate a reporter using my hand as microphone to ask questions on various subjects to him. To my query, he would give a big lecture in American English imitating himself as a big world leader! Not surprisingly the 1st fishpond awarded to both of us was "class na Buddhao (aged and older people)"
He used to get depressed in small matters. "buddhao" was such a thing.
" Be yaar neh , since we don't talk rubbish and behave maturely, some one has written such word to show his or her envy...don't you think so?" at such times he had typical whinning voice.
On the dissection table, I used to try to dissect even very small structures. To this he would make a serious face and would say “ neh , I will come to your funeral and will tell everyone there that this doctor was a very sincere man. He has seen even minute nerves of the superficial skin!!...ha….ha…..ha…!”
Despite his popular acts, he was very sincere in studies. His handwriting was beautiful. He used to make good notes not only in class lectures but also in hostel while reading. He used to study a lot and so he soon became ranker of our class. There were students who used to hide their “precious" notes from others even in routine times so that no one could get advantage of their hard work except themselves. But this was not true with this boy. He believed in healthy competition, He would give best of his notes even if you demand it just before exams . Not only that, if you ask him to teach anything, he would try his best until you are satisfied.
Despite being genuinely honest , there was one paradox in his behavior. He was from ahmedabad and it was routine for him like many other students to rush to home every Saturday. He would board the train at anand railway station but would never buy a ticket! Like many of my friends, to travel WT was a kind of thrill for him. He was caught for a couple of times and had to pay the penalty!
He had very clear idea about love and marriage. While many boys were dying to “fix” themselves with the girl of their choice, he was not at all interested in such activity. There were a few couples in our campus.
“ see neh, To fall in love is real childish and immature act. No one should do this while studying. This can ruin life of both.” On query of his ideas on marriage he would proudly say “ Just Think of delight and joy of a nagar successful man in his 60s getting a qualified doctor as a groom for his beautiful daughter … Nagar boys should not waste themselves in out caste. I will never do that…”
A song “ jumma chumma de de” was very popular at that time and he also liked that song very much. He used to sing that song kakophonically in hostel and in college as much as some of his friends started calling him “jumma” !
One day he came to me with mystery on his face. He seemed in a graet problem. There was a post card in his hand.
“ Neh , can you believe this?” he gave me the card.
Some one had written “ dear jumma how are you? I am one of your old school mate and I really miss you --your old girl friend”
the letter was addressed to “jumma” with his room number and surname!
“ Really surprising!” I exclaimed “ Now popularity of your nick name has crossed the walls of our campus!”
“ Neh , firstly I have churned my brain but I do not remember any such girl friend of mine in school days who would write such letter. Secondly, who would have told her my campus nick name? can you think any thing?”
“ Look …the stamp on the card is of anand only. So some one has posted this letter at anand post office. Can you remember any such girl?” I investigated further.
He typically scratched his head. “ I really do not remember…”
“Think on this dear friend! Ask your old school mates . they might give you a clue…”
I adviced. The card was written with green scetch pen.
As usual the letter became talk of our small town. The boy never kept anything secret. Not even such personal letters. He showed the letter to all the friends and tried to solve the mystery. His frantic efforts lasted for about a week but all in vain. There was not a clue at all.
When he was tired of the issue , one day I told him “ yaar the letter you are investigating was written by me.”
“you!!” he was shocked “ I never can believe such a good friend of mine can fool me like this! I refuse to believe this..”
“ This is the truth . I sincerely apologize with my confession…” I told him how alone I hatched the plan to fool him. I also showed the secret marks on the post card made by me.
His face was serious. “okay..” he took a deep breath. He was really hurt. I looked to his eyes . I really went a bit more than needed. I should have told him the truth when he came to me very first time.
He thought for a while. “ any way neh… i forgive you….but I really felt betrayed…”
As he said, he really did forgive me and our friendship remained the same even after this incident. There were few more such acts by me even after this incident but he has forgiven me everytime….
Awesome Nehbhai..i look forward to your postings everytime.I could not believe you could play such a prank on anyone..lol..
ReplyDeletehello,i am jasmine here...i want to say something about this guy too...he was the best competitor i had in my life...he taught me meaning of healthy competition,free of dirty games,free of jealousy,free of any hiding..as i was from gujrati medium, my answer sheet of first terminal exams was very much messy...beji said only one word for it HORRIBLE. BUT this noble boy taught me how to write a clean and impressive answers,and thanks to him,my answer sheets their after were the best in the class. our batch was known by his name,as he was popular in teachers, esp female teachers.the only negative point in him was his vulnerability, and negative approach...but after getting attached to neh, i found out that this is in genes of nagars....all nagars are negative in their views...it was our final university practical exams of surgery. as i was local, i was not aware which clinical cases are there. he came to me, as usual very much stressed, and said "hey jasmine, do you know raspberry tumour is in exams?" i said nope,only 10 min was left for exams..i said, let us read it..he was typically "whinning" -- "aaare jasmine, tane hu mari halatni shu wat karu,kal mari ewi halat hati...mane khabar che kaya cases che,pan hu wanchi j nath sakto" i was worried as time was passing,i said "i will hear all your stories at length after exams, but let us read raspberry tumour NOW" and that was my case in exams...as far as i remember, he got gold medal for surgery...i missed it for one mark...we were good friends too, but any of his friends have to be a good listener. one day i made him to get in in auto forcefully,as he allowed 15 autos to pass, during his continuous one sided talk... we both, i and neh love and miss him. Can you guess about whom are we talking?..some more of his great qualities next time
ReplyDeletethank you chaula for reading my gunglish blogs. can you name the boy?
