Dara singh and the school bell

‘Come one come all, Rustam-e-Hind and the great great King Kong, a never before wrestling spectacle…. come one come all, the pride of India, the great Dara singh, Randhawa versus the giant King kong…. State Library auditorium, come one come all……’

Early nineteen sixties. Shillong, the hill station capital of then undivided Assam. We were agog with excitement,wrestling bout will be organised at the State Library auditorium, renowned wrestlers of India and abroad will be taking part, among whom were the names of stalwarts like Dara Singh, Randhawa, king kong, The Mighty Mongol,Tiger Joginder Singh, the masked Firpo Zyzbsko ( Goerge Gordienko,Flash Gordon), Danny Lynch, Ski Hi Lee,Lou Thesz etc. Loudspeakers would blare through the narrow streets, ‘come one come all, Rustam-e-Hind Dara Singh and great King Kong………..’

We, small children at that time, would follow the blaring vehicle running as far as we could, would wait for the eventful day with bated breath,the day was approaching so slowly! We would read vociferously anything and everything available that was on print on wrestling, especially about the great Indian wrestlers…….

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About Gama Pahalwan, who remained undefeated champion of the world, Rustam-e-Jahan, that he regularly did 5000 baithaks(squats) and 3000 Dands(push ups) in a day, his daily work up included wrestling with 40 fellow wrestlers in the court, about his diet that included two gallons(7.5 litres) of milk, six desi chikens, a kilo of pure desi ghee, more than a pound of crushed almonds paste etc etc

……About Kikkar Singh, the gigantic Sikh wrestler of early 1900 weighing 263 pounds with a height of 6’6″, who, it is said got his name for uprooting a Kikar tree( gum arabic tree, babool tree) with his bare hands, whom the then Maharaja of Kashmir, due to his strength and physique, regarded him as reincarnation of Bhairav, the fierce form of Lord Shiva! About Bholu Pahelwan,Tiger Jeet Singh, Karim Baksh, Buta Pehelwan.

And off course all about Dara Singh. We felt proud reading that Dara Singh, standing at six feet three inches with 53 inch chest, a hulking giant. was not defeated in any bout. About how he earned the title of Rustam-e-hind by flooring Tiger Joginder Singh. That his daily menu included 2/3 chickens, 4/5 litres of milk, half a kilo of pure desi ghee and more. About his signature tactic of applying the dead lock, a grip his opponents found impossible to untangle……..Also about his bouts with many other foreign wrestlers like those of Bill Verna ,John Da Silva, Rikizodan, all of whom were defeated by Dara Singh, and finally with the world champion Lou Thesz, by defeating whom he was crowned the undefeated champion of the world.

The glistening rippling muscles flashed as the wrestling progressed, the hulking giant King Kong trying to pin down Dara Singh in a vicious embrace with immense power, Dara Singh wriggling out of the breath stopping mighty grip, and finally pinning down the gigantic King Kong with dead lock, a wrestling tactic that only Dara Singh could apply.

In another bout, Randhawa was floored and was wriggling with pain after being beaten badly by Mighty Mongol! Dara Singh challenged the Mongal and on the following day, he was beaten to a pulp by Dara Singh and thrown out of the ring! The jubilant crowd applauded and applauded! We children went hysterical, shrieking with sheer delight!

It was long before wrestling became an international extravaganza with millions viewing WWE, with Indian wrestlers like the Great Khali and Jinder Mahal shining in the world stage…. India had its own master wrestlers, fulfilling dreams and aspirations of millions of Indians, without television, without internet, and we children had our own dream heros, our own source of inspiration to emulate. Those were times of great expectations, of wild excitements, expectations of monumental spectacles to be seen with our own naked eyes, an exhilarating feeling of jubilation that seeped through our every pore. I would flex my tender biceps, measuring its dimensions, oh! a long way to go!!

So one day, Dara Singh, the unconquered God of wrestling, was, by sheer coincidence, within our touching distance………….

I was possibly in lower middle class, the vernacular school at Bishnupur, Shillong, ruled by a headmaster, known for adhering to exceptional strictures of regulations, possessing a stentorian voice, of whom every student was in mortal fear of being at the receiving end of his cane lashes, if there was any laxity or if anybody dared to flout his strictures.

