Jasbindar and Dilbindar

Aaja feri Shivaratri aayo. Aayo aayo deusire! Taku ta taku ghwa ghwa ghwa---Jasbindar Dilbindar deusire!

So, what’s up with these Jasbindar, and Dilbindar? Well, frankly not much. Really. Not so much for me and Anil, indeed, but for Bange aka Diwakar? I don't know about that!

Deewakar was infamously renamed as Bange for some weird reason. Tyasko baje Baanke Bardiya kata tira bata aako re! so just to tease him we used to call him Baanke Diwakar but later just stuck with the Baanke and even that with a twist “Bange”. Not that he liked being called Bange but we cared less to call him otherwise. Plus one more thing, Bange, Anil and I all were related (kati dine naatedar ta thah chhaina but were related-let’s leave it at that).

We (in this context Bange, Anil and myself, of course) belonged to a relatively khattam group while growing up in Handigau. We started from jumping into thulo pokhari (gahana khojne pokhari) with chepagada , taking many dives from bhatkya pul into dhobikhola with asala and hile machha to learn swimming. From these modest jumps, we graduated to just plain paper roll, thuta, bidi, gaida, yak, lali guras, occasionally pan se pachpanna churos, and then advanced to twat and other stuff ---kalilai umera afno khutta ma ubhine prayas gariyo bhanam na!

So, din thiyo Shivaratriko ani beluka bhatkya pul ko euta thulai kath tanera dhungedhara nera khaneko khaldo ma Mahadev lai dhuni jaganue karjekram thyo—and the alternative plans were bhatkya pulmai lagera aago ladini or Prakase ko ghar banaira tham bata ek dui wata jhyal syal ko kaath lyayera aago tapne mahadev ko nam ma tanna shiva buti tanera. So according to the plan, bihanai uthera I went to Bange’s house. Bange’s father was posted somewhere in the terai Malangwa salangwa kata tira ho. Tyati bela tyasko gharma usko hajur ama, kam garne manchhe Man bahadur bahek aru koi thiyena. We had the plan of crashing at his place after having shiva buti, bhang, twat, and what not bhare raati aago tape si.

Bange and I went to Anil’s house in kotal tole, later. From there we went to Chabel. Bhang sang khanu paryo bhanera---jati hariyo laddu khayeni lagni haina---pachhi alikati siri twat layera dhobi khola tira aaiyo. Dhobi khola ko faaant ma aru dui char jana bro bhet bho. Tyaha alikati asali maal bhetiyo jasto lagyo. Yastai char jati bajya thyo hola, dhobi khola ko faant bata hudai we headed south toward sattenaran than. Tya sattenaranthan ma pani ramro bando basto re chha. Dhanne bhaiyo. Ani chai jham jham huna thalyo sabai bhadragol hola jasto bho. Gaf garda gardai saanjh paryo. Then a while later we came up to Sarsotithan, few people were gathering at the dabali there-bhate deuta banaune aagadi---we really didn’t get anything what they were talking about. Don’t know how long we stood there but then when we moved westward toward Gahana pokhari it was already dark. Janu parne thyo bhatkya pul tira aago balne kaath lina but we were heading at the wrong direction or were we?

Tyo bhagwatiko mandir nera puge si Bange said, naramro sanga lagyo jasto chha mu** malai ta. I was not feeling good either. Anil pointed at the mandir and proposed let’s have some rest here. We sat at the temple and offered company to the Bhagwati there. We were not facing the road, though. It was already dark, as I said before. Not sure what time it was or how long we sat there but felt like we sat there for a long time. A dog somewhere near was constantly barking loudly and I didn’t know Bange was getting mad at that. “Kasko ma****** kukkur yo, ma**** Shivaratrima ek chhin relax sanga basam bhanya ni mu** kich kich kich kich. The dog kept on barking. Bange got up. Came toward the roadside and looking at a beautiful house to the west, Bange garjiyo ma*&^%$ sardarji ko kukkur ho ki ke ho yo?

The house Bange was looking at of course belonged to a sardar , whom we used to call Gyani jail sing (his real name was close to that). Anile got up and with a smile said tyo mu** sardar kaha chhaina kukkur sukkur. Bange was quite excited for whatever reason, I guess-- he roared with a question "ke chha ta mu** tyo sardar ka? Tyo alachhina truck dekhi bahek ma&^%$ kei chha?” The question was not meant to be answered by anyone but Anil volunteered “duita chwak taruni chhori haru chha tyo mu** sardar ko”. Bange deeply looked at Anil, “Vidyanas?” Anile replied “tero massu khani” At that Bange commented “mero ta mu** aba yai gha*&^ khaye mattai ho” But then he asked again, “satte chha duita duita taruni?” “Chha bhanya ma*&^%$” Anil replied. Bange asked “chha bhane ke ho ta tiniharu ko nam mu**?” Anil quickly answered Jethi ko nam Jasbindar kanchhi ko Dilbindar”. I was smoking churos and was thinking of having one more round of either siri or shiva buti. I was not so sure about Jasbindar and Dilbindar.

