Saga of a lame horsie

( Painting coutesy Ms Joshita Rawat)

My Nana(peace be always with his soul) or nanoo as new generation might say was a hardy simpleton who had flair for using English words despite being a two day old school dropout result of a overzealous masterjee and it always amused me whenever he had to attend natures call he called the place ‘Latring’ which had a urgent ring to it,but it always better than Dr Om parkash using the word in his favorite phrase “..Kya khaya tha?….tatti ! hui thee…..”[1],my maternal native place is predominantly Thakur abode or was till big emigration from Kangra (Himanchal) and Garhwal has made it place of mixed loyalities ..so we were Thakurs but it seemed something was missing, let me add a piece of history here ours is a Tomar Village{Tomars are both Jaat and Rajputs in western UP }and Rajput Tomars fame to history has been being traditional rivals of Chauhans {of Prithviraj fame} and before Prithviraj they ruled Delhi and clans was quite influensive over large parts of north India , before advent of television that there was tradition of ballads an ode to Alah-udal [2]used to be sung over whole this region and although Alah udal were considered anti party to Tomars my Nana used to fondly participate in these Baladic nights, story also goes in crude rural parlance that in some small Tomar enclave power was lost to Gugaa Zahar veer[3] over a small mutton party, this used to be told to me my Nani.
Sorry for that little diversion..we continue with Nana’s disappointment in being Thakur without frills..list of mandatory things were made, pagri kept starched in trunk was left as it is since it was a cumbersome little accompaniment better left for days of court summons{ Indian judicial system with their dates and rural people fixation for land..it was potent combination}, thick silver ‘out of shape’ jewellary kept inside left untouched, Sharp Pathal(Indian blade with long handle) was already in use although with mundane job of cutting wood, traits of classical thakurs were already overtaken by nephews with their drunken brawls and fighting over land..so that was a big issue ultimately it was decided a horse is real ornament of a Rajput..here I am talking about 1976..good 32 years before this time, the village kumbhar was summoned( those days Kumbhars were the guys with Horses and these were I tell you proper horses not some Khachhars) and it was decided to visit nearest Haat at Sahaspur for top notch breed..well! top notch breeds are not that easily available that too for a proud but poor farmer but than it was decided to posses one… than sobeit,horse was bought albeit of female variety with a little crooked walk…… but than females do look good with their lopsided gait..isn’t it!!!!!.
[1] Please go through undersigned Blog entry on “ Jhatpat “{ its about instant photographers}
[2] Bundelkahndi rajput heroes
[3] While travelling in Himanchal near paonta you must have seen statue of a warrior on horse