Manohar
Kumhar’s sole ambition in life was to get himself clicked by a “Gora Aadmi” (a
foreigner). Born and bred in a small village of Araria in Bihar, Manohar lived
to fulfil this dream. It all began at the early age of 7 when Pitambar Kumar,
his neighbor and friend
had posed in front of a foreigner. Kunti, the village heartthrob whom Manohar had secretly fantasized had
sat on Pitambar’s porch the entire evening listened to the entire incident.
Owing
to the great deal that had been made about the photo in the entire village,
Manohar in his sheepish wisdom thought that this achievement was almost
equivalent to winning a Nobel prize. Adding fuel to the fire, his mother who
was Manohar’s choicest companion said, “Bitwa, use Pitambar ne toh kuch kar dikhaya.
Kuch toh baat hai usme!!” Manohar
was jealous that his mother had praised another boy
His
mother and Kunti were not the only one who were impressed by Pitambar’s
success. A silver colour chariot, covered with flowers was made for Pitambar
and he was lifted by 5 tall men and taken around the village. Pitambar had the
photo with the Firangi Babu in his hand. It seemed that Pitambar had reached
the gates of heaven and met God and returned. He was a hero.
That
was when a fire had arisen inside Manu aka Manohar. The fire that wouldn’t die
till he accomplished his dream. Manu wanted to be famous like Pitambar. Every
morning Manu would peep into Pitambar’s house and have a glimpse of the photo
before he started his day.
Years
passed and the village still worshiped Pitambar. When electricity was brought
into the village in the late nineties, Pitambar’s house was the first to
receive this luxury. When Manu
and Pitambar turned 20, Pitambar was married to Kunti and every single
person from the village was invited for the grand fest.
Manu
who was still dreaming of meeting a Firangi lad, went up to his mother one fine
morning and said, “Amma, Hum nikal rage hai isa jahannum se. Hum jaw rage hai
she her ko”, Saying this Manu left his
village which he considered to be hell and left to look for a job in the city
and pursue his dream.
He
caught the train to Pune as Pitambar had once mentioned that the foreigner had
come all the way from Pune. For him, Pune was considered to be a foreign land.
Having
stepped out of the train, Manu spent the first few nights on the platform.
During the day he would wander around the city in search of a Gora aadmi.
Whomever
he managed to spot was either inside a taxi or a van. Many a times he ran like
a mad man behind vehicles. It took him a while to realize that he has to earn
some money to fill his stomach. He missed his mother who fed him. At times, he
would walk to the rush to catch the train back to Bihar, but the sight of
seeing Pitambar laughing away gloriously held him back.
He
decided to work. However, no one would give him a job owning to his lack of
education. He finally decided to work as an assistant to a sugarcane juice seller. He
would wash the glasses and would get 10% of the profit every day. It was enough
to fill his stomach at the end of the day.
People
would laugh at him when he would reveal his dream. Mockery was all he received
in return for letting people know something that was really close to his heart.
Poor Manu spent 8 months figuring out different ways to meet a Firang.
He
would stand outside IT parks in the afternoon wondering if he would meet some
foreigners there. Weekends were spent outside the airport. He left no stone
unturned and no temple unvisited. After earning for 8 long months he finally saved up some money to own a
small portable cart to make sugarcane juice and sell it.
One
fine day he woke up early in the morning and took the cart to make some money
for the day. He cleaned the glasses and began to sort out the sugarcane. Wiping
the sweat off his forehead, he began to rotate the machine. A few seconds
later, he felt a flash of light. Ignoring it to be the sunshine, he continued
his work. A flash of light fell again.
He
lifted his head to find a man standing in front of him with a camera. It took a
while for him the sink into that moment. It was his dream coming true. The very
fact that everything was finally happening brought tears of joy in his eyes. He
smiled as his face formed few wrinkles around his sweaty cheeks. Tears fell
enormously but he continued to smile. A Gora Aadmi was finally clicking his picture.
His
mate witnessed this incident and offered to click a photo of Manu with the
foreigner. The firing babu placed his hand around Manu’s shoulder, while Manu
wiped his tears and gave a broad smile.
That
evening he caught the train to Araria and held the photo close to his heart. He
knew he was going to be the new Hero in his village. Wait, Manu’s mind was was
brimming with thoughts. This boy from a small village had not only made his
dream come true but his journey had been incredible. He realized that he was molded
to face challenges, he was capable enough to stand on his own legs and he knew
how it is to save up money and manage his finances even if it was meagre. He
was not only going to be a Hero in his village, he had risen in his own eyes.
He knew his Amma would be proud of him and say, “Bitwa Tune mera naam roshan
kiya!!” (Son you made me proud)
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