“Rocky, Rocky, Rock,” a bunch of boys cried out. They were not cheering Sylvester Stallone. Nor were they cheering Sanjay Dutt in his debut movie Rocky where he rode a motorbike with panache. Instead, what followed after the cries was that a 50 something man with a balding pate, rode into sight on his scooty. The boys in his neighbourhood which included yours truly were giving him three cheers as he rode about with the legitimate purpose of getting on with his life.
Now Brahmbhatt aka Rocky was obviously irritated by these cries but ,since he found himself being surrounded by a bunch of boys whose numerical strength was strong enough to fill a cricket team, he chose the path of discretion over valour. Of course he would let out the occasional cry of rage which used to only amuse us boys further.
On one matter though Brahmbhatt had the upper hand. The cricket ball would often sail into his house which was on the ground floor, when some audacious batsman decided to play his shot. If the Englishman believes his home to be his castle, Brahmbhatt actually regarded his as a fort. Naturally, he had his say while we boys stood around half amused. After a few minutes the ball would be tossed back to us and then it was business as usual. On one such occasion when the ball sailed into his house, we were standing around as usual while Rocky went about having his say. My brother Balaji too decided to express his opinion with a hearty laugh. Rocky turned around wildly and asked my brother in Hindi “ Thoo kya hasta hai re Madrasi Bhooth” (Why are you laughing you South Indian Ghost). That of course brought the house down. Apart from that it raised the important question, Is there a community\caste system in the spirit world? I haven’t been figure out the answer to that one nearly a quarter century later and would appreciate someone throwing light on the issue.
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