If you think music erupts abruptly in the middle of a fight only in movies... think again :)
Feast of the belly and fist of fury :
It was on one Saturday night that one of my childhood dreams came true though not in the way I like it to be. I remember it was Saturday night not because I kept a journal or have a good memory but because I couldn’t go to church the next day. In Delhi we get to attend a church service only once in a week i.e. on Sunday. But at the time of this story I used to attend two services; one was UBF (University Bible Fellowship, Munirka) at 10 in the morning and the other was KWS (Kuki Worship Service) at 5 in the evening.
Well, this is what happened… we got the good news that friends in Munirka had uisa at their disposal and invited us to dine with them. It was around 10 PM already so we went to Munirka pronto from JNU, a distance of about 10 minutes walk, with a fairly good mood and remotely unaware of what was to happen later that night.
As we climb up the stairs to our host room. We heard some buzzing noise from above. On reaching, I was stunned to see the many chappals outside the room; it suggested that the room won’t contain us anymore. The room was crowded with the'machos' and they were having a good time; it was like ‘boys night out’ ! But still one of us barged in and doesn’t care to come back.
A friend came out of the room and took us to his room on the next floor and we cooked for ourselves separately. We’d a hearty and sumptuous meal and at the stroke of midnight a friend said he wanted to get a packet of cigarette badly before the shops down their shutters. The owner of the room offered me his white jacket with a hood. I gladly wear that without any second thought and we set off to the shop racing against time. (If this is about Bhagat’s ‘The 3 mistakes of my life’ this will be my 1st mistake).
After few minutes of walking into the alleys we turned left into the meandering lanes….it was bare and silent as we walked along, the two of them ahead of me and I walked behind; in the middle of the lane. Consumption of uisa makes you warm and I could hear blood gushing in my blood vessels.
After awhile four wasted guys with 'loose screw at their knees' came from the opposite direction; one of them was wearing a white banian (vest) and a chain around his neck. Staggering passed my friends was well and fine but as he passed by me he knocked my shoulder. I turned back and said “hey!” he looked back and mutter “Sorry” with hic and slur. I said to myself ‘fine' and continued walking.
He stood there and yelled “I said I’m sorry” it seemed this fellow wanted to mess with me. (He ought to be warned 'Don't mess with the Dragon!') I said “ok” but he came toward me and mutter the same word but with a derogatory tone and started pushing me. I told myself let him push me once again I won’t just stand and watch. Sure he did. That was his biggest mistake! He wakes up the sleeping lion! I clenched my fist and grind my teeth… believe me, I could hear my knuckles cracking but in the nick of time I remembered the words someone told me “ You’ve got the hands of a lady; small, clean and smooth”. Smooth!? Hell No! (I’ve scars; a reminiscent of a‘fighter’ kid) Small! Yes, I realized using my hands will do me no good. I took a step backward and did ‘flying kick’.
Damn! Not only did I missed him, my shoes almost flew off. I was wearing an olive Converse # 10 which I bought from Sunday Mkt., a flea market near IG stadium and it was a li’l too big for my otherwise XL feet.
I sized him up and told myself if I go for ‘fist-to-fist fight’ I don’t stand a chance; I’ve got to do something so before he raised his hands so I grabbed his whole torso. I increased my grip on him giving him no space to either hit me or kick me. His two friends tried to hit me at my back but my friends take care of that.
However, after few minutes, I don’t know what the hell had happened but I realized I was all alone fighting three tipsy guys. Later, I came to know that my friends were doing the need of the hour; one of them gave a hot chase to the guy who darted off into the darkness (what if he comes back with a dozen afterward?) and the other one sensing this scuffle could escalated into unwanted large-scale 'Clash of the Titans' went for back-up. While I grabbed the tough guy the other two punches me on my back, neck and shoulder. I buried my head deep into his chest and hold him at his loin clasping both his hands.
In the nick of time I remembered Bruce Lee’s (my childhood idol) teaching “The stiffest tree is most easily cracked while bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind”. I took the punches like a willow but I grabbed this guy more firmly… the slightest mistake would cost me dear. He tried to free himself but I don’t let him. So like in ‘Zanzeer’ & ‘Sholay’ fight sequence we grabbed each other and he hurled and pushed me against the iron-gate (shutter) and Idid the same while the other two fellows took turn hitting me. One of them hit me right on my temple and for the first time (also the last time) I saw stars in Munirka; forget about stars one hardly gets a good view of the sky in Munirka from the ground.
