The mighty Banyan Tree stands right outside my officer's colony. It flutters its leaves in celebration of every stroke of wind. It receives with reverence all the diyas kept around it in the evenings, meant to deal with the shani doshas of Hindu devotees. You see, Peepal ka pedh is divine.
It reminds me of Kerala in many ways. The erstwhile gramsabhas of Kerala were invariably held under the shade of the Banyan Tree(aal maram) .The eternal presence of Banyan trees is inevitable outside temples and some movie scenes. The aalila thaali(North Indians please read as Mangalsutra) and aalila kannan(Lord Krishna) are all related to Banyan tree.
I was out for office on time, that day. While waiting for the share auto (No mini bus please!) I could see that a couple is busy pulling down the tender branches of Banyan tree down to the ground, with an unsually long bamboo stick. The pale green leaves and shoots of the tree had just arrived after winter. I watched the activity for a while and was confused why they never stopped doing it despite having a considerable collection of the leaves and tender shoots. And I wondered what purpose it was supposed to serve. I decided to ask, out of curiosity.
The couple temporarily paused and looked at me. My Hindi is good enough but it cannot always work in place of Bengali. So conversing with locals is not easy. After repeating twice "Kya kar rahe ho aap log? Peepal ke pathon ka kya karega? ", with the necessary actions, they smiled.
The lady replied loudly, "Bhokri main khayega" !!
"Accha..". Now the ball is in my court.
Bhokri... For next 5 seconds my mind scanned all the North Indian terminologies associated with the sound "Bh"... Bhangra,Bakrid, Bhakranangal(But thats a dam!), Bhai Dooj, Baisakhi... My logical conclusion was that Bhokri is a local festival wherein banyan tree leaves have some religious significance and is used to make some special dish exclusively for that occassion. Queer enough...
" Accha...Bhokri main tumi ye patta khabo...?"(You are going to have these leaves during Bhokri?) I retorted with confidence in my broken Bengali.
They looked at each other. Then they looked at me.
"Ami noi...Bhokri main khayega...Bhokri main..". The guy took over this time.
The same conversation was repeated another two times with same results. 0-0
By now I knew I am in trouble.There was some serious miscommunication going on. ' I'd better hurry for office than experiment my Bengali skills with people on the road', I thought to myself. Dismissing further conversation with an "Accha Accha teek hai..", I became busy looking for an auto that would appear at the end of the road any time.
"Didi...Bhokri.. Bhokri..
Bhokri hain na..."
The couple were still determined. I gave a puzzled look. " Ki bolchi"?
"Choto...choto...choto Bhokri hain na... meeeeeeh meeeeeh..."
The guy was now demonsrating his mimicry skills, bleating like a goat. I looked around to see if anybody was watching this tamasha. Nobody... Thank heavens!
" Meeeeh meeeeeh....." he continued.
Finally... the tube light in me got enlightened.
The tender Banyan leaves are fodder for their goats and lambs. Great. Thumbs Up.Yo..!!
I smiled at them, acknowledged that I understood and quietly boarded an auto, heading for office leaving behind a happy couple, jubilant in translating their idea to me .
P.S: I never imagined that Bakris would aspire to feed on Banyan tree leaves!! Hope they had a nice time munching the tender leaves!
