It was year 2001, I then worked in a company at a middle management level, we had offices and projects all over the country. We had an agreement with the Indian Airlines to book their flights for all our company’s business requirements at a concessional fare. The result, we employees never got to fly by the private airlines.
Private airlines had started coming up in a big way, post liberalization of the Indian economy. Both domestic and international flights were flown by these upcoming private airliners. Most fliers found the services of these private airlines to be much better. Particularly interesting, to the middle-age group and the young fliers, were the ‘air hostesses’, having great bodies and in snugly fitted hip-tights.
Right from the inception, Ring Fisher, a private airline earned quite a reputation for its excellent service. Their air hostesses became very famous and a topic of discussion among the often-bored frequent flier’s community. The managers and CEOs of renowned and big companies even had their own favourites, they knew the names of the favourite air-hostesses, their ages, even the number of pilots each was ‘linked’ to. As the saying went, some air hostesses were quite ‘co-operative’ with the executive class fliers of Ring Fisher airlines. Of course, there used to be big braggers among the business class fliers, and that who ‘got’ how much from which sexy air hostess, needless to say, there were extreme levels of exaggerations too.
The month was September a pleasant weather all over. The entire country would get into a frenzy of festivities within just two of months, ‘Diwali’ for the ‘bhiyas’ in lucknow, my present destination, extravaganza and enjoyment in every home, every house would be decorated with all sorts of colours, ‘diyas’ and decoratives, for sure, its cheers and happiness everywhere.
I lived and worked in Mumbai, and had to visit Kanpur. It was an urgent official tour, during the time, as usual India Airlines employees had gone on a strike for not getting salary at par with their international counterparts. The Indian govt. won’t budge, saying, these pilots and staff are not even graduates, already were being paid around Rs 2 lakh (pilot) a month ! anyway, the strike went on….and on....
In came the ‘moolah’ for the private airlines and they literally minted money consuming all the regular fliers of IA, including our company’s.
My ticket was booked in Ring Fisher from Mumbai to Luknow since Kanpur did not have an airport.
Ring Fisher airlines was owned by a man who was the country’s largest liquor producer. Being a tea-totaller, I always disliked this man for destroying the country's young fragile fabric to make a fast buck. He was more famous for being ‘too close’ with his air hostesses whom he always hand picked himself. He also earned the credit for producing a ‘calendar’ filled with (95% naked) women in different sexy postures, poses of ‘sex acts’, to be more precise. Many of his airhostesses used to take part in the competition for the selection of the most sexy model for that exclusive calendar. The calendar was so exclusive that only 100 prints were made every year. The richest and the most famous of the country got as a gift, this calendar became a status symbol for them all.
For many years I had got bored seeing ‘saree-clad’ IA airhostesses, this was a welcome change I thought, I had been a little curious to see the famous Ring Fisher-air hostesses. Also, perhaps, to verify if my own beauty queen was really the best . I had earlier fallen for a very beautiful and ‘attractive’ young woman in my Mumbai neighbourhood, in a one-sided manner. She always held herself like a princess and moved like a fashion model. As a further comparision, while the air hostesses exclusively wore hip-tights, a popular demand of the fliers. My girl loved to wear slacks and transparent cotton kurtas, since her important others liked her that way or perhaps she wore that on a popular demand. I was selfish, I liked her only in jeans and opaque kurtas. Slacks and transparent kurtas....only for my eyes, no one else's. About these air hostesses’ attires, I did not care much, since I had no space of exclusivity.
The air hostesses were really pretty oh…no…sexy, but no way near mine ?, that’s called falling for someone, you just can’t like anyone else in the world.
Whatever, I entered the Mumbai Airport rather too early, at 10 AM for the noon flight.
While waiting in the sofas for security check …..I spotted a rather restless, yet physically weak and jubilant young man around 25/26 years old, dirty hair, dirty clothes, unkempt, poor by the very looks, sitting in a sofa a little away from me. He was very restless, often getting off his seat and moving out to different nearby locations…..observing everyone in a very close yet a casual way…He had no fears or inhibitions in an ambience filled with aristocracy, luxury, affluence and above all pretence and sham.
The man was very happy, perhaps the first flight of his life, full of enthusiasm yet visibly weak, very weak. Had the keenness to learn everything about an airport and the airways, the fliers.....in just a day. He wanted to make friends with almost everyone present there, but who there would make friends with ‘him’ ?
