The most incredible stories of 2006 Beyond the main news, the tedium of politics,
the gaiety of something called a booming economy, lies the real India. Somewhere in the inside pages of a newspaper. Diminished snippets that stun for a moment and then the page is turned. But they tell the tales of an absurd India that is very much there. We present the unforgettable stories of 2006
Primary school rewards students who didn't come drunk for class
October | Zitapatti, Madhya Pradesh
When Sunil Tarakaswar joined as
headmaster of the village school at Zitapatti in Madhya Pradesh, he suspected something was not quite right with his students. The
children, aged between six and 11, attended school in some kind of a trance. “I would endlessly repeat lessons. Show them birds, trees, flowers, pictures. And the kids would just stare back at me as though they were staring at a brick wall,’’ he recalls.
But Ram Prasad Parte, a tribal teacher, knew what the problem was. He walked into the class and asked the students as the headmaster looked on, “How many of you are consuming alcohol at home?’’ Forty out of 50 children stood up. Parte told the headmaster that almost every house in the village had a brewery which made country liquor from mahua flowers. Zitapatti is off the highway and the village economy runs on this liquor. But the trade is not robust enough to keep hunger away. So, almost everyone in the village consumes mahua.
“On a cold night, even little babies are made to consume alcohol,” the headmaster says with knowledge he has since gathered. “I summoned the parents of the students and asked them to stop serving alcohol to the children. They did not like what I said and argued that in the village everyone drinks, from the great-grandchild to the great grandmother.’’ Then, the headmaster, with the help of a local social activist, decided to reward students if they quit drinking. School uniforms, sweaters, blankets and sweets were offered as enticement. Boys and girls who transformed were given the prizes at a public function.
Man returns home from jail, asked to prove he is not a ghost
January | Katra, Madhya Pradesh
On the first of January 2006, Raju Raghuvanshi returned from jail to Katra, his village in the Mandla district of Madhya
Pradesh. He immediately observed that
something was wrong. First, young children playing outside the village sped away. Then his friends looked terrified and ran screaming, “Bhoot, bhoot.” His brothers who had recently shaved their heads as part of his last rites, fled at the sight of him and bolted their doors. Later, when they found the courage to talk to him, he was told that he was presumed dead.
Even the community feast, a part of his last rites, had been consumed. When he protested, he was accused of being a ghost. The middle-aged unmarried man then went on a frantic search for evidence to prove to his family and village that he was alive. The panchayat asked him to show evidence in writing that he was not dead. Raghuvanshi registered a complaint with the local police who asked him to go to court.
Raghuvanshi was in jail for several months in 2005 after the excise department registered a case against him. While in jail, he fell ill and was shifted to the Jabalpur Medical College Hospital. Raghuvanshi had earlier told TOI, “A distant relative, whom we call Saraswati bhabhi, told my family that I was dead for sometime and that since my body was unclaimed, the district authorities in Jabalpur had disposed it of. Now, no one wants to believe that I am not dead. The panchayat even checked my feet because ghosts’ feet are turned backwards.’’ Raghuvanshi filed a defamation suit against his village. By February end, he was accepted back. Today, he lives in Katra and works as an informer for the excise department.
Eunuchs being used as tax collectors
November | Patna, BihaFaced with falling tax collections, the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) decided to take the help of eunuchs. The energetic drags stepped out onto the streets in song and dance and even lunged at the errant shopkeepers of Maurya Lok Complex, a posh locality of the city, as PMC officials watched the fun. It worked. Every shopkeeper in the area reached out for their cheque books and the PMC mopped up about Rs 10 lakh within a few hours.
With curious onlookers and bystanders doubling up with laughter, the eunuchs got even more excited. Shanti, her face decked with layers of make-up, yelled happily, “Arre tax nahi bharega to badnam ho jayega.”
Stunned by the taunts of the eunuchs and their legally sanctioned assault, many defaulters lost no time in completing the formalities. Others who tried to wriggle out in the melee were spotted and brought back by the eunuchs. After every collection, the eunuchs celebrated with highfives.
(Inputs by Aradhana Takhtani, Ashis Poddar, Faizan
Ahmed, Bella Jaisinghani, Ketan Tanna, Meenakshi
Sinha, Nilanjana Sengupta, Sabrina Buckwalter, Sandeep
Mishra, and Suchandana Gupta) This abstract was checked by WhiteSmoke Solution. Learn More.