But 1966 was not the only time she came to Betma and subsequent trips following years did nothing to take that charm away. I used to be as dumbfounded as when I saw her for the first time, as if under some spell. I remember this happening thrice while I was in Betma. Another incidence added to my attraction for her was entry of another set of dancers. Seeing the success of the troupe that Baby Indira was a part of, a competition also surfaced and another theatresade an entry thar had not one but two stars.. sisters Baby Suman and Baby Mangla. Their theatrics/plays were not so well received but since there were two dancers the whole 2 to 2 1/2 hour show consisted mostly dances what we called record actions and some skits instead of full plays. That also made them more competitive by employing lesser number of artists and other staff. But that apart, Baby Mangla was too young and may have been just about two or three year older than me and Baby Suman another 1 or 2 years. They both danced well but it was not the same. Their shows were houseful because they were entertaining and could dance on a much wider range of songs as on some songs they both danced together. Their troupe was stationed in the Police station premises and nearer to the bus stand that added number of "walking customers" some of them waiting for their buses, that they often missed. Well, the fun continued till I left Betma .. now it was कभी ये और कभी वो kind of option.. that added two more feathers to my cap. Now I wonder with such preoccupation, how I topped the class year after year.
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When I entered 9th that was the first year of secondary school, we had to choose between science or arts unlike these days when you face that question after passing 10th. Although I fancied literature there was nothing that stopped me to choose PCM that stands for Phisics, Chemistry and Maths with Hindi and Sankrit. I would have gone for biology instead of mathematics but that option didn't exist. It was too early for me to have a choice between engineering , medical or arts (humanities) but the general "impression" was that the first two streams were meant for people who were "better in studies". I had seen more doctors but not known any engineer besides one of my father's cousins so becoming a doctor was more fascinating but that dream got culled before it became a dream due to "option not available" sign. So that was the beginning of my engineering career before entering the engineering college. Once you have opted PCM in class 9th you are bound to dream to become an engineer as no one found the word scientist fascinating and people who were aware to the the educational system then, knew that after doing BSc or MSc what you become is a lab assistant or a science teacher in a school. There was no institution then that was known to produce Scientists. At least with the then limited knowledge me and my classmates had, said so. In my class I had Premchand Patidar a studious and hard working fellow who cycled from Methwada a small village some 14 Kms away. He was not the only one though who peddled so much even Naveen Shukla, another one of my new classmates paddled same distance everyday when he traveled from Ghatabillod to Betma. After spending a year in class 9th our friendship was all but obvious. Although I didn't consider Patidar a competition but he did. He had an edge over me in the eyes of Dr DP Mourya our maths teacher who had just submitted his dissertation for PhD and was hinting to join Holkar Science college in Indore once he is awarded the degree, that he later did but not before us passing 10th. At least that's what Patidar thought.
Sometime in the summer of 1970 when we had passed class 9th and were promoted to the 10th, Premchand's brother's marriage was fixed and all the PCM students were invited to attend that. Those were the days when marriages in friend's families or anyone known in the village didn't require any formal invitation as such. These festivities were open to everyone in the village especially when you have known the family one way or the other. I didn't have any transport to reach Methwada so I remember walking some distance on the main highway with another classmate before we requested a bullock cart to offer us a ride once the pabble or the mud road started. On our way was a very small village called Ravad (रावद). After walking for about an hour in hot sun of May, I was thirsty, so went to a house and asked the lady who was busy putting a layer of cowdung over the elevated entrance of the house as was common to keep the house clean and disinfected, for a glass of water. She looked at me and asked कौन जात? ( Which cast). Innocently I said बामण (Brahmin) and before giving me a glass of water she almost touched my feet 🤔.
The bullock cart joy ride would have taken another 30-35 minutes to take us to Methwada. It was late afternoon. Festivities for marriages used to be a long affair then and we had reached just a day before the D-day. We had no plans to join the barat the following day that was to proceed to another village where bride's family lived. We got good reception from the family and something or other kept going at the couple of houses in the village where celebrations had started. I was not interested in those so just took a stroll in the village till the sun went down. Soon I saw a crowd gathering at one of the venues and made my way to that. Everyone was excited and I got to know that soon a nautch was going to begin. It was not a traditional nautch that I had seen in some movies or the record actions of Baby Indira, Baby Suman or Baby Mangla but more like the one that I had seen in haat bazaars performed by "women". Much later I got to know that they were third gender people and were called hijras ( or eunuchs). But the style was different and watching closely I noticed that some womens were women and some others were women like the haat bazaar kind.. marriage guests called all of them nautch girls. They must have been of varying age from late teens to late forties and were dancing to the rhythm of a dholak and singing folk wedding songs, lyrics of some of which I found embarrassing. However, I noticed most villagers and relatives were ecstatic.. singing and dancing with those girls and "semi-girls". As it started getting dark the tempo of rhythm kept increasing. After a while I was hungry and dinner was served so I moved there with some friends. Even after dinner the dance "festival" was continuing and I noticed the guests who were dancing were totally drunk and kept falling instead of dancing. People were also showering rupee notes on the girls and throwing in the air that the dholi was collecting. Slowly people started moving and so were girls but movement of some people looked suspicious as they were talking in whispers and holding hands of some women as they went away and vanished. Dances were still going but my friends and I decided to call it a day and when we went to one hall where some guests were sleeping.
Much later I was educated on the happenings around. That was and perhaps still is a culture and is a way marriages are celebrated in villages. Next morning Patidar family gave us a send-off and my friends and I returned in the bullock cart that was arranged by Premchand for us to take back to Betma.
It was another first experience attending a wedding without my family and I felt more grown with this other kind of entertainment.
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Representative picture of nautch downloaded from Internet.
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