He was accompanied by another man about 8/10 years older, similar dress, looks.. obviously this was the elder brother. Opposite in nature, to the younger one, very quiet, grave, poised and extremely careful not to disturb the atmosphere they did not obviously belong to. He looked just like the younger brother, he was ever too shameful of all the acts of his brother and very cautious lest the younger sibling disturbed someone nearby. The younger brother talked in a very loud voice and in village Hindi, typical of their class of people one would infer.
It was very obvious that the two brothers were from the poor class of UP, also called ‘bhaiyas’. Some ‘Sauvé couples’ gave them derogatory looks, to say, how dare you travel with us, sit beside us, move so close and speak so loudly ? One only wondered how such people could travel by flights, was the question on all the eyes that fell on them.
I understood…for them, it must’ve been an emergency, someone’s death or a sudden illness or a land dispute, may be….
During his continual stroll, the younger brother came very close to me and looked into my laptop, which I use, to write stories when I’m out. He sat down very close, to ask me what it was, irritated, I said it’s a computer, called Laptop.
He smelt of country liquor, I started to make irritated faces at him so as to copy the affluent class or I felt I would not be behaving the way a ‘regular’ flier should. He never minded and asked me more and more questions, many of which I never bothered to answer. His elder brother soon came to my help, ohh…..he too had plumpy reddish eyes….but unlike the younger one, he was stable, his movements were normal and balanced and a very gentle soft person, he did not open his mouth even for once. He took his younger brother away.
The young man continued with his enthusiasm, trying to accost and befriend almost all the waiting fliers, asking where each lived and what each did. Each flier finally moved away, with a face of contempt and disgust, leave alone becoming ‘his’ friend. The elder brother every time came to the rescue of the beleaguered supposedly rich flier.
Boarding time arrived I boarded and forgot about this duo brothers and trying to find my own seat… ohh no….they are my neighbours !, the younger one, now staggered into his favourite window seat in a hurry, as if someone else would occupy it otherwise. The elder one took the middle, I had the bay-seat. I pretended to be quite annoyed by their presence since I was supposed to behave that way. The elder brother felt very sorry for my pretentious trouble.
The young man tried to look out through the window, he kept peeping through his favourite window, so small a window it was, it disheartened him to no ends. The flight took off…..I could see the unbelievable expressions on his virgin face…..he reminded me of my own childhood, I flew to Agartalla a 45-min journey, as a small boy with my mother. I still remember vividly, my first flight and how excited I was to see the double-decker buses of Calcutta, slowly become tiny moving toy-like objects…...
I felt good….at least, some one was enjoying Mumbai’s plethora of skyscrapers…..just like a bird….
soon the landscape disappeared only to be filled with endless stream of stationary clouds….
Ohh I totally forgot about the airhostesses …..they were there…..but I did not notice……actually none interested me then…..yet…when they started to move around ….I found the younger brother was all eyes, there was one air hostess, who had a good face and an equally attractive figure…..in a cut-to-fit hip-tight. My young friend immediately asked me to exchange seats with him.
I presumed that he wanted to be close to the airhostesses, to enjoy a different kind of natural beauty. I obliged…..now he was in the bay seat, quite close to all the air hostesses passing by….
I was now to give company to the very lonely clouds and was so happy to be able look into a secluded endless space of mine, into the blue sky, my Mumbai neighbour and me….my eyes closed on their own, leaving a smile on my happy face.
In just 15 mins, I was woken up, first came in the water bottles, the younger brother was shell shocked to see such ‘colourful attractive fine women’ and unbelievably ‘close to his class of people’ and him, he was really enjoying the sight of so many beauties ? Women, he could only imagine to be able to see from far, inside luxury cars, now serving him hand to hand. His ego shot up in seconds, he felt he was so special, so powerful and he felt he belonged to the same class as theirs, perhaps higher.
He was asked if he liked to take a water bottle, he felt flattered to no ends, he said ‘han…han…han….han….’ very loudly, first he took one bottle then saw me take two, (I drink quite a lot of water), instantaneously he called out, ‘mujhe bhi do botlen chaihe’ he got his next. While receiving the next bottle he gave a ‘very close look’ at the ‘body’ of this attractive air hostess. She hated it, and made it obvious to all. The hostess kept moving away from him in the bay, but he never moved his eyes, looking at the ‘body’ of the hostess constantly turning his head and bending his neck as much as he needed to, but never lost sight of her even for a second. The elder brother was feeling really embarrassed and apologetic all the way, but who had time to take notice of this decent man.
