Wonder Years.... Part 1 - Abhi

It was always the banging of doors and a recent Hindi song that used to wake me up.
Abhi has just entered my room cleaning the floor.
It used to be my Alarm clock to get up for school. His mother,a professional maid used her son to help her effectively do concurrent household work, while she was still busy completing her duties around neighborhood.

Abhi was a transformed name form of Abhoy.A joyful source of energy and a box of huge entertainment for me. I will come to the entertainment part later.
But the main reason which used to stun me was his attitude to take life head on at such a little age.
In a family of numerous brothers and sisters he was always fighting for his own survival.
Be it food or lodging. Hailing from a very poor family his only ray of hope was Ajay Devgan's stunts(widely hit acts in those times).
And he used to blindly follow his dialogs as words from GOD.

Every morning my mother had to really shout at him to shut his fluent hindi songs.
No matter he had enough food last night or not but he won't show any less enrgy in dancing to the songs while working.

My mother used to advise her mother,Natthi not to send him for work and get him to some school instead. But Natthi was too clever to do that. She was using him as a source of income very easily.

So my mother got a bit agitated one day and took on the plunge to educate Abhi.So after the daily work my mother started teaching him alphabets,words,etc.
Slowly in a couple of months time he was able to write his own name and read english words.
He came running home one day."Behenji, maine aaj dukan main apna naam likh diya. dukaan wala dekhke pagal ho gaya".

My mother told "good now I will teach you how to write Bengali".
Though she said it lighly, in a couple of years he used to speak with us in fluent Bengali.

So much influence was Ajay Devgan having on his life that he started keeping similar hair style and used to talk in similar fashion.
He used to relate to one of his movies - Footpath.
On every occasion he used to deliver a dialog from that movie.

One day he came running home."Behenji , ab main kya karu" he said and started crying.
After many attempts we came to know he was riding his new cycle to home.
One guy asked for a lift. But later punched him down to take away his cycle.

I said "why didn't you use the Devgan flat kicks?".
"Bhaiya ,usko to main dhundke marunga . kahan jayega"

Well he could never find the guy but his father did his duties pretty hard on Abhi.


For next 10 days he was untraceable. His mother used to cry every day.They almost lost hope.

Suddenly one Sunday he arrived at our house.
"Kahan tha tu" I asked.

The answer really stunned me.
"Bapu ne maara to ghar chhodke Mumabi ka train pakad liya tha"
And then came his adventure story.

How he eloped, and managed to reach Mumbai dodging the ticket checker.
With no money fell into a trap of fish sellers and had to run away.
Last but not least.Went on to search the house of Ajay Devgan.

When he really had enough came back home.
"Bhaiya yeah film sab bakwas dikhate hai" He profoundly declared.

As usual I always used to say " nahin nahin sab asli hota hai"

I saw his excitement in his eyes have turned down.
He has just experienced the real world in a hard way.


The incident changed that guy.
Suddenly as if he has realized his poverty, his helplessness.

Suddenly he could quantify his position.


Years passed on. Now when I visit Mathura he is still there and always make a point to meet us.
Now he has 2 daughters.He makes sure all of them are going to school.
He has really matured.

I asked him "Kya hua tera devgan ka style kyon chhod diya"

"Chhodo Bhaiya , abhi pet chalana hai"


There were many incidents which happened with him but he still remembers me , my mother who perhaps enlightened him to knowledge as much as possible.