Thursday, September 25, 2008

the jodhpur-noamundi connection

@ Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur.

I had similar clay dolls, bought at a Durga Puja fair (way back)
I had christened them as Mr. and Mrs. Dutta.

Mrs. Dutta was voluptuous in a green saree and red blouse
and wore a big red bindi
Mr. Dutta wore white dhoti-kurta and carried a black umbrella
What better name than Mr. and Mrs. Dutta, right?

They were quite famous with my kid-neighbour
The kid would love to shake their spring-heads
Jing-jing-jing
Up and down….
He would make Mr. Dutta look down
And Mrs. Dutta, head up, as if she was commanding Mr. Dutta, “To-bey Thaak…”

One day Gopal- the kid, came running to our house
asking to play with Mr. and Mrs. Dutta
Mr. and Mrs. Dutta, the real ones (who were Dad’s friends) had come visiting us that evening,
Needless to say, they did not look too amused

Nevertheless they said….. “yeh bachey…”.

The real Mrs. Dutta was actually really good
She would make out-of-the-world dal-luchi
(back then, Durga Pujas used to be quite a treat)

The real Mr. and Mrs. Dutta had a parrot called Polly.
Polly would screech himself shrill….. “P-A-U-L-L-L-E-E…tumor naam ki”
“P-A-U-L-L-L-E-E…tumor naam ki”
“P-A-U-L-L-L-E-E…tumor naam ki”
“P-A-U-L-L-L-E-E…tumor naam ki”

Could and Would anyone be able to resist pulling his long tail?

I should have introduced Gopal-the–kid to Polly
He would have made P-A-U-L-L-L-E-E’s head go jing-jing-jing….
Up and down…

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