Hinterland journalism... of the yellow kind !

I just wanted to share some of the really youthy and bizarre tales I've heard from my stay in the Nemad region of Dewas district, Madhya Pradesh.

I really hope you enjoy the stories as much as I did listening to them.

Some of the names of the persons are fictional. And some creative license has been used to garnish the spicy tales with extra masala... but the events are true, and I have been true to the spirit of my many story tellers !

Go ahead and enjoy ... Love, Sex aur Dhoka... with additional bonus features of Dhamaka.

What?  How can I end with a bang? with dhamaka ?
Picture abhi bhi baaki hai dost... as they say. In keeping with the spirit of feel-goodness that is important in Indian story-telling, I have ended with a much deserved 'Happy Ending'.... :)

PS : You pervert boys... its not the happy ending that you're thinking of ! 

Love...

This is the village of Panduthalab. It has a majority Kurku population, but has a sizable population of Bhillala, Barela tribes as well. There are also a few Muslim families here. There is a government school here, and at least a majority of the kids attend it, till the 10th standard.

There was this girl who used to study reasonably well. She was a Bhillala. The 3 teachers who used to frequent the school (more appropriate than 'teach at the school') from time to time, used to have a good opinion of her, as among the few girls who could read English, albeit very slowly. Among the other students, she also had an impression of being a clever girl, and at times… Cunning !

She was seen hanging around a slightly older boy many times. Also, boys in her class used to say that she has done 'several favours' for money. Thus, this girl somehow developed a rather bad reputation, at least among the boys.

Some weeks back, she went missing. So did the slightly older guy. And he happened to be a Muslim.

Soon, the families erupted. A group of Bhillala families demanded answers from the muslim families. So much so that, many were asking them to be removed from the village.

At this point, apparently, many students told the girl's father… that the girl herself was "like that only"
and that she would do ANYTHING for money… at which point, the dad apparently went … "Oh.. Like that, so my girl is of bad character. Its her fault", and ceasefire was declared. (Sorry, but this is genuinely how I was told the story ! :P )  

Here's where a few of her friends say that our 17 yr old heroine was truly in love with the 23 yr old boy. Lets hope that’s the case… for it would seem true love has prospered. 

Meanwhile, no one knows where they actually fled !   

Sex...

This is a story from a village called Nimmanpur. Now, most of us wouldn't have heard of this place. But out here, everyone knows Nimmanpur. Its all because of what happened here over the last 6 months. It’s the talk of the whole tehsil folks! 

You see, there was a marriage some time back in Nimmanpur. The girl looked good, and was sought after by many. The groom considered himself lucky and was looking forward to a very "satisfying" married life… hahaha. 

And apparently it was so for a few weeks. The young couple enjoyed themselves thoroughly apparently!  Lets call this dude 'A'. 

Then one day… she went missing. It later transpired that she had eloped with another dude, B from the same village. Obviously, A's family erupted. A's folks barged into B's family and relatives, and fist fights ensued. The panchayat intervened. B reluctantly returned with our heroine. As a satisfactory order that pleased all, the panchayat ordered that the girl could stay with B, and that B should pay a lump sum amount to A. He did that gladly. 

Everyone was happy… what a nice way to end this great story… what weird shit right ??

WRONG ... there's one person you've underestimated in this narration so far … our heroine herself !

A little after a week of this commotion, she again eloped with another dude C from the very same village ! Again the same feud ensued, A's family laughed all their way. C too reluctantly came back, and he too ended up paying the exact same amount, with added interest to B.  Seriously folks ! 

Just when we thought it was all getting over, she did it once again, and eloped with her neighbour this time, D. The only problem is that D isn't returning like B and C did. So, all the commotion and chaos has now been deflected to D's dad, who truly is the real focus of our story… His is the name, and his is the plight that has caught the attention and gained the sympathy of the entire Nemad region. I shall refrain from naming him online… but shall surely bring it up in private conversations with you folks! A true legend he has become. I have his pic too.

He has no idea where his son is, does not have the money for his son's escapades, and is being hounded by C's family for the cash !

His hopes are that the girl will eventually run away with another E, so that C can directly get his money from E, and he can wriggle his way out of this loop…  That my friends, is pure native genius. No wonder, this man's such a legend out here.  

Dhoka !

This story comes from the village of Sitapuri. This is slightly tight-knit community with lots of large families. Most people seem to be distantly related to most others here.

One of most outspoken women, Ranibai also happened to be a SHG leader here. Her strong and caring personality has won her many friends here, and is one of the reasons for the SHG's success in Sitapuri.

However, not everyone is so awed by her talents. Least of all, her neighbour, Lakshmi Bai. She is a widow with a 15 year old daughter.

