Monu's World: Monu and Meethi on the Wall

Meethi was Monu's friend, philosopher and guide. Monu believed all Meethi said and followed her everywhere. Meethi would 'enlighten' her and tell her about stuff that she could never imagine or fathom, and which to Monu seemed extraordinary and wondrous. Monu would hold her hands to her mouth and shake her head sideways, disbelieving Meethi but lapping up everything nonetheless, like the time Meethi told her about how children were conceived. Holding hands they'd stroll about sharing their little secrets and go to the market together to simply get a feel of the busy, bustling life there. Climbing the low red brick wall they'd walk and sometimes run to its very end where the tarred road in front of the houses sloped a bit high. There, where the wall met a stone pillar, they'd sit on the scaffold around the pillar talking about the things closest to their hearts. This was their favorite spot, a place where they could talk about anything and everything that came to their minds. Legs dangling over the patch of grass below, they'd share exotic dreams, secret wishes, hopeless aspirations and feel like little blobs of clouds floating up into the air. Monu was always disappointed when Meethi would say that it was time to return. Time seemed to pass rather too quickly for Monu here. She'd always hope that they could spend some more time simply sitting on the stone ledge holding hands and talking, barely noticing the traffic that seemed to ebb and flow like the tides only a few meters away on the main road in front. Sometimes they'd wistfully stare lost in their separate thoughts at the scene in front, looking but not seeing the pedestrians on the pavement, the jaywalkers risking their lives as they recklessly crossed the wide road, and the innumerable vehicles of varying sizes and shapes that ran on the tar.

One sunny and rather humid day found them walking about idly. It was a couple of hours before noon and a few days before their summer vacation ended in mid-July. Feeling rather curious and full of a queer sense of adventure, they went to the backside of the front row houses to inspect what lay there. The back lane wasn't tarred like the road in front of the houses. It was usually a grassy bit of ground interspersed with a few stones and rocks lying abandoned by workers from time to time on the odd cement and plastering jobs that happened in the houses. They walked carefully looking for pieces of dog shit as stepping on one would mean a scolding and a possible beating for walking on forbidden ground. After passing about five houses they reached a small sewer canal meant for carrying excess rain water away. There was a fair amount of water in it and that meant having to turn back, for jumping across was a bit too risky even in the spirit of adventure that they were in. So it happened that they reached the point where they had started. To their right lay Raka's back door and next to it was Monu's own backyard door. Looking at the door and then at Meethi, Monu saw her friend smile and caught a wicked twinkle of mischief in her eye. Monu's heart would race with excitement when she saw this expression on Meethi's face. Pointing to Raka's door Meethi giggled and said: "Let's climb up and see the water tanks!" "What if Raka's mom sees us?"  questioned Monu in return, the alarming specter of Raka's mom telling tales to her parents and the consequences vivid in her mind. "Oh come on Monu! She'll mostly be busy with the household chores. Besides, we can't climb your door as there are no footholds! Let's go." And so saying, Meethi started to climb. "But...but...O Meethi wait!!" It was useless to talk Meethi out of her 'ideas' as they called it. Once Meethi made up her stubborn little mind, no one could make her change it. So, Monu followed her friend as always even if she knew perfectly well that this time too she was walking into the arms of a punishment doling escapade.

Raka's back door was easy to climb as it had long horizontal footholds that were evenly placed from top to bottom. Meethi quickly climbed to the top and sat down on the narrow cement wall above the door frame. Raka's mom was evidently in absence and Monu heaved a sigh of relief. As she came up she saw that Raka's kitchen door that faced the courtyard was closed. "They might be away." she said to Meethi. And in the next breath she let out, "Isn't that wall too narrow? To her it looked like a beam bar used in gymnastics from the top. "Not really. It's a bit wider than your foot. See if you place your foot carefully in the middle, like this..." and she proceeded to get up and walk to encourage Monu, "...you can walk without falling off." And to Monu's incredulity, Meethi was walking on the wall quite confidently. Monu took a step forward, and as she did so, she looked down. The ground beneath seemed mobile all of a sudden as if rising up to meet her. Monu stood rooted to the spot, unable to move or look up. Her eyes seemed transfixed on the grass below. "Monu don't look down at the ground. Look only at your feet." So saying Meethi stopped, waiting for her friend to catch up. A few paces to Monu's left, the wall turned a ninety degrees and went straight onward as a common boundary wall between Raka's house and her own to meet with the roof common to all the houses in the row. Meethi was waiting just after the right turn. "Monu took a deep breath and put forward her foot again. This time she followed Meethi's advice and didn't look at the ground. She concentrated on taking one step at a time and gradually got over her fear of losing her balance. She found that she could walk with a measure of confidence and looking up a little found Meethi just ahead, all the time supporting her. They soon reached the roof and found it rather dirty. Cleaning of the roof happened once every year before the monsoons came, to limit the seepage of water. But when the rains came it looked as if it had never happened, the winds and rain driving heaps of leaves and twigs from the nearby mango tree onto the roof. Nevertheless, it was a novelty as they had never been on the roof before. They looked out toward the front of the houses to the main road and thence to the big green garden beyond. They could see the tall trees lining the vast playground and some children playing about in the ground itself. They climbed onto the cement water tanks and saw how grimy the tops of the tanks were. They went onto Raka's roof and tried to see if any mangoes remained, but saw none.  Raka's sisters had most probably plucked every mango they could get their hands, chappals and their tall wooden pole to.

After a while as the sun climbed higher in the sky and started to signal noon, they found it getting too humid and decided to return. They started to make their way back, as carefully as they had come. As they reached the middle of the common wall, their ears could make out some strange noise coming from the second row houses facing them. They stopped, Meethi in front and Monu right behind her. Turning to their right, their eyes tried to locate the source of the sounds. Suddenly, a couple of houses to their right, they saw a figure scamper about in the courtyard of a house. Meethi let out a small shriek and said "Oye dekh Monu, wahaan dekh!" Monu turned her head and saw the figure too. Her eyes turned almost as big as saucers at the sight she beheld. A boy about fifteen or sixteen years old was running about in the courtyard chased by a woman in a saari. But the extraordinary thing was that he was not wearing even a strip of clothing. "That's Tillu! And that's his mother's chasing behind with a stick." Meethi was laughing so hard that Monu feared she'd fall off the wall. "Why on earth is she chasing him?" Monu wondered aloud. And in the next instant her query was answered as Tillu's shrieks at catching the end of the stick his mother brandished suddenly errupted loudly followed by his mother bellowing "Jaake nahaata hai ke nahin!"  Monu started to laugh too for she had never seen a boy this big naked before and being chased in this fashion. She was careful enough to avoid shaking too much or else she would lose her footing. The two friends stood looking down at the far off dramatic comedy being enacted before them sharing their mirth in contained laughter. After a while it seemed the mother had won as they saw a hapless and naked Tillu dive into the bathroom on one side of the courtyard. They walked carefully back to Raka's door and got down still shaking with bits of laughter.

For days afterwards they'd talk about the sight they'd seen and the ridiculousness of it all. For Tillu, when fully clothed was a sulking bully who'd more often than not chase them out of Jhule Ki Maath and being a good six to seven years their senior, he was seldom challenged by the younger children. To have seen the big and imposing Tillu being chased around was a sight to see and to have got to see him as the good God made him, looking like a frightened little puppy, was something they'd never forget. Of course it was another matter that this had to remain a secret between them, their own piece of humor to be shared with no one, not the least with Tillu himself!