While serving bottles along the bay, the hostess often abruptly turned around and showed a very nasty face at this inebriated-uncouth-unkempt-poor-dehati, constantly looking at her 'back'. He remained unperturbed…..unmoved ……and continued with his ‘looks’.
After the bottles were given away, she disappeared from his sight, but how could she go away, he kept on looking up and down the long bay….constantly waiting for her to arrive again…….
Came in the lunch time,…..but this was on a payment basis…..so, not many customers, except me and of course, him. I was too hungry and he too was …but his hunger was of a different kind, that of that air hostess.
He started to order item after item, what ever was there to eat….co-fliers got worried as to how this guy would pay….but his elder brother obiliged the younger one all along paying thousands of rupees, it shocked everyone including me, they were so rich ? Rs 30 a cup of tea and 5 cups, 6 sandwiches ! but the elder brother did not mind in the least or tell the younger one why he was wasting more than eating, it was very obvious the younger one was desperately trying to ‘impress’ that air hostess and felt so flattered to be served by ‘her’.
Soon the lunch business was over and all went back. This fellow was relentless and waited and waited for the hostess to come again, good luck, she comes in again to check if everyone was over and to take away the wastes….lucky him, he was aroused once again, this time he could not control himself….he deliberately touched and felt her hand while giving off the wastes, she got wild…..stared at the man…waited there to make a point to the nearby fliers, then went away, furious…..
After a while, she came in again to check if everyone was ok with the seat belts as there was a little bad weather..in the offing….pilot announced…she found him without a properly locked seat belt, asked him to tighten it. He said " mujhe maloom nahin kaise bandhte hai, aap hi bandh dijiye na and caught her hand to force her to tighten his belt. Hell broke loose….she slapped him….first thing….went away……
For the aeroplane, the inclement weather passed by…without we coming to know about…….but the entire weather for this brother couple went inclement then onwards.....
Soon afterwards, she brought in, two stewards and a security personnel upto our seats. The males caught hold of this brother’s shirt….and slapped him a few time, very hard at that !…..after a lot of pleading from the elder brother and me, they left with a promise to hand him over to the airport police on landing…..I shuddered, foreseeing trouble for this man….
After landing, he was literally dragged by the collar, aided by his own inebriation and a weak to very weak physical state….he was taken away almost half-hanging by the security personnel double his size…..he was dragged along, only the chain was missing. Some curious fliers went along and so did the hostesses…at the police post inside the Lucknow airport, the cynosure narrated the incident with lots of extras, handed him over to a young handsome policeman with a 'handshake and a smile’, to teach the classless man a lesson of his life…..perhaps….
All fliers disappeared soon along with the crew except a few like me….he was then taken a little away by the police, around quarter of a km from the airport to the main road, I followed and ohh god !!! what a beating with a policeman’s stick….and booting in literal terms….what cries I heard…..I saw the elder brother had no energy to speak or plead, he had earlier exhausted all of it, trying to persuade the crew….and the merciless attractive air hostess, now his heart broke seeing this inhuman beating of his childhood company….his own younger brother….he collapsed on my shoulder….as the beating went on unabated……by that young police man, …..
’ladkion ko chedte ho,….air hostess…ka haath pakadte ho ...sala…..teri ma,……behen…ch.………….chal police station…..…daru peeke plane chadte ho…..after the policeman got exhausted beating him, he was now to be dragged into a police van standing nearby, to be taken into police custody at the nearby police station…….I sensed more trouble…….
an idea struck me, by then the younger brother had already collapse onto the dirty footpath, the police left him on the ground….to moan, weep and cry. Taking this lull, I braved myself, I gestured to a police man to come with me, he understood.... took him a little away…. shoved a 500-buck note into his just opened palm, he then called out at the thrashing policeman, who was still busy repaying the 'handshake and smile’, he too was shown the money.
……………
I had to write a statement, as the only witness, that I thought it was an accident and a misunderstanding, I so did quite happily.