One fine morning, Ranibai's 8 year old son passed by Lakshmi's house on his way home. That afternoon, she noticed that a pack containing Rs.20,000 went missing. She soon went shouting all over the village that Rani's son stole it. On coming back home in ten minutes, the pack was again found exactly where it was earlier.

Lakshmi alleged that Rani's son stole, and kept it back out of fear, while Rani alleged that it was lakshmi's own daughter who stole it and then returned it out of fear.

Apparently, theirs was feud with some prior history. Lakshmi was earlier a part of the SHG headed by Rani. She had privately sold off some equipment belonging to the SHG and was hence expelled. Rani felt that for a long time, Lakshmi has tried to character assassinate her.

Rani says, her reputation of integrity has been tarnished. She proudly said she protected 2 lakhs of the SHG money at home, not allowing her husband to touch it for his Mahua sessions. 

And everytime they've had a fight, she has always backed down.

"Not this time baby", she said…

Rani filed a police complaint against her neighbour, for selling illegal Ganja, and for other amorous offences. She then pledged to make some videos of her and use it as evidence for it ! She says, "I know the kind of people who frequent young widows !" .

This story is far from being over … I shall be in constant touch with my friends in this village for sure !

Dhamaka !

Kranti at Mirzapur .

The village, Mirzapur is unheard of to most, and will remain so. Nothing particularly noteworthy had happened in this village in the past. And whatever story I shall narrate here too shall be forgotten pretty soon. But its nothing short of remarkable.

This is an entirely tribal village, with a majority of them being Bhillala Thakur, a sub-tribe of the Bhil family of tribes. It comes very close to the forests lying on the Udainagar-Katkut road.  These forests were all owned by the Forests Dept. For several years now, a stretch of land had been farmed upon by the tribals, and suddenly the Forest Dept. woke up to this fact, in 2009. They claimed it was forest land. Some villagers claimed it was their ancestral land, and not owned by the Forest Dept.

The exact truth is hidden somewhere, all that we know are some of its different hues.

This created quite a flutter in Mirzapur, and rumblings of a displeasure began.

Some discussions and queries ensued between the panchayat and the forest officials. However, what transpired after that is both fuzzy and unknown to me. All we know is that these talks were never successful. Thus, the people who were going to lose their lands, and the village in general were unsure of what is going to happen of this issue. The situation was uncertain, at best. All this of course, was only until a certain Mr.Bannerjee appeared on the scene.

This man spent weeks with them, talking to them about their plight, about their rights, and about the limits of the rights of the state. He gave them several books, that the kids attending school could read. Once he was sufficiently convinced that they could take matters into their own hands, when they were sufficiently enthused by his ideas. This was when he played his trump, and last card… He supplied them with guns and fled!

Tantio Mamo was what they called their lands, after their legendary Tantio Baba, a leader of the Bhil Uprisings of the 19th century against the British. Together with their new found vigour, and guns… they screamed their battle cry,

"Humrio Hai, Humrio Hai ...Tantio Mamo Humrio Hai"

 14-15 of them laid out plans and started attacking the forest range offices. The forest dept had to call on the state police. The village was cordoned off. Massive check posts came up along the other village roads. In meanwhile, the gun battle intensified. It went on for a couple of days, apparently. Four villagers and a policeman died in the battle, before it finally stopped.

The exact status of the land is still uncertain. The 11 remaining fighters maintained that they defeated the police.

The village built a monument, a memorial on their behalf. It is still venerated. It is a stone structure of their Baba Tantio in the middle, surrounded by the villagers who died in battle.

No one of course knows whatever happened to Mr.Bannerjee.  

Its actually sad that further details couldn't be collected… but what a chilling story indeed !

PS: One should also note how the Bhil Uprisings of the 1860's is a part of their memory, it is embedded in their living heritage. Either that, or it’s a re-invocation, some sort of a political message to re-kindle Bhil identity and solidarity in recent times.   

And a Happy Ending !

The first ever love marriage of Borkhalya village… the guy and girl used to like each other. They wanted to get married. The girl's dad started looking outside the village for alliances, as was the custom. That’s when the couple made their move. But instead of running away, they chose to stay, convince and win over their parents.

The elders were aghast that people from the same village are looking to marry each other, which is when other instances of youngsters running away from home, in other villages were cited. The elders soon understood that the times were indeed changing, and soon approved of the union.

The wedding was such a lavish extravaganza, lasting for a whole 8 days. Well, it was an expensive affair, but after all, their family honour was at stake. No dowry was paid, and no money exchanged between the families.

