Dasyu Samrat Malkhan

Thick curled moustache, sporting a Ray ban aviator sun-glasses and a red vermilion mark on his forehead, Daku Malkhan Singh, 74, a bandit of the Chambal region is now busy in seeking votes for BJP state president Narendra Singh Tomar, who is contesting from the Gwalior seat.

According to locals, after kidnapping the victim, Malkhan used to send the demand for the “Firauti” (ransom) on a letter head that had his name printed on the top and the ransom amount written below. He is one of the few dacoits on whom a book- “Malkhan- the story of a bandit King”, has been written.

Malkhan though says that he was never a dacoit, but a “Baagi” (Rebel). “We never harassed anyone who was weak or poor, we targeted those who used to steal from the poor”, recalls Malkhan, who spent close to 10 years in the prison.

He claims that the times might have changed but still the system of stealing from the poor is going on. “That is why I am campaigning in support for the BJP. Even after so many years of the country’s Independence, nothing has changed and things will not change until the BJP comes to power at the Centre”, he says.

Malkhan, who had surrendered before the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh, said that all the promises that were made to him by Singh were never fulfilled.  “Before we surrendered with our arms, the state government made a commitment that our case will be leniently dealt with. However as soon as the surrender took place, all the promises were forgotten. The Congress did not keep its promise”, alleged Malkhan, who had crowned himself as “Dasyu Samrat” (dacoit king), when he was at his prime in the 70s and the late 80s.

When he surrendered on 17 June 1982 in Bhind at the age of 42, he was facing arrest in atleast 105 cases of murder, kidnapping and dacoity.

One of the conditions that Malkhan had put for his surrender was that he and his gang members should not be handcuffed while being taken to the court but after the initial days of surrendering, the Police reneged on its promise. Another condition was that all the cases against the dacoits would be transferred from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to Gwalior.

However, Malkhan forgets to mention that soon after his surrender took place, Arjun Singh was sent to Punjab and he was replaced with the present Congress party treasurer Moti Lal Vora, who had other pressing issues to cater to rather than think about the commitment made to the dacoits.

The life and times of a Bachelor

Recently, numerous media debates and several articles have been penned on the issue of racial profiling of the African citizens who are staying in India. But the media, like it has done in the past, forgot to raise the issue of another important allied subject, which in this case is the profiling of a ‘Bachelor’.

People generally tend to focus on the thrills and enjoyment in the life of a young earning bachelor, conveniently forgetting the perils that come attached with it.

A quiet, normal guy, leaving his house early morning and being seen by his suspecting neighbors only during the time when he is standing in the gallery to lock his door, soon becomes an object of curiosity. Questions regarding the antecedent of the lone mortal are soon raised. What does he do? Why does he stay alone? Where does he go early morning? Why is he quiet?

Soon the questions are put to the house maid who has been fortunate enough to land a job in the kitchen of this mysterious one.  And playing to the gallery, the maids too tend to use their own creativity to make the whole matter even more mysterious.  

Last week, the woman who cooks for me, told me that one of my neighbors, who is a lady police inspector, was asking her questions like what do I do? Who comes to meet me?. “Mainu unsey bol deeya ki bhaiya toh jyaada sirf phone pe hee kaam karta hai. TV aur computer ke sammne beth ke”. Soon enough the picture of a Bookie and a towel and Sreesanth flashed across my mind.

Interestingly this maid of mine was initially reluctant to work at my place. She was referred by the society security guard. When she first came to my house besides discussing her ‘pagar’(wage) she said that she was not very comfortable in working in a house of a bachelor, “Sharab peete hain, ladki aati hai, ghar ganda rakhte hain. Shuru mai ek hafta kaam kar ke dekhti hum, jamega to sochungi”

It has been 5 months, and despite my threats of terminating her services for taking too many leaves, she continues to cling to my house like a faithful cow that ritually stands at the door of a Hindu priest every morning.

It is not just the maids who assume things of disproportionate proportion. The next door ‘aunties’, as cliché it may sound, too have their own ‘narrow’ thinking about the guy living next door.

For them the guy is someone who is obliged to help them in times of ‘kitchen needs’, more specifically in the times when their Gas cylinder goes empty at the stroke of mid night when the whole world is sleeping. 

Twice I have been awakened by a smiling neighbor who is standing on my door because her LPG cylinder failed her. “Book kar deeya hai, 2-3 din mai aa jayega, tab tak aap apna cylinder de dijiye.”

I am sure the thoughts that I am also a mortal who survives on food, rather than plain air, might have crossed her mind. Also must have crossed, only to be forgotten, would have been the question that how would my cook prepare if you take away the only PLG cylinder I had.

However, the cruelties of life come and go and rather than pondering over it, a rational man moves ahead.

The biggest problem that a bachelor faces is when he searches for a house to rent, to stay and to sleep just like an ordinary law abiding Indian or foreign citizen. However, most of the house owner sees him as an outlaw, a danger to the ‘bahu-beti’ of the family, the harbinger of alcoholism in the society, a honeycomb which will attracts similar ‘outlaws’, the young ruffians, in dozens.

When I came to Bhopal, it was only after two months of hard labor that I could get a decent place to run my ‘den’. During these two months I learnt that there are multiple hurdles for a bachelor when it comes to looking for a house.

First the fact that he is unmarried is the biggest hurdle, secondly he will be staying alone without the company of his mother and father is a big letdown for many ‘makaan maalik’. If one crosses these two queries, the final frontier is his job profile.

In many cases I was able to clear the initial two stages, but when I told the owners that I was working for a newspaper, they would just give me a polite smile and say no.

A retired army colonel, staying in Pune was looking for a tenant for his house in Bhopal. I called him up, pleasantries were exchanged and quite surprisingly he stated that he had no problem with my bachelor status. The next question was about my job. Feeling confident, I enthusiastically stated, “I am a journalist”. There was a silence of 2-3 seconds and then the call got disconnected.  When I called him again, the monotonous reply that came from his side, san any past like pleasantries was, “I don’t give my house to journalists”. End of conversation. At that time, the only thought that crossed across my mind was a dialogue that I heard in Hindi dubbed Tamil movie which I had heard in the recent past- ‘Koi goonda pet se bahar nahee aata, yeh society usey goonda banati hai”.

I couldn't agree more.