Now, it was me and the brothers, the younger one was bleeding from his lips and numerous face and body cuts received while being dragged and beaten….almost unconscious by now, could not stand up, some auto drivers immediately rushed to help, to hold the injured man….I told the elder one, “lets take him to a hospital”….he refused…he said he wanted to get him to the home first.....thing...
Their village fell on the highway, in between Lucknow and Kanpur, I saw painful tears in his eyes….rolling down constantly and silently….for the child who grew up in his own lap…..now unconscious….
I realized that a younger sibling remains ever a child to the elder one, the younger ones fondly call ‘bhaiya’.
I hired a taxi for Kanpur, ….and offered to drop them at the highway, there was no alternative left for him, having spent almost all the money he had, the ‘bhaiya’ agreed and thanked me immensely.
They lost their father quite early, all responsibility of the family fell on this elder brother, to run the family, to put the younger ones into jobs…. they were poor farmers from a village called… bindi, and were not a rich couple of brothers….every penny was so very hard earned….he told me in the taxi…..
About two years ago, this younger brother got a job of a casual labour, getting work for a week every month, in a pesticide producing company…..
The village comes up, I still hear the moans from the rear seat, of the semi-conscious lecherous drunkard, lying of the lap of his elder brother. We stop on the highway and the beaten up man was physically lifted into a waiting auto…..from my taxi….
Just before their auto (a very large one) started off, I asked a personal question, the elder brother was still holding my hands in gratitude, we two still standing near my taxi on the highway around 20 meters away from the auto containing his younger brother…..
I said, ”Aagar chota bhai ka shadi nehin hua hai to shadi karadigiyega…..”,
the patriarch no longer could hold himself together, which he did so pretty well all along till then, under the most strenuous and trying situations, he now burst into a quiet sob ’ha…ha….ha…., he sobbed to himself.....
”bachpan se usse aeroplane chadneka shauk tha, ….Mumbai se laute samay le aaya aeroplane mein…. ”
“…Tata Memorial aspatal ke doctoron ne mujhe bolen then, ‘usse rokna maat…..uska har shauk zaroor pura karna……usse khushi me rakhna…usse jindagi ka maaza lootne do…..
who ek-do mahine se yada nahin jiyega…….."
Diwali is just two months away…..……
………………
I reached the hotel at Kanpur, just after an hour. A first glance at my face, the receptionist smiled…..he said, “ we serve liquor for 24 hours, right in your room Sir…”
Private airlines had started coming up in a big way, post liberalization of the Indian economy. Both domestic and international flights were flown by these upcoming private airliners. Most fliers found the services of these private airlines to be much better. Particularly interesting, to the middle-age group and the young fliers, were the ‘air hostesses’, having great bodies and in snugly fitted hip-tights.
Right from the inception, Ring Fisher, a private airline earned quite a reputation for its excellent service. Their air hostesses became very famous and a topic of discussion among the often-bored frequent flier’s community. The managers and CEOs of renowned and big companies even had their own favourites, they knew the names of the favourite air-hostesses, their ages, even the number of pilots each was ‘linked’ to. As the saying went, some air hostesses were quite ‘co-operative’ with the executive class fliers of Ring Fisher airlines. Of course, there used to be big braggers among the business class fliers, and that who ‘got’ how much from which sexy air hostess, needless to say, there were extreme levels of exaggerations too.
The month was September a pleasant weather all over. The entire country would get into a frenzy of festivities within just two of months, ‘Diwali’ for the ‘bhiyas’ in lucknow, my present destination, extravaganza and enjoyment in every home, every house would be decorated with all sorts of colours, ‘diyas’ and decoratives, for sure, its cheers and happiness everywhere.
I lived and worked in Mumbai, and had to visit Kanpur. It was an urgent official tour, during the time, as usual India Airlines employees had gone on a strike for not getting salary at par with their international counterparts. The Indian govt. won’t budge, saying, these pilots and staff are not even graduates, already were being paid around Rs 2 lakh (pilot) a month ! anyway, the strike went on….and on....
In came the ‘moolah’ for the private airlines and they literally minted money consuming all the regular fliers of IA, including our company’s.
My ticket was booked in Ring Fisher from Mumbai to Luknow since Kanpur did not have an airport.
