Bravehearted Sheru Chacha.

Sher Khan had an awe-inspiring personality like Amarsingh Pehlwan. Both had been wrestlers in their own right but they never fought in any competition against each other. Usually in wrestling competitions in Betma and in the nearby towns the contestants would not be from the same village or town. I think Sher Khan whom we all lovingly called Sheru Chacha was slightly older than Amarsingh Pehlwan and both were champions in different times and by the time we shifted to Betma and I started going to the akhara, Sheru Chacha was a veteran and had given up competitive sports. 

The rented house that we lived was built between two streets and was very long and narrow. It must have been about 18 feet wide and some 150 feet long. The house front was opening to Poora Bazaar, the market side that was lined with various kinds of shops. There was a grocery and general store in about 12-14 feet width that was some 20 feet deep and we had a small passage leading inside to our house that was built on two stories. A large part of the plot was open where Shyama (cow) and her young ones lived besides a set of toilets towards the end and a small exit gate. When the cow family went out for grazing one could play cricket or football in that space. Either side had walls separating houses. On one side we had a Khandelwal family and on the other Totla family. Both business families. One was engaged in grain business and had a small grocery and other one had a cloth store. Both were joint families with some 8 to 10 occupants. A couple of years after we moved, Vallabh Sarda who owned the grocery bought the house and shut our entry and extended his shop much to our dislike and discomfort. I was very loud in expressing my emotions to Giridhar his elder son who was a year junior to me in the school, he empathised with us but was too young to say anything to his grandpa, father or uncle who ran that business. Only concession we got was that when the shop was open we were allowed to pass through it to the house. But only we kids used that route and our parents and grandpa rarely used that path to leave house and used only the back exit door.

Exit door that became our main entry now opened to a street that had only residential houses and no shops so it was very quiet as compared to the other side. And most traffic that passed through it during mornings and evenings was that of cattle whom their owners took out for grazing to forested area outside the village. 

This was called Gavli mohalla, the name indicates that most people who lived there were cattle owners and dealt in milk supply occupation. Just behind Gavli mohalla was Katkatpura where some Muslim families lived. The name of the mohalla perhaps indicated their choice of  food they liked/preferred. There lived Sher Khan aka Sheru Chacha whose house had a long and high platform before the living quarters where they tied some half a dozen goats, unlike cattle, goats didn't go far off and used to roam around in neighborhood and graze on the grass on the empty plots with green patches. I used to get fascinated watching milk goat who would hardly give half a litre milk or less compared to Shyama who gave nearly 2 litres every morning and evening. But I think in our house we left much of it for calves. I also had tamed Shyama and would sometime milk her without her creating any commotion.

Sheru Chacha was a very affectionate person. He worked as a truck driver and in his free time he would often be found at Damu's "Murli Tea Stall" at bus stand where one could find him sharing his road journey anecdotes that people listened with a lot of interest. He must have been in his early thirties, tall, well built and handsome to have a lasting anmd positive impression on us, especially with stories that he shared that sometimes I heard but often been retold by Damu or Ghamu da. A couple of years later he got an employment with a Taxi owner and would take passengers out locations near and far from his base location that was Indore, in his owner's white ambassador car. A couple of years later, I think it was the year 1970 , one day a couple came to him in the evening and engaged him for a trip to Bombay, he was more than happy as such long trips were not common ( Bombay is 600 Kms from Indore). They set out for a 12 hour long journey at 7.00pm from Indore. Some three hours in the journey when they would have reached near Sendhwa some 150 Kms, the passenger told him to take a short break and they stopped by the curb side. At that hour of night there was hardly any traffic on the otherwise a busy highway NH3. After relieving himself the guy told Sheru Chacha that he wants to take something from the boot and asked him to open it. As Sheru Chacha got down and opened the boot, he was attacked by a sharp and long knife that cut through his stomach and intestines, guy attacked him a number of times and rotated the knife inside his stomach. All this happened so unexpectedly that even a strong person like Sheru Chacha could do nothing and bleeding profusely he fell down. Both passengers then pulled him and threw in the bushes taking him for dead, cleaned themselves and fled in the car towards Bombay. But Sheru Chacha the strong and courageous man was not dead, bleeding had left him weak so he couldn't fight back. Soon after the carjacking, he could move his limbs and managed to pull out a long piece of cloth that he had over his neck and tied rightly over his stomach that slowed down the blood from oozing out and he struggled hard to come to the road and with all the strength that he had, he stood up and waved at a passing bus that didn't stop, after not being lucky with two buses the third bus driver stopped and Chacha was taken to the nearby hospital some 20-25 Kms away, not everyone is callous, there are people who care. Chacha became unconscious when he reached hospital and it was only the next morning that he opened his eyes. The treatment had saved his life and he was now out of danger. After completing the formalities he was discharged from that small hospital and taken for proper treatment to Indore by cops. He retuned to Betma after a month, weak and frail but sound enough to tell his story to people. His strength and presence of mind had saved his life. 

In Bombay, the car and the carjacking murderous couple were apprehended when they couldn't give satisfactory answers to some cops who were on a road-check and got arrested. 

This news appeared in local newspapers that came to the notice of Hira Bhai, who is native of Betma where his brother Kachru was running a savory shop. Kachru Bhai's shop was the second building when you entered Betma from the highway. The entire shop used to be on the road and would occupy some 10 feet of the road. Being very close to school I used to but गुड़ की सेंव from him whenever I had some 5 or10 Paise on me. His shop had become famous for this particular item. Sometime my friend,  classmate and Kachru's nephew Prakash would get it for free and share.. that used to be a treat. 

Through Hira Bhai the news that the stolen car was found in Bombay reached Betma and Sheru Chacha was called for identification of the culprits. By then Bombay police had got the information about the murderous attack on Sheru Chacha and their third degree treatment to the couple had revealed that Sheru Chacha was their 22nd victim and none of the precious victims survived. On arrival to police station in Bombay Sheru Chacha had no problem identifying the murderous car thieves. I am not sure on the court proceedings and judgement in the case but to the best of my knowledge convicts were not sent to the gallows.

This is the true story of Betma's brave heart Sheru Chacha (as best as my memory tells me) whom we all loved even more after his brave fight and survival. He could never recover completely and didn't do any physically strenuous work for rest of his life. I learnt later that he died peacefully in 2019 in his early eighties.

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Representative pictures downloaded from Internet.