Roop ki Rani, Choron ka Raja

From up above the skies, Delhi is nothing but square plots of dust. But below, besides the streets, as you head from place to place, there is green. Then again if you looked closer, like while on a rickshaw ride or walking, you would notice the dust suspended in the air. This was the city at large. But I was headed towards Roopnagar; Roopnagar which lay in the north of Delhi, close to one of its campuses. It was splattered with a healthy, growing middle class, so even though there were trees, most of the buildings grew faster than the trees. It was short of space so buildings were conjoined and when they grew, they grew tall, floor upon floor. It was also a place where people opened up spare rooms to students. This was because many students couldn't sufficiently qualify for the campus hostels and sought to take up residence as paid guests. Mr. Arora was one such fellow who decided to open up his place exclusively for female students. He did so a year earlier, his brother and sister-in-law had left for the US and his mother had passed away. It left behind one empty floor and one floor with just an invalid father. The invalid father was shifted to a comfortable chair on Mr. Arora's floor and thus it became two empty floors. By the time I got to the p.g there were altogether ten girls occupying the empty rooms. To run the household chores on all the floors, Mr.Arora employed three young boys- Monu, Sonu and Chottu. They were there before us. They came all the way from Bihar with the understanding that they were to be fed, paid and "disciplined". The middle bit however, was left out for most part. Sometimes, their young hearts were still excited by the prospects that Delhi might offer them. Monu was the youngest and the brattiest. In ways twisted as well. In Hindi you would call him 'teda'. It is perhaps unfair to assign such an adjective to a boy of ten, but facts are facts, whatever the circumstances were that shaped them. Some days, when I sat around on the terrace and he was done with work, he would come over and “open up”. Crookedly smiling at the sky faraway, he would talk with great fervour of his desire to hit somebody or the other. What with his comments such as " Didi ko shorts mein dekhke mujhe kuch kuch lagta he”, some even found him lecherous. Then there was Chottu, Monu's elder brother of fourteen. His insight was simple and consistent with his worldly experience. P.gs contained girls, girls got money from parents and lived a good life. Boys (he and the other servants) worked and slaved. Therefore, parents liked girls. He once asked me if this wasn't so. Under normal circumstances I would have explained the reason behind him only having boys for siblings To Monu, I would have. Definitely. Perhaps in graphic detail, though then again that would have been to his gratification. But Chottu was a charmer. He smiled all the time and if he wanted to play cards when the girls refused because of exams or so, he would be right outside the room, swinging on the grill door, from side to side like a monkey, all 28 teeth out, until they were too distracted or amused. So no, I said nothing. Just like when he said that if he married a superstar it would be Sharukh Khan. Beyond our knowledge however, things were getting troublesome for Chottu and the others. Chottu grew restless and yearned to conquer his Bollywood dreams and so one morning he disappeared without a trace. Sonu was the eldest of the three. He was seventeen and in fact Chottu's and Monu's uncle in relation. He studied till the 7th standard and said he wouldn’t mind trying his hand at some more studying. He didn't. However, unlike the other two, Sonu had an air of self-respect. He didn't insist on sitting on the floor if he was told to take a chair. He smiled but never giggled. He was a practical boy who saw the practical problems of working in a p.g where he was not paid any money and was man-handled to be disciplined. So he dreamed of going back home and selling the most popular local item- daru. Monu must have continued with his comments. Sonu might have joined his uncle's business of retailing fake brands in Mumbai and Chottu, I happen to know, works in another pg nearby.