Divine Sticks from Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar is a holy place . It is situated in the Sahyadri range of mountains along western coast of India . Besides natural beauty , temples and serpentine rivulets , this place is also famous for beautifully carved walking-sticks . It is believed that prayers made here always come true . I have a feeling that the sticks from Mahabaleshwar are as effective as prayers . I have a reason to believe so.
During my childhood , we used to stay in railway quarters . We six brothers and two sisters with parents lived in a quarter admeasuring about 600 square feet - courtesy South Eastern Railways . I was the seventh child of my parents . Our home was shabby for more than one reason . There was always more luggage in our home than needed - some useful , many useless , mostly such items which were never to be used but could not be thrown out either . As if the number of children were not enough , we also had two pet dogs . Not surprising then that in spite of all efforts of my overworked mother , the home remained shabby .

My Mejda ( second eldest brother ) had brought two walking sticks from Mahabaleshwar . These were well carved with beautifully decorated handles . The grips of the handles were designed like the head of Chinese dragon . Mejda brought these sticks for two reasons , one - to decorate the walls of our otherwise shabby home and the other that they would prove handy in father’s old age. Well , the second logic did not amuse my father !

My father was always worried about the future of his sons and daughters . “Alas ! I wonder if my children will ever become manush ”, he often said . ‘Manush’ in Bengali means good human being and amanush meant a spoilt child . I , his seventh child , was far from being a manush , in fact I was more of amanush.

There was a mango grove next to our school where I studied . During the school periods , instead of concentrating on what the teacher taught , my thoughts would hover around the branches of the mango trees . In the recess , we all friends would play hide and seek game in the mango grove . I used to rush to these trees and hide among the branches , while my classmates would search for me frantically .

Once I spread itch – powder on the benches and desks in the class room and later when powder showed its effect , all the kids started scratching their body and I had a hearty laugh till I got a good thrashing from the head teacher . In short I was a naughty and lazy student .

I never lost any opportunity to gossip . In fact I loved to listen to other people gossiping , especially the elders , as that seemed to be the only available entertainment for them in our small town. Needless to say most of my time was wasted like this. Once , just a month prior to exams , a family acquaintance visited our home . He started telling stories about some Bengali hit movie he had seen in Calcutta . I was glued to the spot voraciously gulping his make belief .

My Mejda was an army man ,a strict disciplinarian . He disapproved of all this especially wasting time before exams . He was home for his annual leave and was watching all that was going on for sometime , silent but disapproving . When suddenly….

Dham ..dhoom … dham ..dhoom …. crack , the stick broke on my back . It happened even before I realized what hit me. Unable to tolerate my wasting time Mejda had silently brought down one stick and then ……. This had two immediate effects . Firstly , from that day , I stopped wasting my time in gossiping . Secondly , my father was apparently very happy . Sticks no longer reminded him of his old age .

Many years have passed since then . My father is no more . I do not know whether I have fulfilled my father’s dream of my becoming a manush . I often tell my Mejda , “ Brother , your one stick has made me a kidney specialist , you should have broken both the sticks on my back , then possibly , I would have become a manush in the real sense .”

After all , the sticks were no ordinary sticks , these were divine sticks from Mahabaleshwar !