Bange said, “hya ma*&^%$” tyasto pani taruni ko nam hunchha jasbindar-dilbindar? Tyo ta keta haruko naam—mu** taruni ko nam ta Sunita, Anita, Bhawana, yasto po hunchha”. Anile said, “mu** panjabi ko nam tyastai hunchha---talai mu** baal mu** kei tha reinchha---mu ** Deep lai sodh napatyaye---“ Bange asked me“ye mu** hunchha nam jasbindar –dilbindar tyasto nam kt ko?” I did not know but just replied “hunchha hola ni ma mu** ke ma panjabi ko pandit ho ra?” Anile swore again and said, kassam tyaha Jasbindar ra dilbindar chhan---chwak chwak taruni India ma padhne rechhan ahile dherai bha chhaina aaka”. Since Anile was from Kotaltole, he had some authenticity regarding things around kotal tole. Bange paused a bit and said, la malai uso bhe mu** jasbindar bheni dilbindar bhe ni chahiyo aaja raati lai”. “Mu** ta ki jasbindar li ki mu** dilbindar—hami pani ta chham ni”, I spoke. Bange declared “you guys take that dilbindar—I don’t like that name anyway” then he looked at Anil and asked which one is better Jasbindar ki dilbindar?” “ta mu** bhaggemani re chhas Bange---Dilbindar ni chwak chha tara mu** Jasbindar ta bullet chha bullet”. “Ok then, I want jasbindar. Bange declared again.

Now since just because Bange wanted Jasbindar or we could take dilbindar, they were not gonna come to the bhagwatithan that night so with Anil's suggestion we were approaching gyani jail singh’s house.

We stood by the compound wall near the big but closed main metal gate for a few minutes. Bange said "khai ke gari hijyak garni jasbindar lai? Mu**ho idea nikalna na”. Herta tya compound ma aa-chha ki tyo jasbindar-dilbindar ki mathi kotha ma chha? Anil asked Bange. “yaha bata kehi dekhiyeta mari jam" Bange said after trying to watch inside through the main gate. Then we again walked a bit back to the temple and Anil said "la Bange climb on my shoulder and take a look. Bange agreed. After some failures Bange Anilko kaandh ma chadera looked inside holding the upper part of the compound wall. Anil was asking me to look around to see if anyone comes on the road. Not enjoying Bange’s unbalanced load Anil was asking Bange if he saw a taruni in there. Bange’s answer was negative. “then get down, I can’t host you up there for a long time, Bange” Anil said. “kehi dekhya haina mu** jasbindar khai ka ka” Bangre expressed his disappointment. “ja na ta bhitrai gayera her—gyani jail sing lai sodh gayera khai jasbindar bhanera ma*&^%$---orli mu** Bange jhatta”. Anil ordered. Yattikai ma ke bichar aayechha Bange lai orlinu satta he climbed up on the wall from Anil’s shoulders. “Ye ma&^%$” Bange ke garya taile? kina chadya tya parkhal mathi?” I asked. “Yaha bata jha* ni dekhena kei ni---“ Bange was saying then Anile interrupted “ja ja mu** bange bhitrai ja---Jasbindar kuri ra hola“ I was a bit confused with the scenes and before I could realize anything Bange jumped inside the compound.

Now I was quite alarmed. A few seconds passed by. Right then, Anile picked a big stone from the road and shot at that big metal door with full swing. “DHYYYYYAAANG!” The whole neighborhood woke up, I guess. Anile ran toward Bhagwati than then jumped on the fields on the northside of the road . tyo bariharu ali gahiro ma thyo--- batao bata dekhidaina thyo. I also jumped on the fields to the left without thinking much. We kept on running to the other side of those baris then came up toward lamdhunga. As we were running I asked Anil, mu** kina dhunga hanya dhoka ma? He did not answer. Tyo mu** jasbindar dilbindar ko gaf hanya ho ki ke ho ta mu** le, I asked him again when we took a galli toward kisna mandir. Anile just looked at me with a smile and started to throw up. I did the same.

***