UGRESH BHAIYA

Today is Monday, 26 th July, 2010. Ugresh bhaiya left this world the day before yesterday i.e. on 24 th July 2010. His two sons and one daughter Manoj, Vinod and Anita live at Chandigarh. They were coming so the dead body was kept in ice. Initially when I heard about his death, I was planning to come to Karmauli after five or six days due to work load in the office and thinking my back pain. There would be two trips up and down each. When Manoj telephoned and told that the funeral ceremony would be on 26 th, I changed my mind & decided to join in it.
We started at 4.00 pm on 25th and reached Belahi at 9.0 pm. Sent the driver from Madhubani. Stayed at Belahi in the night. Came to Karmauli at 7.00 am today. Manoj with all members came at 8.00 am. Went to Dhadhhara Gaachhi in our mango orchard. 69 people were present in the funeral ceremony.
Seeing him on funeral pyre, every scene of his life crossed before the eyes like cinema reel. His primary schooling, marriage, getting training of farming with father and latter becoming an independent farmer, his single daughter Anita’s marriage ceremony, separation of the family, quarrelling among brothers during division of land, his illness and lastly his death; all came at once in my memory. This is the very life of every person in the world. We ignorant persons spend the life in quarrelling for wealth and worldly things but nothing goes with us. We come alone having nothing with us and go alone leaving land, building, cars, friends, children, wife and everything. ‘Ghar ki nari ko kahe tan ki nari janhi.’
I remember his early life. I was five brothers and one sister. Serially, the names are Tejnarayan, Harinarayan, Ghurani, Ugresh, Kamalakant and Mahendra. Thus he was fourth among the six issues and third among the five sons. His one elder brother and one younger brother had died. One sister elder to Ghurani had also died. So she was named ‘Ghuranni- who had again come’. She was very beautiful and gentle. She was married to Chandrakant of village Maltole. She had two sons and two daughters- Babu saheb, Amar, Meena and Ameera. She died at the age of 40 due to paralytic attack. My mother died when I was mere four years old. My sister loved me too much. In my early life I spent more time at Maltole with my sister.
Ugresh Bhaiya was very intelligent student in his early life. I remember one event when I had started to go to school. He had got first position in class 4. He was also taking interest in farming. Father also required an assistant to help him. He was himself uneducated and did not know even his signature. He never paid much importance to education. I started to go to school with some of my friends of my age. I was four years old. One day when I was in the school, heard the news of my mothers death. Godavari, the neighbour girl told me the message. I ran to my courtyard with her and fell down on my mother’s body. My younger Mahendra was only two years old. Besides the last event there is nothing in my memory about my mother.
Life is but a chance. When I was in class two I went to Dhanbad. In class four I got admitted in Kapariya Middle School. At Dhanbad a better schooling in Railway school changed my study style. At Kapariya school I came in open competition with so many near by village’s students. Though high school teaching had been started in Kapariya School, I took admission at Kaluahi High School. There I again fought tougher competition. This type of revolutionary steps- taking admission in Kapariya Middle School in stead of Karmauli, adopting Kaluahi High School in stead of Kapariya High School helped me too much. Our brain becomes sharper when we solve tough problems and face tougher competition. Had I not visited Dhanbad, Kapariya and Kaluahi, I would have never succeeded. When I passed seventh from Kapariya Middle School, the then head master Sri Yamuna Pd Singh pressed me too much for taking admission in Kapariya High School. He convinced my father and Ramchandra Kaka who had gone for SLC. They surrendered before his arguments but I straightly denied and took admission in Kaluahi High School. This very decision was great step in my life and proved a mile stone. The 2nd student Pandit and third Thakur took admission in newly started Kapariya High School and spoiled their lives. They were better students but did not maintain their intelligence and became ordinary students.
Parents take primary role in children’s education. Especially during primary education, they have keen interest in playing, talking and all other activities except studying. When father encouraged towards farming, Ugresh Bhaiya left the school and became full time farmer. He became prominent farmer of the village. He had very good health and strength. He attended all the funeral ceremonies of the village and nearby relatives. Whenever anybody started work which required higher strength, Ugresh Bhaiya was necessarily called. He used to attend happily and became very pleased thinkig that he was also a useful person. He was like Jarbharat. He was so simple that even a child could make fun of him. He attended all the marriages ceremonies, thread ceremonies (Upnayan), after death rituals (shraddha karma) with full interest. In the villages, farmers use to weigh the produces. But all are not able to weigh the same. Specially while paddy weighing, there were huge heaps. A few persons in the village were able to weigh. Ugresh bhaiya was a prominent weigher. He could weigh hundred quintals in a sitting. While lifting of heavy wooden logs, mud built heavy grain containers (kothi), large thatched rooves etc, he was necessarrily called. May Guru Baba grace peace to his soul. ----------------------- contd.