H - THE CARAVAN -7 DECEMBER 2002

THE CARAVAN - 7 DECEMBER 2002

I was on my morning walk with my mother, she had been advised by the
doctor to go for long walks in the morning which would relieve her to a
certain extent of the joint pain of the right knee and a good therapy
for her diabetes. I have come to spend a week with her and also to get
a relief from the hectic daily schedules. We were half way through when
I saw a caravan approaching the maidan.

The wheels of the caravan came to a halt at the maidan. The maidan had
been the grazing field for the cattle but now with no green fodder, the
cowherd no longer lay on his spread out towel with his gaze fixed to
the blue sky on which drifted patches of white clouds. The grass bed
had dried, the ferns and the patchy bushes that grew over this vast
stretch of land had withered and some of them uprooted by those who
crossed the broken path.

This was the caravan of the gypsies, moving about from place to place
in these vans, very old models, which no longer ran on the streets of
the busy towns. The vans were well cared for by their users, painted in
bright colours with sketches of animals and birds along the sides
giving them a very attractive look. The glass window panes were lined
from inside with curtains, drawn aside during the day for the sun's
rays to steal in.

I stood there watching them and my mother gave me company. The male
members pitched the tents in no time and the ladies progressed with
their duties. Some of the children ran hither and thither, some
fighting among themselves and the bigger ones ran all over the maidan
collecting the dry twigs and the parched ferns and bushes and heaped
them up at one place. The men wore dhotis and brightly coloured tops,
the dhotis reached well below the knees. The women wore ghagra and
cholis with the dupatta over their heads and the loose ends flowing
down the shoulders to waist length. The red, green and the black
ghagras were embroidered in gujrati stitch with coloured threads and
small moon shaped mirrors were set in different designs. The ghagras
fell from the waist a little below the knees, showing off the silver
anklets. The choli was very neatly cut and designed with embroidery
work and the moon shaped mirrors set all over the front part. Their
clothing was so unusual.

The ladies lighted the fire in no time with the twigs that the children
had collected and some firewood they had brought with them and set two
pots boiling, a boiling rice pot and the other cooked the lentils and
the chopped vegetables which they added to it.

Everything was done so swiftly, it seemed that this place belonged to
these people and they were not the nomads but permanent dwellers
leading a very settled life. Water was collected in buckets from the
nearby roadside tap and they used the far end of the open ground as
their toilet, bathed in the open and seemed so comfortable.

I stayed back for quite sometime, with many others watching the gypsies
at their work. I knew that soon these people would move around the
streets of this town to put up their shows at different places in the
coming days. I was a child when I had seen the gypsy-show in our
town.

******

One morning the people in our locality heard the beating of a drum at
whose sound the men, women and the children responded. Children ran out
of their houses, men took to the streets and even the ladies were not
left behind. I had also run out of my house to see what was happening
around. Inquiries went on to find out the reason of the beating of the
drum. A few of them hurried to the spot from where the sound could be
heard and found that a group of gypsies were sitting in an open place
with a bundle of bamboos, and belongings bundled and tied and also
other stuff. The people rushed to the spot in great numbers and they
made a human circle with the gypsies sitting in the center. At the
sight of the mass, they started unbinding their stuff. Almost
immediately they put up two bamboo poles fifteen feet apart and used a
cable, to connect the two, at a height of ten feet above the
ground.

In the group of these nomads there men, women and children and one of
them announced in a typical colloquial language that they were going to
present a show before the crowd. The drummer made rhythmic beats and a
teenaged girl climbed onto the line, at first walking from one end to
the other and balancing herself with the help of a long bamboo which
she held in the middle with both her hands and moved forward. On
reaching the other end she walked backwards towards the starting point
Standing and balancing on the wire she showed many acrobatic feats. A
man balanced a bamboo on his shoulder and a child climbed the pole at
ease showing off his gymnastic skills at the top of the pole and the
balance resting on the man's shoulder. Jugglery was presented by a
senior male member and the most astounding performance was breath
catching. A baby was bundled up in a piece of cloth and the bundle was
attached to a rope. A middle aged man climbed up a pole and rested
himself on the top, and he gripped the loose end of the rope with the
bundled baby at the other end and started swinging the rope in a
clockwise direction for at least eight revolutions. Then he stopped and
the momentum came to a still. The child was unwrapped and placed on the
mother's lap, safe and sound, but the baby lungs bursting with cries.
Those watching this gulped down their spit with chilliness and fear
gripping their hearts.

Soon after these people spread out some herbs and spoke of their
utility and curing effects for some chronic ailments like piles,
asthma, rheumatic pains and even for headaches and common cold. They
made good money by selling out some of this stuff.

At the center they spread out a big piece of cloth and a couple of men
and women from the group walked round the circle asking the onlookers
to contribute generously. People groped their pockets and fished out
coins and flung it on the cloth. Even a woman went round with her
dupatta spread open with her hands and collected money, some generous
people gave a ten rupee and a twenty rupee note also. The show came to
an end.

The crowd began to disperse and the gypsies bundled up their belongings
and moved towards their makeshift dwelling.

******

After a long time I came across the caravan of these wanderers. They
are seen very rarely these days in the fast moving cities.

Packed up my clothes and boarded the night bus bound for my home town.
I got a seat near the window and enjoyed the cool breeze that came and
touched my face and made me feel sleepy. I knew that it as going to be
a tough time in the bus sitting up the whole night waiting to reach my
destination at the break of dawn.