Bongwa

My cousin was adept at fart jokes and at poking fun at fat people, or imitating people with lisps. He would elicit uproarious laughter, and be smug in his contentment. But somewhere deep down , it was an exercise in distaste. We , even as kids, could feel it. 

There was a fancy dress competition. I dressed up as the local tramp , and was practicing his trembly lisp and wild gait (result of a childhood polio attack). My mother stopped me . She didn’t explain much. She just said it didn’t seem right, to make fun of a poor , unprivileged soul. I would have elicited laughs , no doubt . May be a prize too . But I listened to her. The tramp used to hang around the school. Sometimes helping in the hosing down of the buses. 

All the difficult and dangerous tasks , like climbing on the sloping shingled roof to retrieve last years flag , was done by him . He did it with his strange lisping-sobbing laughter , which sounded more like hiccups. He was probably unaware of the dangers , and no one had bothered to educate him. 

Then one day , my cousin was in dire straits. His pocket had been picked at the bus-stop , and he had to reach this neighbouring town , 15 miles away , at any cost . He had to attend an important job interview next day. Dusk had fallen , the bus conductor of the last bus had just refused his watch, as a surety. He was desperate. Help came from a very unexpected quarter. 

The conductor had boarded the bus . The driver was revving the rattletrap contraption . My cousin stood at the entrance , chafing his hands, when a lisping sobbing hiccup was heard . The tramp limped into view , grinning hard. 

The driver braked . 

"Arrey , tu bongwa?" Bongwa , or the dumb, was a common term for everyone who had any speech  impediment.

Bongwa had endeared himself all over the town , due to his helpful and risk taking behaviour. A homeless man with an entire town for friends , one of the many inexplicable truths of life.

"Kahin jana hai ka, be ?" ( Do you have to go anywhere , you rascal?) He asked , and gestured impatiently for him to climb aboard.

The tramp limped laboriously up the footboard , in the darkness. Then , from the top , he gestured my cousin to follow. My cousin hesitated, and the driver gestured , a nod with his head , to step up . My cousin was at the first step, and the impatient driver , roared away , already late . The bus lurched violently , and my cousin teetered . Some one in the dark confusion , grabbed his hand  , and pulled him to safety. 

It was the tramp. The bongwa. The butt of all my cousin's jokes . That was the last time my cousin ever made fun of him .