Ring Fisher airlines was owned by a man who was the country’s largest liquor producer. Being a tea-totaller, I always disliked this man for destroying the country's young fragile fabric to make a fast buck. He was more famous for being ‘too close’ with his air hostesses whom he always hand picked himself. He also earned the credit for producing a ‘calendar’ filled with (95% naked) women in different sexy postures, poses of ‘sex acts’, to be more precise. Many of his airhostesses used to take part in the competition for the selection of the most sexy model for that exclusive calendar. The calendar was so exclusive that only 100 prints were made every year. The richest and the most famous of the country got as a gift, this calendar became a status symbol for them all.
For many years I had got bored seeing ‘saree-clad’ IA airhostesses, this was a welcome change I thought, I had been a little curious to see the famous Ring Fisher-air hostesses. Also, perhaps, to verify if my own beauty queen was really the best . I had earlier fallen for a very beautiful and ‘attractive’ young woman in my Mumbai neighbourhood, in a one-sided manner. She always held herself like a princess and moved like a fashion model. As a further comparision, while the air hostesses exclusively wore hip-tights, a popular demand of the fliers. My girl loved to wear slacks and transparent cotton kurtas, since her important others liked her that way or perhaps she wore that on a popular demand. I was selfish, I liked her only in jeans and opaque kurtas. Slacks and transparent kurtas....only for my eyes, no one else's. About these air hostesses’ attires, I did not care much, since I had no space of exclusivity.
The air hostesses were really pretty oh…no…sexy, but no way near mine ?, that’s called falling for someone, you just can’t like anyone else in the world.
Whatever, I entered the Mumbai Airport rather too early, at 10 AM for the noon flight.
While waiting in the sofas for security check …..I spotted a rather restless, yet physically weak and jubilant young man around 25/26 years old, dirty hair, dirty clothes, unkempt, poor by the very looks, sitting in a sofa a little away from me. He was very restless, often getting off his seat and moving out to different nearby locations…..observing everyone in a very close yet a casual way…He had no fears or inhibitions in an ambience filled with aristocracy, luxury, affluence and above all pretence and sham.
The man was very happy, perhaps the first flight of his life, full of enthusiasm yet visibly weak, very weak. Had the keenness to learn everything about an airport and the airways, the fliers.....in just a day. He wanted to make friends with almost everyone present there, but who there would make friends with ‘him’ ?
He was accompanied by another man about 8/10 years older, similar dress, looks.. obviously this was the elder brother. Opposite in nature, to the younger one, very quiet, grave, poised and extremely careful not to disturb the atmosphere they did not obviously belong to. He looked just like the younger brother, he was ever too shameful of all the acts of his brother and very cautious lest the younger sibling disturbed someone nearby. The younger brother talked in a very loud voice and in village Hindi, typical of their class of people one would infer.
It was very obvious that the two brothers were from the poor class of UP, also called ‘bhaiyas’. Some ‘Sauvé couples’ gave them derogatory looks, to say, how dare you travel with us, sit beside us, move so close and speak so loudly ? One only wondered how such people could travel by flights, was the question on all the eyes that fell on them.
I understood…for them, it must’ve been an emergency, someone’s death or a sudden illness or a land dispute, may be….
During his continual stroll, the younger brother came very close to me and looked into my laptop, which I use, to write stories when I’m out. He sat down very close, to ask me what it was, irritated, I said it’s a computer, called Laptop.
He smelt of country liquor, I started to make irritated faces at him so as to copy the affluent class or I felt I would not be behaving the way a ‘regular’ flier should. He never minded and asked me more and more questions, many of which I never bothered to answer. His elder brother soon came to my help, ohh…..he too had plumpy reddish eyes….but unlike the younger one, he was stable, his movements were normal and balanced and a very gentle soft person, he did not open his mouth even for once. He took his younger brother away.
The young man continued with his enthusiasm, trying to accost and befriend almost all the waiting fliers, asking where each lived and what each did. Each flier finally moved away, with a face of contempt and disgust, leave alone becoming ‘his’ friend. The elder brother every time came to the rescue of the beleaguered supposedly rich flier.
Boarding time arrived I boarded and forgot about this duo brothers and trying to find my own seat… ohh no….they are my neighbours !, the younger one, now staggered into his favourite window seat in a hurry, as if someone else would occupy it otherwise. The elder one took the middle, I had the bay-seat. I pretended to be quite annoyed by their presence since I was supposed to behave that way. The elder brother felt very sorry for my pretentious trouble.
