Neele Gagan Ke Tale: A man of quiet interest

Centuries ago, as it were, a young professor of a college in Ahmedabad brought out a literary magazine, 'Vallari', and in it appeared the first second story of, say, a lallu storyteller from Calcutta. The young professor eventually marries Raksha, a young girl, travels from Ahmedabad to New York, and there he opens some bones and writes poetry. And Raksha Bhera does Tesda. All the storyteller reaches Los Angeles from Calcutta and opens a small printing house and writes a column with the world's sorrows on his head, Neele Gagan Ke Tale! And decades later that professor and that narrator meet at some literary fair in New York, and that professor is Rohit Pandyo and the narrator is Gasmando Gaganwalo. Gaganwala eventually left Los Angeles and came to New Jersey and met Rohit, Bey became a brotherhood and such a great deal that this Ahmedabad daily asked Gaganwala to write a column about literary activities in America. Over time it came to know that Rohit Pandya was born in the literary gharana, poet Natwarlal Kuberdas Pandya 'Ushanas', his uncle, and poet Jayant Pathak, Saman Pathak, his maternal uncle. For years, when the spring season comes, the couple plant four seedlings of radish, tomatoes, chillies, milkweed etc. in the shed of their three-storey house and make a square on one side and set up a stage, and then celebrate the evening of one-man plays with lights, mikebikes, and curtains. Actors be it Rohit, Raksha or future actors Shailesh and Roopal, Binita, RP, Bharti, Swati, Hemant, Bankim, Nikhil, Nandini, dot dot dot! Individual authors include Rohit, R.P. Shah, Adil, and whatever comes to Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Parsi or Ukrainian (Ukrainian is a joke) is OK! Dot dot dot! Hey sir, then there is music B and loud B and speaker B and thirty-two dishes of food and soft drinks and beer drum and oh yes, Chikkar Sheesha of Modamdira! On occasion, he was given food and drink by a certain Tawangre and sometimes Rohit-Raksha made a party from his gunja! There was drama, but it was like an annual gathering of Gujarati citizens from the East Coast of America. Raksha has written a poem: Janam has taken to perform jalsa. Jalsa boat, jalsa sea, the jalsa itself, has taken birth to perform jalsa! Poet Panna Nayak calls the couple the Jodi of Lakshminarayana. The tradition continued for years, but finally the writers, artists, and writers dispersed, Rohit was an amateur actor, wrote poems, stories, plays, but he did not walk around with a book of literature round the clock like the licensed writers of Gujarat-Mumbai. Rohit, Raksha, Shailesh, Roopal sometimes RP to Gaganwala at the festival. When we got together, we would talk about the Haram Ghat and the story of the event, modern or post-modern or freaking structuralism. Of course everyone's nature was different but Rohit was never seen getting agitated and arguing. He wants more icecubes in his glass but if those are not available then no problem. If you feel a craving for a cigarette, you can go downstairs and drink it, no problem. Naturally, everyone gets to hear good and bad things, but everyone is unanimous about Rohit's marriage. At that time, Natyayogi Abhinyanandji AK Jayantilal Patel, who was living in New York, said that our Rohit Pandyo is a man of quiet interest! And Chakdol Zindgani! A long period passes of Rohit's zero writing period, due to Rohit's health, alas, suddenly Rohit's latest creation, 'Hras', story, novel, long novel or whatever knocks in the email inbox! A casual reviewer might say that this is the first draft of a novel intended to be written. One might say that a man's jealousy of his favorite character is a long stretch of burning passion. And irritation can also be the driving force of creation, yes? Say what one has to say, the bottom line is that Rohit's Sisriksha is re-presented in your living room, bookcase or coffee table! Well, I am overjoyed that Rohit's twin is still strong, and Rohit is still writing, his new novel 'Hras' is coming out from Gurjari magazine in America, Yay, dear Rohit can write! Jai Jalsa and Jai Jalan! Photo: Kishore Desai