The phone jingled,

breaking the silence of my quiet moment.

“Hello, Varma Sir, do you recognize my voice?”

came a familiar tone after a pause. I found myself wandering to identify the voice.

“Yes, today, an old friend reached out over the mobile… I’m Rajesh, and we once shared the corridors of Sheoganj in Rajasthan. At that time, I worked in the electricity department there.

These days, I am living in Barhi, Jharkhand, after I retire from Rajasthan. Barhi is my native place. I found your mobile number on Facebook and thought, why not reconnect with you?”

Recognition tingled as I heard his familiar voice, and excitement bubbled within me. After a quarter-century hiatus, here we were, resuming our conversation.

A rush of memories filled my mind

A cascade of memories flooded in as we traversed the narratives of the past 25 years — some stories shared, some merely listened to.

Amidst our conversation, a flashback transported us to the days of my posting in the Sheoganj branch of the bank. This small town boasted aesthetically crafted houses, yet many stood vacant.

The Marwari community, who crafted these small but beautiful homes, resided in Mumbai or Pune for their business.

They sought tenants with small families to care for their houses. Some charged a nominal rent, and others even allowed people to stay for free, motivated only by the proper upkeep of their property.

Another condition was that the tenant should neither cook nor consume non-vegetarian food, as the Marwari people are generally vegetarian.

We, being alone without families in those days, occasionally organized secret non-vegetarian parties on Sundays. However, as the saying goes, no matter how clever a thief is, they eventually get caught.

We were under constant surveillance by the landlord’s informants. The Marwari and Jain communities were strictly against non-vegetarian food.

Decided to have a Chicken Party

One day, my colleagues from the bank, Kailash and Madan, along with us, decided to have a chicken party, planning to keep it secret to avoid losing our accommodation.

The house we found was beautiful, and we, being Biharis, couldn’t resist the temptation of having meat or fish in our meals.

We decided to cook chicken, and each of us had specific responsibilities. Ramesh was to bring the chicken from a place 5 kilometers away early in the morning on his motorcycle so that no one would notice.

I had to arrange the other ingredients, and Kailash was in charge of arranging the wine. Madan was responsible for cooking the food. Everything started as planned. However, when the chicken started frying, the aroma spread.

When Kailash entered the house with the bottle of wine, we found “The smell of chicken is reaching outside.” Looking outside, we saw some dogs from the neighborhood sniffing around our house, attracted by the smell.

Terrified of getting caught, we came up with an idea. We lit all the incense sticks in the house, hoping to mask the smell of chicken. Kailash quietly said, “The aroma of chicken is still spreading outside.” Even the clever dogs recognized the smell, and despite our efforts, they gathered near our house.

Afraid of getting caught, we quickly switched to a buffet system, as the aroma of chicken was overpowering, and we were afraid of getting caught red-handed.

So we cancel our Dancing and Wine Party

So, we had to cancel our plans to enjoy of drinking and dancing party due to the fear of exposure and decided to focus on disposing of the evidence of our non-vegetarian feast.

We quickly packed the remaining chicken bones in an old cardboard box. The plan was to bury it five kilometers away so that no one could trace it back to us. However, after having lunch, we all felt lazy and decided to leave that box in Ramesh’s motorcycle carrier with the intention of burying it in the evening.

We barely closed our eyes when we heard a commotion outside. Upon investigation, we found a group of kids near Ramesh’s motorcycle, playing with the cardboard box that had spilled open. The bones and remnants were scattered everywhere, revealing our secret chicken party. The news of our mischief spread, and our party ended in chaos.

Our attempt to dispose of the evidence failed miserably, and the next day, we were on the lookout for a new house.😍😍

Categories: ##Memoire, मेरे संस्मरण

Tags: ##Memoire, #emotions, #KeepSmiling, #mystory