And thus was completed the first ever love marriage of Borkhalya village… 

Development is happening :) :)

PS: All you useless tharudhala boys... village youths are assaulta correcting off,  what're we doing da?? :((

The Politics of the 2G scam

As the year ends, I finally felt like resurrecting my dead blog, after a gap of 15 months!

This year has been dominated by scams and corruption scandals, from Adarsh to CWG, and several other thousand everyday scams that are part of routine life in India. But surely, the “Best Scam of the Year” award has got to be given to the 2G scam.

I take this opportunity to thank Mr. Raja and his friends on this memorable achievement. Beating the likes of Suresh Kalmadi, Sharad Pawar, Ashok Chavan, etc is no easy task, mind you...

However, instead of the usual bemoaning of corruption in India, I’d like to take a more cynical and sadistic approach and try understand the politics of the scam.

I believe that the scam has got to be read in the light of the actual battle within the DMK, Stalin vs Azhagiri (or Alagiri, as he likes to call himself now!). Anywhere you travel in Tamil Nadu, you will be greeted with tremendously large and numerous posters of the principle players. The sheer number and density of these posters is an indication of the behind-the-scenes jostling for power among the cadres. And depending on the subject of the poster, we can also find out if that area is Stalin-territory, or Alagiri-nadu. Of course, one thing you’ll never find is a poster having both their faces, in equal size!

It’s no secret as to who the “Old Man” prefers. His favourite son and political heir is certainly Stalin. The rise of Alagiri is nothing short of remarkable, a real life Don Corleone. Kalaignar had always tried to do without Alagiri. But Alagiri and his goons just outmuscled all DMK affiliated goons in Madurai. For close to ten years, Madurai witnessed a number of high profile murders of DMK men. All this led to repeated electoral defeats for the DMK in Madurai and the southern districts in general. Thus, for a long time, people considered the south as an ADMK bastion. It climaxed in the murder of Kiruttinan, the Madurai dist. chief of DMK, while he was on his morning walk in 2003, allegedly by Alagiri. Obviously, this case remains unsolved... how convenient!

Thus, the repeated electoral failures, and cadre deaths, convinced Kalaignar that he simply cannot do without his elder son. Alagiri, thus bulldozed his way into the party. The results of the 2006 assembly and 2009 general elections are proof of Alagiri’s effect on the DMK’s southern victories. However, once he joined the DMK mainstream, he realised that within the DMK, Stalin was all-powerful. He saw that all those loyal to Kalaignar would natural become loyal to Stalin. He also saw that the reason for Stalin’s clout was his robust financial base. And that it was all because of his enduring friendship with the Maran empire.

This enemity of the Marans was also mutual. The Marans were firmly, and resolutely on Stalin’s side. They too indulged in their own games, using all their media networks against the “Madurai Veeran”. As a result, his goons in Madurai ransacked and demolished the Maran’s media offices in Madurai in 2008. The fallout of this is obviously known to everybody, with Dayanidhi “resigning” from the cabinet. Kalaignar stepped in and made sure that at least publicly they should portray a united face, which explains the public family reunion in 2009.

Alagiri knew that he cannot possibly compete with Stalin financially. He saw that Dayanidhi Maran was attempting some major scam during his tenure as Telecom Minister. Thus, he made Kanimozhi (one of his few English speaking friends) fight for Raja’s ministership. The 2G scam was thus, Alagiri’s attempt at financial parity with Stalin.

As we all know that electoral victories are proportional to financial clout, one can see how big the stakes for A.Raja were. His job was to sufficiently fund Alagiri’s May 2011 campaign.

Thus we can see the clear link between electoral wins, ministerial berths and party coffers. How the DMK has enjoyed a continuous run in Cabinet from 1999 onwards. How the same period has coincided with the rising financial clout of the Marans. How they have always had ministries like Water Transport, Roadways, IT, Telecom, etc, ministries which are considered “ATMs”. Thus it is this continuous ministerial berth that has helped people like the Marans, T.R.Baalu help the DMK enjoy phenomenal electoral success of late. Not surprisingly, both the above mentioned names firmly in the Stalin camp. Alagiri desperately needed at least one of his people in those ministries.

In this whole story, where is Jayalalithaa, you ask??

As you see, rising finances for DMK meant major electoral defeats for ADMK, and as a result, further loss of revenues for the party. She too finds it increasingly difficult to compete financially with Stalin. Thus, ADMK’s major hope will be to capitalise on a divided DMK vote between Stalin and Alagiri (should Alagiri split the party). Otherwise, for her to beat a combined DMK would be nothing short of a miracle (whether Vijaykanth, or Vijay can help her in miracles is completely another story! )

Also, if at all she does perform a miracle and wins in May. You can expect some really major corruption from her side, because after all, she’s got a lot of ground to cover!!!