[Reader-list] Letters from Nangla, 04

[CM@Nangla]

WHAT WAS NANGLA [01]
By Dilip

I met a man who was wearing blue trousers and a white shirt. His eyes were
narrow, like Ajay Devgan's. He said, "There was a vast open field from
Nangla till Pragati Maidan. A field where people would stand up in declare
war in revolt the moment they would see king approaching from a distance.
The field remained theirs, and witnessed many inventions. One of them is
Nangla Maachi."



BEFORE THE SUN RISES [01]
By Jaanu

This young man, probably fifteen to sixteen years old, sees the first rays
of the morning sun only after having earned two to four hundred rupees. He
keeps the length of his hair long. A sack always hangs on his shoulder. His
face is dark, and he always chews tobacco.

He can be seen in places where probably everyone hesitates to go. He
collects money from the ground, but money which probably no one else would
agree to pick up. He bends his body forward to pick up anything he finds,
and puts it in his sack.

Dogs and pigs follow him around. But he roams fearlessly in places around
Nangla where garbage is thrown. He picks up whatever he finds - plastic
bottles, scraps of paper - with his hands or a wire that he carries with
him. He pokes the object with the hard, long wire, picks up the object, and
it goes straight into his sack. He also carries a stick, at one end of
which he has attached a magnet. Whatever the magnet catches, he deposits in
the broad iron vessel with steep sides, which he also carries with himself.

He finishes his work before the sun rises; and then drinks tea with
everyone else in a tea stall in Nangla. He disappears with the appearance
of the sun.



LEAVING
By Ankur

It was evening. Stoves burned outside homes, some women were cooking. I
walked out through my lane towards Pushta. There was a lot of activity
there. I could see a group of men, but the group was not together, but
spread around. Three rickshas stood in a row nearby. Household things -
like canisters, sacks filed with utensils, clothes tied in bundles - were
piled up in them. I couldn't see the owners or the caretakers of the
rickshas anywhere. After some time, girl came there. Her hair were strewn
on her round face. She was wearing a pink suit and chappals in her feet.
She carried a box on her head. She out the box in a ricksha. Now I realised
they were leaving the dwelling. Then I saw her relatives coming with more
things towards the rickshas. There were five of them in all. They made room
for themselves to sit among all this household things in the rickshas. Then
they bid a final goodbye to the dwelling, and started off towards a new one.



WHAT WAS NANGLA [02]
By Dilip

His face betrayed an unhappiness. He was wearing a waist cloth, a stick in
his hand, as if he is holding his entire world in his fist. This elderly
man said to me, "Sit here and listen. Where Nangla is today, was once a
dense forest. Snakes, monkeys, lions ruled the forest. Some people cut down
the forest and made their homes here with the wood. And today it has taken
the form of a dwelling."



BEFORE THE SUN RISES [02]
By Jaanu

The sun hasn't risen yet. There is a fog of smoke in Nangla. People who
live along the Pushta have lit up their stoves. They sit by the stoves,
sipping tea. These stoves are not inside the rooms, but outside, along the
lanes. And the kitchen is where the stove is. When people pass by they
don't touch anything, just look and go their way.

A woman is sitting by her stove. She places the vessel with the kneaded
dough in the lane and starts to cook. The door behind her does not have a
curtain. When the kitchen is on the road, then where is the need to conceal
anything else. It is winter. She has filled a canister with water and
placed it on the stove. The water heats on a low flame. A young boy, about
five to seven years old, comes and sits by the canister and, from time to
time, he stokes the fire by moving the firewood about. He dips his hand in
the water repeatedly to see how warm it is. Then he calls out, "Mother,
the water is warm now." The woman appears from inside the house, empties
the water from the canister into a vessel, refills the canister with more
water, and carries the warm water into the house.

People pass by from the lane in front. But the lanes are not only for
passing! Some people are sleeping in the lane, their bodies covered with a
sheet which they have tightened by tucking under their head and pulling it
from the other end with their toes. For some, morning is when they go to
sleep. People skirt them, and go on their way.



WHAT WAS NANGLA [03]
By Dilip

He is 28 years old, and his hairstyle is like Salman Khan's was in the
'Tere-Naam'. He is wearing white pants and a black shirt with shining pearls
sewn on it. "Friend, there was nothing but swamps here, which three to
four people filled up. I was one of them, though I was so young at the
time. As soon as the swamp got filled up, house after house came up here."



SUNDAYS
By Jaanu

Look at this fellow here! From his mannerisms one can tell this is the one
day in the week when he can give in to the impulse of not getting out of
bed. Idleness has settled on his body. His heart says, just keep lying on
your bed on the floor. The sun has risen so long ago, but he has covered
his face with a sheet and is playing hide and seek with its rays.

But look at this grandfather-grandson duo! They have become so active to
break out of the tiredness that has accumulated in their body over the
week. They are taking turns to oil each other's bodies. Now they will heat
some water and take a bath. That's how it is with them every Sunday. They
spend the entire day with each other, unmindful of the passing time. The
rest of the week, time slips by them and they hardly get to be with each
other. Sunday is their day to try making up with each other for the week.

