A True Story!

 True Story(aap Beeti)

Jalebi de Valeaveiyaa.n di ulzhan!
(The Dilemma of Spirals of Jalebi!)
Yeh Uss Zamaney ki baat hai jab bapu se athhanni milte hi ameer ho jaya karte thhey!
Every parents emphasize that their children should never accept gifts and edible goodies from strangers may even be friendly strangers.My parents and grandparents were very strict in enforcing their diktat.It was the year 1951 myself and my uncle (Chacha) were class fellows.I was eleven 'Chacha' was 12.We used to pass through a 'Bazaar' en route our school.There was a 'Halwai'(Sweets maker) under a 'Pipal' tree(Ficus religiosa or sacred fig  also known as the bodhi tree),  in the 'Bazaar'(Market). We used to get one 'Athanni'(Eight Annas) each as our pocket money every Monday.

Atthanni
One day while returning from school and passing by the said 'Halwai' shop a voice came calling my name,looking around in the direction of the call ,we saw a drop out from our school standing in front of the shop eating 'Jalebis' in a 'Doona' (Plate made from banyan tree leaves looking somewhat like picture below) (Rough and stitched with straw)


He  said, "come on enjoy the hot 'jalebis' a treat from me, after all we are old friends." We looked at each other and towards juice dripping 'jalebis'  held in fork by the 'halwai' being taken out of the 'Chaashni'( concentrated sugary juice).

Our mouth was watering at at the scene at the same time Instructions of parents flashing across our mind.'Chacha' took me aside and asked," what do you say,should we accept his offer,can you keep it a secret."swallowing half the water accumulated in the mouth and few drops falling out i concurred.Both of us shook hand sworn by the deal.He was observing our reluctance and noticing how we were afraid of our parents.Any way, he got us a 'doona' of jalebis' costing a 'Chawanni'( 4 Annas) to each.We were very happy but feeling guilty having disobeyed our parents.Thanking him we departed on a very happy note.
The following Monday while passing by shop he appeared from nowhere and demanded to loosen our pockets by a'Chawanni' each." What for?" I asked. He said for the 'Jalebis you ate. I said we did not ask for it ,it was he who wanted to give us a treat."Do you think i am holding a 'Langar' here?" Hurry up give my money or i go to your parents to get it?"Sensing trouble we requested him not to go to our parents,we promise to pay your money out of our pocket money which we get on Mondays.As promised we paid his money on Monday.
The following Friday he stopped us and asked for balance of the money.I told him we paid him in full there was not any balance to be paid.He roared who will pay the Interest? Nothing doing are you paying or should get it from your parents."
We were stunned we begged of him not to go to our parents wait for Monday.Just to stop him from telling our parents he black mailed us for about 7 months.We got rid of this vicious circle and heaved a sigh of relief when our parents moved to a house in another locality and consequent change our school.

-Tejinder Kamboj

Tail Piece:
The word jalebi is derived from the Arabic word zulabiya or the Persian zolbiya, another name for luqmat al qadi.This recipe was brought to Medieval India by Persian-speaking Turkic invaders. In 15th century India, jalebi was known as Kundalika or Jalavallika

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