The young man tried to look out through the window, he kept peeping through his favourite window, so small a window it was, it disheartened him to no ends. The flight took off…..I could see the unbelievable expressions on his virgin face…..he reminded me of my own childhood, I flew to Agartalla a 45-min journey, as a small boy with my mother. I still remember vividly, my first flight and how excited I was to see the double-decker buses of Calcutta, slowly become tiny moving toy-like objects…...
I felt good….at least, some one was enjoying Mumbai’s plethora of skyscrapers…..just like a bird….
soon the landscape disappeared only to be filled with endless stream of stationary clouds….
Ohh I totally forgot about the airhostesses …..they were there…..but I did not notice……actually none interested me then…..yet…when they started to move around ….I found the younger brother was all eyes, there was one air hostess, who had a good face and an equally attractive figure…..in a cut-to-fit hip-tight. My young friend immediately asked me to exchange seats with him.
I presumed that he wanted to be close to the airhostesses, to enjoy a different kind of natural beauty. I obliged…..now he was in the bay seat, quite close to all the air hostesses passing by….
I was now to give company to the very lonely clouds and was so happy to be able look into a secluded endless space of mine, into the blue sky, my Mumbai neighbour and me….my eyes closed on their own, leaving a smile on my happy face.
In just 15 mins, I was woken up, first came in the water bottles, the younger brother was shell shocked to see such ‘colourful attractive fine women’ and unbelievably ‘close to his class of people’ and him, he was really enjoying the sight of so many beauties ? Women, he could only imagine to be able to see from far, inside luxury cars, now serving him hand to hand. His ego shot up in seconds, he felt he was so special, so powerful and he felt he belonged to the same class as theirs, perhaps higher.
He was asked if he liked to take a water bottle, he felt flattered to no ends, he said ‘han…han…han….han….’ very loudly, first he took one bottle then saw me take two, (I drink quite a lot of water), instantaneously he called out, ‘mujhe bhi do botlen chaihe’ he got his next. While receiving the next bottle he gave a ‘very close look’ at the ‘body’ of this attractive air hostess. She hated it, and made it obvious to all. The hostess kept moving away from him in the bay, but he never moved his eyes, looking at the ‘body’ of the hostess constantly turning his head and bending his neck as much as he needed to, but never lost sight of her even for a second. The elder brother was feeling really embarrassed and apologetic all the way, but who had time to take notice of this decent man.
While serving bottles along the bay, the hostess often abruptly turned around and showed a very nasty face at this inebriated-uncouth-unkempt-poor-dehati, constantly looking at her 'back'. He remained unperturbed…..unmoved ……and continued with his ‘looks’.
After the bottles were given away, she disappeared from his sight, but how could she go away, he kept on looking up and down the long bay….constantly waiting for her to arrive again…….
Came in the lunch time,…..but this was on a payment basis…..so, not many customers, except me and of course, him. I was too hungry and he too was …but his hunger was of a different kind, that of that air hostess.
He started to order item after item, what ever was there to eat….co-fliers got worried as to how this guy would pay….but his elder brother obiliged the younger one all along paying thousands of rupees, it shocked everyone including me, they were so rich ? Rs 30 a cup of tea and 5 cups, 6 sandwiches ! but the elder brother did not mind in the least or tell the younger one why he was wasting more than eating, it was very obvious the younger one was desperately trying to ‘impress’ that air hostess and felt so flattered to be served by ‘her’.
Soon the lunch business was over and all went back. This fellow was relentless and waited and waited for the hostess to come again, good luck, she comes in again to check if everyone was over and to take away the wastes….lucky him, he was aroused once again, this time he could not control himself….he deliberately touched and felt her hand while giving off the wastes, she got wild…..stared at the man…waited there to make a point to the nearby fliers, then went away, furious…..
After a while, she came in again to check if everyone was ok with the seat belts as there was a little bad weather..in the offing….pilot announced…she found him without a properly locked seat belt, asked him to tighten it. He said " mujhe maloom nahin kaise bandhte hai, aap hi bandh dijiye na and caught her hand to force her to tighten his belt. Hell broke loose….she slapped him….first thing….went away……
For the aeroplane, the inclement weather passed by…without we coming to know about…….but the entire weather for this brother couple went inclement then onwards.....
Soon afterwards, she brought in, two stewards and a security personnel upto our seats. The males caught hold of this brother’s shirt….and slapped him a few time, very hard at that !…..after a lot of pleading from the elder brother and me, they left with a promise to hand him over to the airport police on landing…..I shuddered, foreseeing trouble for this man….
