LT COL NOEL ELLIS
10/IV/2025
I read a message on WhatsApp stating “Char Dost, Do cykalen, khali jeb aur poora Shahar, ek khoobsoorat daur ye bhi tha Zindagi ka”. (Four friends, two bicycles, empty pockets and the whole town to ourselves, that was also a phase of our lives)
We kids always had empty pockets but tonnes of gossip, great bonding, and loads of stories to share. Empty pockets didn’t mean empty minds. We were rich intellectually and had very big hearts.
I remembered Dad carrying his wallet and paying for things from his wallet. We felt wealthy when he opened his wallet as if that cash belonged to us.
He carried his wallet but with a difference. He would keep it in his shirt pocket, never in his hip pocket. He once said “Sunny”, pickpockets always eye the hip pocket. He also shared his wisdom that one must distribute money in many pockets, just in case.
We hardly had any sense of money. “Char Anna” could buy us the moon…. Five paisa for a kite, ten paisa for ‘dus gaz’ twine, five paisa for a big creamy Kulfi, and five paisa for six ‘gol gappas,’ as the last one would be free. “Eight annas” was luxury and “one rupee” my gosh was just so difficult to keep.
We friends could cycle around whole day with empty pockets and still have a gala time in the good old days.
I joined Sainik School in 1973. Most of my class mates had wallets. They were hostelers. I didn’t have one and used to feel a little embarrassed. They would flaunt their wallets at the tuck shop. Many of them were from affluent families. At the end of the day the wallet never mattered between our friendship.
When I reached class VI, I requested mom to buy me a wallet. One day, while visiting the market, there were some vendors on the footpath selling items at throw away prices, “Har maal saste main”. Mom pounced on that opportunity. I was now a proud owner of a red coloured ‘purse’. Mom was generous enough to give me a one-rupee coin to keep.
It had multiple pockets. One pocket had a titch button. It had more layers than dad’s wallet. The purse was made of “rag zine”. On one side, it had a poster of a heroine whose name I did not know and on the other side there was a scenery of a snow-clad mountain range. Real notes were missing. For many years that wallet remained empty. I could only sit on my study table and imagine being a ‘Lakh Pati’.
I would swear to save every penny and present myself with a bicycle. Those days a 24-inch cycle was over sized for me and costed about 500 bucks. How could one generate such kind of money?
That wallet stayed in my drawer unused. The fear of losing the wallet was very profound. Instead, I would carry “chillar” or change. Though many pants had holes in their pockets but never mind.
The first time I carried my wallet was in class VIII, when I went for a NCC camp to Tezpur, Assam. We were 70 odd NCC cadets and staff stuffed in one compartment. Thefts were bound to happen. Someone stole my purse one night. I created a ‘shindy’ and reported to my teachers. Money was not the issue but my wallet was. Next day, I found it under the berth. The contents were missing including the photo of the heroine. I felt so relieved.
I got selected for NDA, and this purse tagged along. It accompanied me to IMA, Dehradun too. In IMA, they gave us stipend, close to Rs 9000/- in Rs 10 denomination. The purse could never hold them. I stuffed my wallet and my pockets and rushed to ‘Keren Company’ where my parents were waiting and handed over all the money to mom. After all it was my first pay.
Mom recognized the purse and was quite surprised that it lasted so many years. Once we reached home, I gifted myself a new one, a leather one at that and retired this one. Later my wife presented me with one and now my daughter also does so.
I still carry a wallet but gone are those care free days. These days one does not have any use left of a wallet, thanks to multiple online payment systems.
As a bachelor in the Army, my buddy kept a track of the contents of my wallet, then it was my wife. Now, it is the Finance Minister who ensures that the pockets are always empty. Hope she won’t tax my thoughts.
“Kya koi lauta sakta hai mere bachpan ki khali jeb wale, char doston aur do cyclon wale din”? I wonder!!!!!!!
JAI HIND
©® NOEL ELLIS
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