But then there are some people who get active in a different way on
Sundays. A market is set up near the IG Stadium on Sunday mornings. Good
quality things can be bought at cheap rates here. It is known as chor
bazaar (stolen goods market). People buy second hand things, which can then
be innovated with for use in their homes. Sheets, coolers, clothes,
electrical goods - all kinds of things are bought from here and brought
into Nangla. Look at this man, for instance. He is carrying a refrigerator
with so much love. Someone is helping him carry it. Now whether this fridge
has been bought to cool water in summers, or an almirah to keep clothes in,
is something only he can tell us.

Look at the hustle bustle on this STD booth. This is also a specialty of
Sundays. The booth rather than any other shop sees the most customers. Here
one can hear people's names and where they have come to Delhi from. There
are long lines here in the mornings, and every few minutes one hears,
“Yes, this is me, from Delhi...”


BUNTY
By Ankur



It was one morning that I first saw that seventeen year old boy in this
dwelling. He was a little dark complexioned, and was weak in one arm and
one leg. He wore a white shirt and a pair of black pants that day. He had a
pen in one pocket of his trousers and a glass in the other pocket. He was
walking down the lane, saying "hello, good morning" to everyone who he
passed by. Some children followed him around, calling out, "mad man, mad
man". At that time, seeing him, I couldn't think about him further than
what I saw.

Slowly, through his mode of talking, his style of dressing, his ways and
his mannerisms, he made a place in the heart of many in the dwelling. He
would roam around the dwelling like a stranger. He could be seen anywhere.
Wherever people would see him, they would say, "Bunty, do you want to eat
something?" and he would reply, "No, I have already eaten with the amma
there". Children would chase behind him and tease him, and when this
troubled him, Bunty would pick up in his arms any passing street dog and
scare them with it. But as one of his hands was weak, the dog would slip
out, and this is what frightened the kids the most. They would run away.

Bunty was very fond of dogs. One could often see him carry a little pup
around with him. And when he would go to sleep at night – on some bench
or raised ground in the dwelling – he would tie the pup up next to him.
And in the morning he would walk around with him in his arms again.

He came to my lane one day and started talking to everyone. It was evening.
Sunlight was receding, and there was no electricity. He came and sat down
on a raised platform. People gathered around him. Everyone wanted to know
more about him.

My father asked, very gently, "Son, tell me, where is your home?"

Bunty (very quietly): Uncle, in Bihar.

Papa: How did you come here?

Bunty: Uncle, I was playing inside a train with my friends. Suddenly the
train started moving. All my friends hopped out. But I couldn't, because of
my leg. And then I got off at Nizamuddin, and came to Nangla. Here I met
this sister (he said this pointing to a middle aged woman I knew).

He kept chatting with everyone for some time. Then he ate at my home. He
left our dwelling that day. People still remember him.


BEFORE THE SUN RISES [03]
By Jaanu

Tamanna woke up. Unwrapping herself from her bedding, slowly opening her
eyes, tightening her body, she got out of bed. She removed the soft pink
curtain, opened the door and looked at her reflection in the mirror on the
wall. She moved her hands through her hair, and seeing something in her own
reflection, a smile began to dance on her entire face. She turned around
and moved towards Sahil's bed, and then sat at his bedside. The upper half
of Sahil's face peeped out to the world from beneath the sheet that covered
the rest of his body. His eyes were shut, and they looked calm and rested,
traveling in a dream in a deep sleep. His hair, stuck to the pillow, made a
fan like pattern around his head. Tamanna pulled the sheet down a little
and gently kissed Sahil on his cheek. Sahil's body stirred, he spread out
his arms and embraced Tamanna. Tamanna rubbed her soft hand on his', and
then, her eyes dancing, waist jerking into motion, she got up from the bed
and stepped away from the bed. Sensing she had stepped away, Sahil made a
"hmmm" sound, to show his displeasure, and covered his face again with
his sheet.

Then, as usual, Tamanna stepped out of the house, shutting the door behind
her, and walked towards the pushta, to the toilets. She always went to the
toilets early in the morning, before it would get crowded there. There
would be one or two other women like herself there, who would come with
water in some containers, and like her, step in through the doors into the
identical looking box-shaped toilets. Then they would step out and pay the
woman caretaker a rupee each and start for their homes.

Tamanna would also start for her house. By now some men and women would
have stepped out into the streets. Everyone would have containers, bottled
and vessels in their hands. Some walking towards the toilets, and others
towards the fields by the river Yamuna. Everyone would be wearing clothes
they had slept in, or they would throw something more on their bodies, to
cover them a little more. Some men would be wearing just their
waist-cloths, while others would be in their knickers and vests, Roopani
slippers in their feet. Tamanna watched them all, though no one looked at
her. She would think in her mind, it will be fun if I were to hang around a
while and give each one a name according to the shape of their early
morning ruffled hair! But for now, she didn't stop. She had to return home
and cook for the day, make tea for her husband, wake up the kids and ready
them for school. And with this thought, Tamanna's feet moved quickly
towards her house.


WHAT WAS NANGLA [04]?
By Dilip

He calls himself the pradhan (the elected head) of this area. Clad in a
kurta and a dhoti, a cap with a pointed front on his head, he said,
"Listen. In the beginning there was water all around. We got it filled
with sand. What we didn't fill up now flows as the River Yamuna. The
settlement which came up by the river has three parts in it, all of which
together are known by the name Nangla Maachhi."



CM Lab, Nangla Maanchi
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It quenches the thirst of the thirsty,
Such is Nangla,
It shelters those who come to the city of Delhi,
Such is Nangla.
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