After about 10 mins of being a ‘willow’ I heard a strange sound approaching fast and the earth was shaking. It was like a pack of ferocious wolves darting off into the jungle as in the‘Twilight’ saga. I bet it would make your coffee on the table trots! I looked at the direction of the incoming sound and I smile. I thought music erupts abruptly in the middle of a fight only in movies but I was wrong it also does in real life too :)
What is music to you? Is it the one Mozart & Beethoven produced? Or closer home A.R. Rahman or one of ours Thangjangam make? Well, I heard one of a different kind...Someone once said “I heard the best music in the middle of a desert” and that moment I heard mine. :)
My ecstasy was cut short though, as I became the first victim once again. An early bird catches the worm so does the fastest wolf. I saw him leaping and raising his hand in the air and before I could say anything his fiery punch blow the smile out of my face. “Aaaarghhh!” If that punch had landed on my eye, my eye-ball would have jet off from its socket. Though grimacing in pain I felt lucky as he missed my eye only by a whisker.
“Damn! It’s me”. “Go,get them!” I told him. “I’m so sorry”he apologized when he heard my voice. I don’t blame him as I was wearing someone else jacket with a hood on.
What follow was no less than the action scene in ‘300’. In the midst of all the brouhaha and the melee I stood there a li’l numb and dumb trying my best to bring back some sense into my spinning head. Everything was happening in a jiffy; only me at the centre was in 'slow motion' and I couldn’t hear properly. As I looked around suddenly I felt pity for the three guys who a moment ago beat me to pulp.
Our 're-inforcement' reached us in the nick of time and to my rescue came around 6-8 guys. Things would have been different if everything was happening in the campus. They might have come walking with placards in their hands. SAVE THANG! Or JUSTICE FOR THANG! written on the placard. But lucky me! It’s Munirka…(lol) What are friends for after all? The three poor guys are outnumbered and they don’t stand a stance now. In fact they couldn’t even stand literally now; one blow to the left, another blow to the right. “Take this!” and“Take that!” was the rap (song) emanating from everywhere around.
The noise woke up the entire mohalla/ building on both side of the alley; people in their undies and banian with puffy eyes and unkempt hair looked down from their balconies. One old man on the ground floor dared to open his gate and asked “Yeh kya ho raha hai?”.
“Peeke marta hai isliye” someone amongst us responded. The old man then picked up a bamboo from the adjoining ‘under construction’ house and whacked him. As I regained some senses my sympathy for the three guys turned into a fit of anger once again. “It’s all because of his folly” I told myself and faced him upfront and punch him right in his face. My blow had him dropped like a cow-dung on the ground and with that we left the scene.
The three of us, on our way back to the hostel, were stopped at the gate by the G4 security guard and one of us took out his ID and flashed it across the face of the bewildered looking guard while he looked straight ahead and spoke on the phone with his right hand. It was like a scene from ‘My Sassy girl’ where the protagonists in school uniform on entering a bar, the girl (Jeon Ji Hyun) flashed her ID with her head held high indicating she’s above 18 years and legally fit to enter a bar and drink a pint or two.
The friend on the phone after telling the Munirka friends to keep a low profile henceforth, told me “Thang, did you see my ‘Ong Bak’?” and continued “If I’d known that it was you… you, my brother, who got beaten by those wasted fellow I would have hit them harder…much harder”. While the other friend hold me and walked me home… they asked me to stay over at their rooms. I almost forget to mention;they were room-mates then.
Once we enter their room the jolly fellow put on Miranda’s song “Nei ngaidam in lungdei…” he sang and enacted the scene and made us laughed. But he didn’t know that he was torturing me by making me laugh.
Back to the beginning: To get into a street fight was one of my weird dreams as an unruly kiddo but what actually happened saw a slight change in the script. I wanted to be the one who rescue others not the one who has to be rescued. Anyway, I’ve had it all!
This is Nehkupedia, the narrator-cum-writer, signing off with Adele in the background singing “We could have had it all” (Rolling in the deep) but wait a second, Adele… let me change the lyric to suit my palate (story)… “I’ve had it all”.
Special thanks to Bruce Lee, Mozart, Beethoven, A.R. Rahman, Thangjangam & Mirinda! And lots of thanks & hi5 to the wolves & stars of that night who rescued me from the den of death (I’d love to mention your names but i guess I need to refrain from doing that)… :)