But not that everybody were dumb followers, there were exceptions behind his back, some rowdy naughty fellas would enjoy playing pranks with most of the teachers, especially the stammering dhuti clad Sanskrit teacher, fair complexioned and mostly reddened face, chewing betel nut and pan(betel leaves), stammering all the way while reading tough Sanskrit words. He also had this habit of rarely bringing his own text book, would invariably borrow one from the front benchers. There would be a tumult among the students… who would sit in the back benches, as the unfortunate one sitting front would invariably be returned a book smeared with red spits, aka, the forced, almost impossible Sanskrit words finally emanating from the stammering tongue.

One of this naughty fellow, one day, sitting in the last bench, threw a piece of paper, rolled into a ball, aiming at the struggling mouth. Bull’s eye!!! The ball bounced once and was instantly inside his mouth. The Sanskrit teacher, already reddened with effort spelling complex adjoining words with series of ‘stbnxongs’ and ‘ohhs’, further reddened! Very well recognizing the culprit, he cursed,” Nayan (an imaginary name), today I am cursing you, you will never pass the matriculation exam”!….. Indeed, he never passed!!

On another evening, the same teacher, in an isolated dark spot by the roadside shadowed by pine trees, was in the process of relieving his watery self with elan, the sacred thread bound around his right ear. Two of these naughty boys, incidentally walking by, saw him and instantly remembering his sermons, ‘ boys! always remember to show respect to your teacher with a namasker whenever and wherever you meet him’, approached him silently and said loudly,’namasker Sir’! The teacher, caught unaware, halfway through his act, tried to stand up awkwardly, clumsily murmuring something like ‘hoonh hoonh’, made an effort to tidy himself up, thereby soiling his tangled dhoti! The boys, with mock reverence and respect, walked away, laughing heartily at a safe distance!

So one day, it so happened that Dara Singh and his brother Randhawa were guests in the residence of one of our friends, a pretty well to do family, not far from the school. The news spread like wild fire! The entire school, from the lowest primary to the senior most went wild! A rare dream chance to see our wrestling hero in person!! Bursting with excitement, every single student longed for a break in classes. The school was in full swing in the middle of the day. Unable to contain their anxiousness and euphoria, a group of senior students timidly approached the headmaster asking for closure of the classes for the day. The angry headmaster, who seemed least interested in wrestling bouts or someone called Dara Singh, shooed the boys away, angrily scolding for blatant indiscipline.

The boys, crestfallen and dejected, came back. Unable to compromise on the golden opportunity, the boys were at their wit’s end hatching Machiavellian plots, how to tame this snotty bigot! A few students urged their class teachers to somehow convince the head master, but they too were unable to gather up enough courage to approach him.

One of the senior students, during the short interval between end of one class and start of the next, silently sneaked out of the class, tightly clutching his school bag, ran towards where the bell was hung and sounded it repeatedly with the gong,”dhong,dhong,dhong,dhong,dhong…….” announcing end of the classes for the day and in a flash was out of the school compound!!!

The head master came out hurriedly, utter consternation writ large on his face, teachers too, ready for their next class, came out, puzzled and confused! the chowkidar, in charge of the bell, came pounding up, breathless, what happened!!! But the students, oh!! shrieking with joy and ecstasy they ran out en masse and in minutes the school became empty……

………and converged where Dara singh was staying, seated on a large sofa. Amused and apparently pleasantly surprised, he chatted with a few nearby, showing and inviting them to measure up his immense biceps which a few students touched in awe!! We the younger ones, tried to have a glimpse of him, jumping up now and then, view blocked by taller senior students. Dara Singh and Randhawa, all smiles, obliged, standing up, towering giants looking down benignly upon their awe struck young fans!!

The boy did not go to school for days, giving one alibi after another, until exposed by some of his class mates. Holding him by the ear, his father dropped him at the school the next day and was immediately summoned by the head master. The prankster was already famous through out the school……

……..and came out after a long interval, tenderly rubbing his paining buttocks and sat half standing through out the classes for the entire day!!