Childhood Recall

Angad Singh is ecstatic

Ever since Shekhawat has been on auto pilot as ‘Jailor Kadak Singh’ (ref post of December 19), his stocks have shot sky high in the Garden. The way he recites his lines at the drop of a hat has won him many admirers, particularly among females, according to Bijoy Gupta. And if anyone should be jealous of the newfound fan following, it appears to be Siba Prasad Maitra. “After all, Shekhawat could get to play the jailor only because I refused the part,” he reminded us this morning.

Shekhawat and Gupta make peace

“The role was offered to me first.”
But this was not the highlight of the morning. It was actually Lt Col Angad Singh’s moment of misplaced glory when Gupta created a special role for him in his play – a prisoner arrested for eve teasing. Now here is a highly respected octogenarian with a regimented army background being made to play a proclaimed sex offender on his stage debut. As Gupta put it, he would be introduced to the audience as “a 90-year-old budhdha nabbed for outraging the modesty of a girl”!
Angad Singh burst out laughing.

Siba Prasad Maitra (l) says he was the 'original' jailor

But he was to soon sober down and narrate an incident from his childhood in a remote Punjab village. “I remember I was in Class 7 and even then I did not know the difference between boy and girl,” he recalled. “There was this girl in my school I was very friendly with as I always took her to be a boy. Imagine my shock when I discovered she was actually friends with my sister and only later, told that she was a girl. I was devastated. But then, those were different times… It was an age of innocence.”
Meanwhile, Gupta and Shekhawat got into a mild scrap over news reports of a notorious godman arrested in Delhi yesterday. Gupta was convinced it was Shekhawat’s name he had read in the papers. And Shekhawat kept correcting him that the name mentioned was “Bijoy Gupta” and wondered how he could show up in the Garden today. Before things took an ugly turn, the two shook hands and patched up.
But this was only a temporary truce, as regular readers of this blog would know.

Siba Prasad Maitra:
I am not at all jealous of Mr Shekhawat. Rather, I am very happy for him and his fan following. Truly speaking, I did not reject the role but considering my irregularities for rehearsal, I suggested the name of Mr Shekhawat, who is more regular. Moreover, I felt he is very much suitable for the role as he is an ex-naval person.

Kiran Prakash (from USA):
I am keeping myself involved with the Club through this blog. Col Angad Singh's childhood story is hilarious. I will not be surprised if Shekhawat-ji, in his usual Republic Day salute, begins with: "I am Jailor Kadak Singh Shekhawat...'!

Karun Sharma:
It was so special to see Col Angad Singh laugh like a child. The innocence was evident in his long laugh. We know what he said was possible 75 years back. Today of course, children at six years of age know a lot about gender differences and sex. Juvenile age has gone down everywhere.

Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
My introduction in the play in such an innocuous part was so unexpected that I was totally flabbergasted. I could never have imagined myself in such a situation at my age and having rendered meritorious service in the armed forces. I could not contain myself in the precarious predicament, and instantaneously burst out laughing. The girl wearing the dress of a Sikh boy (with a turban to conceal her long hair) used to sit alongside me on the same desk for a couple of years. There has since been a sea change in the children of those days and today.