If you are a civilian’s child , you’ll certainly look at any defense personnel’s child with awe, because these guys are notably different in their demeanor. They are smart, quick-witted and disciplined, though they carry an air of superiority around them. The good parts were definitely the reason that Mr. U and I did not think twice of living in a defense colony post marriage.
Now to zoom out to the township of retired army officers, opulence is written all over them. As a tax-payer yourself, you’ll not feel any good, when they whizz past you splashing water after a previous day’s rain, in cars with raised windows when you are contemplating on the matter of increase in monthly budget, as the Govt. is cutting down on the subsidy on domestic LPG. And being a member of the middle class , you cannot take it very sportily when someone puts up a movie invite for the periodic cine play in the auditorium , with an added note that ‘Servants and Domestic help are not allowed in the premises’. Now , respected men, were you not the defendants and protectors of justice and humanity ?! With the same contempt tainting your minds, you will find the the board on the compound wall of Brig. Viswanathan Iyer an intended pun, which says “Don't mind the dog” , with his name plate on the other side ; Yeah, with all the common sense that is bestowed upon you, ain’t it supposed to mean that the dog is a still a calmer being, in comparision ? (Now , please don't point your fingers at me, don't you love the dogs that you carry around with those tight belts around their necks??, and whom you consider as belonging to the same class as yours?? , whereas one with the same anatomy and biology as yours falls in a class which you fail to acknowledge )
Our neighbours - Maj. Gen. Dr. H.H. Mukherji and his better-half , Swati Mukherji seemed no different from others for building non-penetrable walls around them by sitting locked up in their two bedroom apartment, apart from the occasional Hi’s and Hello’s that were exchanged.
I felt it necessary one day, to make our presence known. I decided to barge into the house. Now I think, many a soul who lived in my apartment earlier have tried for the same that they have hung a board , “No Visitors Allowed” , in front of the closed door. Now , that was downright rude! ; the retorting mind that I am, I felt it necessary to hang a ‘Welcome’ board on ours.
But, to be honest, Mrs. Swati Mukherji is a very graceful lady , not because she never forgets to wear her crimson lipstick and her dark sun glasses whenever she gets out of the house. Mr. Mukherji turned out to be a still better man , perfectly humble and gentlemanly in all his ways. He asked us not to address them as Sir and Madam, but as Uncle and Aunty, saying that he is no more in service. An ex-army man who is not accompanied by the ghosts of bygone days of power ?! , it was new to us.
I started liking the man.
Mr. Mukherji often reminded us that as neighbours we should be meeting more often. Now , that I knew was impossible with them hanging that welcome board of theirs, though I did not daresay it aloud.
There were days when there was no trace of Maj. Gen for days altogether. During one of those days, I asked Mrs. Swati Mukherji after him, and she stoically replied that he never gets out of the house when he is administered chemotherapy, for fear of infection. Now that struck me, as of the need for not allowing visitors .
Prejudices be damned!
Firing be ceased!
May be you don't see through them, for,
they are wearing crimson lipstick
and dark glasses!