After landing, he was literally dragged by the collar, aided by his own inebriation and a weak to very weak physical state….he was taken away almost half-hanging by the security personnel double his size…..he was dragged along, only the chain was missing. Some curious fliers went along and so did the hostesses…at the police post inside the Lucknow airport, the cynosure narrated the incident with lots of extras, handed him over to a young handsome policeman with a 'handshake and a smile’, to teach the classless man a lesson of his life…..perhaps….
All fliers disappeared soon along with the crew except a few like me….he was then taken a little away by the police, around quarter of a km from the airport to the main road, I followed and ohh god !!! what a beating with a policeman’s stick….and booting in literal terms….what cries I heard…..I saw the elder brother had no energy to speak or plead, he had earlier exhausted all of it, trying to persuade the crew….and the merciless attractive air hostess, now his heart broke seeing this inhuman beating of his childhood company….his own younger brother….he collapsed on my shoulder….as the beating went on unabated……by that young police man, …..
’ladkion ko chedte ho,….air hostess…ka haath pakadte ho ...sala…..teri ma,……behen…ch.………….chal police station…..…daru peeke plane chadte ho…..after the policeman got exhausted beating him, he was now to be dragged into a police van standing nearby, to be taken into police custody at the nearby police station…….I sensed more trouble…….
an idea struck me, by then the younger brother had already collapse onto the dirty footpath, the police left him on the ground….to moan, weep and cry. Taking this lull, I braved myself, I gestured to a police man to come with me, he understood.... took him a little away…. shoved a 500-buck note into his just opened palm, he then called out at the thrashing policeman, who was still busy repaying the 'handshake and smile’, he too was shown the money.
……………
I had to write a statement, as the only witness, that I thought it was an accident and a misunderstanding, I so did quite happily.
Now, it was me and the brothers, the younger one was bleeding from his lips and numerous face and body cuts received while being dragged and beaten….almost unconscious by now, could not stand up, some auto drivers immediately rushed to help, to hold the injured man….I told the elder one, “lets take him to a hospital”….he refused…he said he wanted to get him to the home first.....thing...
Their village fell on the highway, in between Lucknow and Kanpur, I saw painful tears in his eyes….rolling down constantly and silently….for the child who grew up in his own lap…..now unconscious….
I realized that a younger sibling remains ever a child to the elder one, the younger ones fondly call ‘bhaiya’.
I hired a taxi for Kanpur, ….and offered to drop them at the highway, there was no alternative left for him, having spent almost all the money he had, the ‘bhaiya’ agreed and thanked me immensely.
They lost their father quite early, all responsibility of the family fell on this elder brother, to run the family, to put the younger ones into jobs…. they were poor farmers from a village called… bindi, and were not a rich couple of brothers….every penny was so very hard earned….he told me in the taxi…..
About two years ago, this younger brother got a job of a casual labour, getting work for a week every month, in a pesticide producing company…..
The village comes up, I still hear the moans from the rear seat, of the semi-conscious lecherous drunkard, lying of the lap of his elder brother. We stop on the highway and the beaten up man was physically lifted into a waiting auto…..from my taxi….
Just before their auto (a very large one) started off, I asked a personal question, the elder brother was still holding my hands in gratitude, we two still standing near my taxi on the highway around 20 meters away from the auto containing his younger brother…..
I said, ”Aagar chota bhai ka shadi nehin hua hai to shadi karadigiyega…..”,
the patriarch no longer could hold himself together, which he did so pretty well all along till then, under the most strenuous and trying situations, he now burst into a quiet sob ’ha…ha….ha…., he sobbed to himself.....
”bachpan se usse aeroplane chadneka shauk tha, ….Mumbai se laute samay le aaya aeroplane mein…. ”
“…Tata Memorial aspatal ke doctoron ne mujhe bolen then, ‘usse rokna maat…..uska har shauk zaroor pura karna……usse khushi me rakhna…usse jindagi ka maaza lootne do…..
who ek-do mahine se yada nahin jiyega…….."
Diwali is just two months away…..……
………………
I reached the hotel at Kanpur, just after an hour. A first glance at my face, the receptionist smiled…..he said, “ we serve liquor for 24 hours, right in your room Sir…”
