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| Pic source: commons.wikimedia.org |
Our neighbours in Veera Bhavan Compound Ballal Bagh in the Sixties D Puttaswamy and family, used to buy quite a huge bundle of fireworks and my friend Mahaveer used to arrange them in a side room in their home like they arrange them in shops, at least 3 days before Deepavali started. We used to visit them and watch the display and count the number of each item and assess the value. They also used to get aeroplane, rocket, chain crackers, Laxmi Bomb and 'Zainunde', a bomb made with rope wound around explosive material. Seetharama, the daring son of their house maid Jalaja used to ignite bombs.
Our father never used to encourage us to spend much on fireworks. For Deepavali, his budget used to be almost 25% of what Puttaswamy's family used to spend. All we got was some sparklers, whips, pencils, flowerpots, ground wheels, dot caps, matches, serpent tablet, and a packet of 'Vaale Pataki' or those triangular crackers made with dried palm leaves. However, for Tulsi Pooja our father generously spent for fireworks, and he used to take me and my brothers to B Venkatesh Bhat & Sons in Car Street, tell them to give us whatever we wanted, and then settle the bill. Sometimes we used to burn more fireworks than Puttaswamy's sons had for Deepavali, but we used to get just one packet of Laxmi Bomb, few rope trains, 100's chain cracker and few rockets.
Across the road, at Lalbagh Stores owner Narayana Shetty's house, his sons Shivanand and Balachandra(Balu) used to fire just about any crackers with ease, for both deepavali and for Tulsi Pooja. Balu fired vaale pataaki directly by holding them against the fire and throw them just a few feet away! I used to watch Balu with envy, for he was two years younger than me, and still not afraid of lighting explosive crackers!
We were however very scared to fire bombs and vaale pataaki. My style was to burn a piece of paper, keep the bomb on it and run away! As for vaale pataaki, I would stick it into a coconut leaf bone, hold it to the fire and as soon as it ignited, throw the coconut leaf bone away along with the vaale pataaki!
Eventually two of my elder brothers got jobs and they moved to Bombay. Third one joined MBBS in Mysore and fourth one Kamalakanth, was not much interested in fire crackers. That left the last two of us, myself and Radhakanth. We were in high school in the late Sixties. I used to fire the bombs and vaale pataaki like I mentioned earlier.
It was year 1970 and as usual, Tulsi Pooja was going on. Our priest Pandit Venkatesh Acharya had arrived with his nephew Raghunath(Baab). He was performing pooja and during aarti, he shouted "Start burning fireworks!"
Myself and Radhakanth hurriedly started burning sparklers, ground wheels, flower pots and such safe items. Baab was watching us eagerly. He was two or Three years younger to me, maybe just 10 years old then. He came forward and took three or four flowerpots, lighted them directly with the help of lamp fire and kept them in a line! My mother told me "Give some crackers to Baab. Poor boy is watching eagerly!"
I gave Baab some sparklers and he lighted them with a smile, but he was not too happy. I was reluctant to give expensive fireworks to him. After we ran out of safe fireworks, I started to ignite vaale pataaki. Baab watched me light a piece of paper and keep the pataaki on that, run away much before it caught fire and exploded. Sometimes the fire set to the piece of paper would get extinguished by a breeze of wind.
Baab couldn't take it anymore. He came to me and asked "Shall I fire them vaale pataakis and bombs?"
I nodded my head and gave him the packets. He started to set them on fire directly by holding them to the lamp, and within 15 minutes he fired all the 100 vaale pataakis! Then he set the bombs on fire. This time he kept the Laxmi bomb in a distance, ignited it with a match stick and coolly walked back! He was quite daring at that age like Seetharam and Balu!
Baab left with his uncle Pandit Acharya after the pooja was over, and I sighed in relief. Baab's guts and at the same time my helplessness for not being able to do the feats he did, made me sulk.
I felt so low that evening, I decided to go to Drawing master's shop across the MG Raod in Ballalbagh circle and get some more crackers. I pestered mother and she gave me 10 Rupees. I ran to Drawing Master's shop and bought a box of Flowerpots, a pack of Laxmi Bomb, and couple of pack of sparklers. After coming back, the first thing I did was take a flowerpot, hold it directly to the lamp flame and shout "Look! I can directly ignite flowerpot!"
That's all! Something exploded with a big bang, everything looked very bright for a moment and then I could not see anything! My ears were almost deaf with the echo of the bang! I could hear faint voices of Kamalakanth and Radhakanth in a distance, but could not make out anything! I slowly staggered into the house and sat on the Vakil Bench in the veranda. My right hand looked silver grey with the explosive powder from the flowerpot coated all over. It also had aching and burning sensation, and mother came to me with kerosene. Someone had advised her that kerosene can heal burns faster! My father was inside the house and he didn't know anything about the explosion and my hand! Mother applied kerosene to my hand and also applied a thin film of Burnol. She advised me not to wash my hand, and eat food using a spoon. I was totally blank. I was also worried about remaining fireworks!
The burn injury got healed fast, maybe within three days. Mother suggested that remaining fireworks be given to some boys in the neighbourhood to be used on Mannaguda Dindu(Gurji Deepotsava) which was also celebrated in Ballalbagh circle opposite our home. I opposed her views and I ignited them all myself on the Mannagudda Dindu day. Next year onward, I was brave enough to light fire crackers myself, and Baab was happy that I overcame my inhibitions and fear of explosive fireworks!
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