MAATI KE MEETHE BOL

 

MAATI KE MEETHE BOL

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

22/X/2022

 

            My wife and I were sitting in our balcony when we saw a lady carrying something on her head and going door to door in the street across. My first instinct was to call security guards. Could she be a maid servant. That thought fizzled my urge to call the gate to check.

 

            It is quite common that people who are not that well to do, which are in large numbers in the state of Rajasthan, go ‘collecting Diwali’ from as many homes as they can. With Dhanteras and Choti Diwali round the bend before the main festival of Diwali, these visits are not out of the blue.

 

            When I returned for lunch from my daily chores, my wife disclosed who that unknown lady was and narrated the episode. Her story is important and a little touching too, so wanted to share it.

 

            She came to our door and said “main neech jaat ri koni.” Neech jaat, what neech jaat, why neech jaat and all such questions erupted in my mind. It seems that people here still believe and discriminate based on jaat-paat, caste and creed. Fearing she could be shooed off, she said, “aap ko Diwali ri bahut-bahut shubh kamnayen madam ji.”

 

            She spoke ‘theth’ Marwari which I am not as fluent with was a treat to hear from my wife who is an expert. I better brush up my local lingo in the land of sun and sand, I think.

 

            Aap ko bhi sa, reciprocated my wife. She again repeated ‘main neech jaati ro koni. par kumhaaran hun ‘Diwali ro Diya lo kayen.’ Mahra haat ro baneyoda ha.” The suspense further got revealed she was the local potter women who was selling handmade earthen lamps called Diyas going door to door. Mind you the ‘Gathari’ must be heavy as there must be hundreds of them inside. Carrying them on her head from would be some task in this heat.

 

            “Ki kar diya? (How much is it for?), my wife asked. “Do rupiyo ra ek, baki thari marji,” she said. Imagine the cheapest thing on earth is this small little earthen pot which can light up lives of the family of the potter besides lighting up our homes this festival.

 

            In that cost of two rupees, she was ready to come down to a lower price, as she expected my wife would bargain as people here generally do. Even if she sold a hundred of them, she won’t make more than two hundred bucks at best, besides the fatigue and hard work this lady would have done. To sell that many, she might have to visit more than hundred houses or even more.

 

            Then she said, “aaj kal sab Bijli ri lightan lagave, maati wala diya leve koni” which is true. Without doing any ‘Mol-Bhav’ my wife said, “aap mere dwar pe aye ho diya le ke, to main zaroor lungi,” though she had no intentions of buying diyas.

 

            Then a dam of blessings broke as the potter woman got emotional. “Madam thay samjho maati ri baat. Main thane anek ashirwad diyun, thane har tarah ka sukh miley.” A smile broke on her face as this was probably best bargain of the day she got and then she left for the next house.

 

            Such simple, hardworking and such innocent people are hard to find. May God bless her hands to continue with her profession is our wish.

 

This power of the mitti must be understood by all of us. This reminded me of a famous Doha of Kabir…. Maati kahe Kumhaar se…. tu kya ronde mohe…. ek din aisa ayega, main rondungi tohe.

 

I think there is a deep meaning. Finally, we all are going to turn to dust, but still we carry our jaat-paat, egos, and are so deeply involved in the earthly things that we forget that there is a human being whose life and livelihood depends on little diyas she moulded with mud and sold them at the price of dirt.

 

We thank her for her blessings and her Maatti ke meethay bol. Do you agree? I wonder!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© NOEL ELLIS