ReplyDeleteName is BC..someone decode it now.
ReplyDeleteWow...!! It took me to 1990 n 1991. Our batch was very unique. Everyone of us were unique.
ReplyDeleteBC, as Jasmine refered, is the one with a very friendly personality and a very soothing smile.
His signature is very different and if you see it once, you won't forget it.
He was recently in India and came to Rajkot on Dhuleti but we could not meet.
Of course, Jasmine, we all love Bimal and miss him too.
BC deserves more comments from seniors and juniors... comments please!!
ReplyDeleteBimal Chaya??
ReplyDeleteYes... bimal chhaya...icon of our batch...there is lot more stuff about him with me.. i request you all to add anything about him in comments. presently he is serving somewhere at dubai as a chief anesthetist. his family is at ahmedabad. When i asked his formal permission for writing a blog about him, he said in his typical way "lakh . tare je lakhwu hoy te... mari life to khulli kitab jewi chhe ...tane to khabar j chhe...!"
ReplyDeletei appreciate him for his tolerance for me. Not only in college days but also at present times.
Nehbhai,Don't worry about the language.You are doing just fine.Besides,English is certainly not our mother tongue.You should see Spanish speaking community here.They are here for years and years and cannot say a word in English.We are far far better than that.
ReplyDeletejust a comment about Nagars and negative approach-we are definately very opinionated and are bold enough to express it.Also,we are out of the box thinkers,square peg in round hole kind of people but are never afraid to be "different".This eccentricity has actually led to great successes and geniuses.Going against the grain is difficult but it makes you pioneer as well!
thanks chaula for both of your points. i will foreward OUR VIEW about nagars to jasmine!
ReplyDeleteit is amazing to know what used to happen in the college during those times. I thought i was well aware about what was happening around me but i realize that i was in the living in my foolish world thinking that i knew everything. I have a good impression of all the boys around me. somehow i had a feeling that guys were really good and brough up very well by their families unlike guys like us from surat who were non social and unpolished in their approach to anything. I used to think that main goal of being there was to study besides all the other exitement in terms of being independent, girls and hanging out. I never did such a microscopic analysis of what was happening around me but it is really intersting to know what goes on in normal world. Someone is trying to establish his/her idnetity....while other is trying to impress girls...some is trying to prove himeslef in front of his mates( don't understand why??) by stripping ....while some appreciate the other for beinng born intelligent...!!! strangly..i saw myself different from all these gesture which are probably normal....and me being abnormal stayed away from all of these and kind of smiled inside as i do today when i look at my kids trying to accomplish something. Although i carried an impression of someone who was trying to impress girls which i can say was completely wrong but I never really bothered to correct people's thinking about me because i did not care what others thoguth about me. Neh, jasmine shah and miss jasmine and tapasvi were all sacred guys in my eyes ..cause i could never become like me...and they sill are very sacred as they have not changed much i believe. I always thought that me, dhabu , jagat were not rated highly in their eyes as we were gungho types of guys without any mission in life. but we always admired neh et al for what the were and still admire them for what they are. As for the Bimal...i thought that he was always looking for something that he thought he did not have. jokingly we used to say a personality crisis. A very nice guy ,,,,gem of a person but not being appreciated enough especially by girls and guys making fun of him very frequently....a guy who is very emotionaly from inside with very strong feeling but no takers for him...a guy appreciated for handwriting and presentation but not in the frontline .....and all these things making him rebelious in his approach at times by firey expression in terms of shouting..stripping...or laughing......correct me BC if i am wrong anywhere. I always admired you as a person and as a friend..thouugh we never kept in touch but would like to get back in touch...
ReplyDeletepls pardon my english and grammer as i did not have enough patience to go back and correct ...thanks
ReplyDeletedear anonymous friend
ReplyDeletefirst, i thought, u r dhabu. i read your response again just to get confused if you are pragnesh! i feel you are pragnesh and would like to add we all had and have good impression for you. you were definitely liked by most of the girls! that fact should not be denied. it is human for anyone to be envious for that! your opinion had always been seen with great respect in the class. your analysis of BC is almost perfect if you ask me. BC has changed a lot. he has read my blog but has refrained from giving comment!
Neh..you cant be wrong. Your mind and all connections are like latest computer software. I am sorry about not writing my name. I did not realize that i had to do that as i mentioned earlier i am not very familiar with such blogs. I would like BC to come forward and say something. I am really enjoying these communications as they are bringing back my lost past to me and feeling of being back among you guys. I want the discussion to surface again and want to enjoy the agreement, arguemnts and disagreements with respect to all of you...regards
ReplyDeletethank you pragnesh!
ReplyDelete