We had a Peepli Live at our village yesterday. People
think of stories and make revolutionary path breaking movies to enthrall us.
Imagine what happened at my little hamlet. We are basically a small
agricultural village sustained by a lot of migrant labor from Bihar, UP, as is
the case with the rest of Punjab. Sadly, the “Bhaiya” who is indispensable and
speaks Punjabi with a unique twist replaces the Punjabi farmer!
Uma Kant Chaubey ji our night watch man sold off his cow,
for a good amount and repaid off his debts. Life for them is cyclical, they
borrow, get indebted to Bhaji (the Punjabi landlord) sell some possession,
repay and then borrow more and get stuck again in! It’s cyclical. Well, Uma Kant
sold his cow and got a fat sum of money from which the Bhaji deleted his owed
sum and the rest was given back to him.
Uma Kant was rich, very rich and he gave his wife the
rest of the money for safekeeping. He had to again go back to his work, you see.
His wife, a simpleton, kept it in the pocket and went visiting to the other
families to show off and to tell about her elevated status! It was a matter of
pride and it showed their rank had increased. They could maybe afford a cooler
and she might sneak in a new sari and the rest well, she would put away for the
rainy day.
Poor thing, she came back and went to cook and got
busy with her chores. She was cooking a special tadka dal for him with better
quality rice kept only for important guests. Uma Kant came back, late and asked
for the money.
And, the money was missing. An ugly domestic spat
happened, abuses, a lot of wife beating, swollen face, knee and a bruised body,
but no money and no answer from Mrs. Chaubey.
The next morning, another fellow laborer told him
about this soothsayer who could predict from the tikka on the thumb (black ash)
and would tell who the thief was and only for Rs 200.
This sooth sayer is very popular and is a young man,
he checks from the ash on his thumb and magic the culprit appears.
This sounds exaggerated, and farfetched, but I know
for sure that in my little pind lies the next Hindi potboiler or maybe the next
Ekta Kapoor soap! I know you’re going to laugh but I think I might make my
millions through this story pitch rather than farming that loses money by the
second.
