"Wait for Anju !!"
The scrawny captain of the mohalla cricket team, said. All looked at each other askance. Some one reflexly smoothened his hair. Another, straightened the T-shirt, lungis were unknotted so they covered the rest of the hirsute legs , in sombre modesty.
One gent, a smart guy , cleared his throat , and said ."So, Anjus' coming too?"
"Yes !! We thought we agreed on gathering as many players as possible."
Again , looks of incredulity were exchanged all round.
"Look here , who asked you to call.... "and trailed off as a gawky teenager , in oversized pants , panted up across the fields , swinging his bat rakishly .
"Yuuuhuuu, Anju , over here."
The proud brother called the bat-swinger over. "See I told you, Anju wouldn't ditch us."
Rest all exchanged looks again, and burst into hell-raising mirth, cackles of loud laughter,scaring clouds of mynahs from the tree next to the shed.
The two brothers stood in the shed , an island of discomfiture in the sea of humor around them.
Gender mixups were common for Anju , right from his childhood. Anju was a girly name , Anjani wasn't. He was named after the Goddess mother of the monkey -god hanuman,who had a masculine name . If the goddamn scriptures weren't so gender-bended, life would have been much smoother for Anju. It wasn't. So he turned it into his USP.
His mother longed for a daughter, after the first son, the father named him after a goddess, and he turned into Anju, the boy with the name of a girl.
His own fragile , fair skinned , curly haired looks didn't help much either.Family lore has it that , in infancy, the mother used to dress him up in frocks;inarguably, a sore topic for Anju.
In order to reassert his masculinity, Anju did everything , right or wrong , which a boy / man should . He turned a rebel of the highest order.He also crossed over to the forbidden territory. He rode bikes, bunked classes, fell in love (with the opposite gender)with regular frequency, creating an avalanche of problems for a struggling family of eight.
In keeping with the family traditions , he was thrashed , grounded, coaxed, cajoled , threatened , but to no avail.
The climax reached when he eloped with the neighbour's daughter.FIRs were lodged, neighbours blamed each other's progenies, threatened each other with dire consequences, filed separate cases in the court and turned bitter enemies.
After a fortnight of high voltage family drama, the daughter called up her parents. She said she had left for the neighbouring city , because she "wanted to study further , and you guys, despite being my parents , want to tie me down in matrimony." She further added that she had run out of money , so "Anju bhaiya " helped her out with some cash of his, and it was not fair on their(the parents') part to have misunderstood her noble intentions and taken the matter to court, etc. Now , she would like to come back home if all was forgiven, and Anju -bhaiya was forgiven too.
Of course, alls well , that ends well.
The girl kept her word and passed her bachelor's degree , whereas Anju was hastily married off to a village belle , who "knew how to sign her name "and whose father offered five buffaloes and a contractor's job to Anju as dowry. It was too good an offer to be refused.
The scrawny captain of the mohalla cricket team, said. All looked at each other askance. Some one reflexly smoothened his hair. Another, straightened the T-shirt, lungis were unknotted so they covered the rest of the hirsute legs , in sombre modesty.
One gent, a smart guy , cleared his throat , and said ."So, Anjus' coming too?"
"Yes !! We thought we agreed on gathering as many players as possible."
Again , looks of incredulity were exchanged all round.
"Look here , who asked you to call.... "and trailed off as a gawky teenager , in oversized pants , panted up across the fields , swinging his bat rakishly .
"Yuuuhuuu, Anju , over here."
The proud brother called the bat-swinger over. "See I told you, Anju wouldn't ditch us."
Rest all exchanged looks again, and burst into hell-raising mirth, cackles of loud laughter,scaring clouds of mynahs from the tree next to the shed.
The two brothers stood in the shed , an island of discomfiture in the sea of humor around them.
Gender mixups were common for Anju , right from his childhood. Anju was a girly name , Anjani wasn't. He was named after the Goddess mother of the monkey -god hanuman,who had a masculine name . If the goddamn scriptures weren't so gender-bended, life would have been much smoother for Anju. It wasn't. So he turned it into his USP.
His mother longed for a daughter, after the first son, the father named him after a goddess, and he turned into Anju, the boy with the name of a girl.
His own fragile , fair skinned , curly haired looks didn't help much either.Family lore has it that , in infancy, the mother used to dress him up in frocks;inarguably, a sore topic for Anju.
In order to reassert his masculinity, Anju did everything , right or wrong , which a boy / man should . He turned a rebel of the highest order.He also crossed over to the forbidden territory. He rode bikes, bunked classes, fell in love (with the opposite gender)with regular frequency, creating an avalanche of problems for a struggling family of eight.
In keeping with the family traditions , he was thrashed , grounded, coaxed, cajoled , threatened , but to no avail.
The climax reached when he eloped with the neighbour's daughter.FIRs were lodged, neighbours blamed each other's progenies, threatened each other with dire consequences, filed separate cases in the court and turned bitter enemies.
After a fortnight of high voltage family drama, the daughter called up her parents. She said she had left for the neighbouring city , because she "wanted to study further , and you guys, despite being my parents , want to tie me down in matrimony." She further added that she had run out of money , so "Anju bhaiya " helped her out with some cash of his, and it was not fair on their(the parents') part to have misunderstood her noble intentions and taken the matter to court, etc. Now , she would like to come back home if all was forgiven, and Anju -bhaiya was forgiven too.
Of course, alls well , that ends well.
The girl kept her word and passed her bachelor's degree , whereas Anju was hastily married off to a village belle , who "knew how to sign her name "and whose father offered five buffaloes and a contractor's job to Anju as dowry. It was too good an offer to be refused.
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