Dus NUMBARI - No 10

William Shakespeare famously said - "What's in a name ! You call Rose in some other name, it still smells the same." But there is something about numbers we can't ignore.

Not long ago I was watching an old Hindi movie DUS NUMBARI (Number 10). The leading actor, called "Hero" in Bollywood parlance, was wearing his trademark jersey with no.10 proudly painted on top.
This is not the kind of no. 10 Jersey worn by Maradona, Romario or Messi, the famous sports stars wear. It rather refers to the Number 10 file in the police stations in India, where the names and details of habitual criminals are registered.

In the same movie the actress Hema Malini while shopping asks for the price of DAAL (lentil) at a grocery store. At Rs.4 per kilogram those days, she finds it very expensive (the movie was from 1970s), and accuses the shopkeeper MILAWAT KE BAAD BHI ITNI MEHNGI (even after adulteration it is so expensive) ? The accused was involved in DO NUMBARI (No 2 deeds, ascribed to illegal activities in Indian subcontinent).

It instantly reminded me a stanza from a comic Odia song from the talented singer Akshay Mohanty : 

MASTARAM GIRIDHARI
PURUNA CHORA BEPARI;
BEPARA KARI SE CHANDAA;
TAKU MALOOM ANEKA DHANDAA.

Roughly transliterate...

Mr. Mastram Giridhar;
The nefarious old Black Marketeer.
Deep pocketed business made him bald;
Many hidden sleeves he has on his hand.

The store keeper whom Hema Malini suspected of adulteration perfectly fitted the bill of an unscrupulous trader - A bald man clad in LUNGI (Loincloth worn around waist which could be easily removed for urination, defecation or sex) and white short sleeved banyan. The front of his head has a few strings of isolated hairs hanging loosely from sides of his barren head, and a fewer left on the backside of his head. But he had plenty of hairs growing on both of his ears like weeds. It was the perfect image of a CHORA BEPARI (Black Marketer) of those days. Now a days frauds clean-shaven, wearing expensive clothes and suits.

Adulteration has been our way of life. There is a popular Odia idiom - KETE PANI MISICHI (how much water is mixed) to ascertain the degree of manipulation or adulteration made. It is best seen in gully cricket matches where at least 5% score is added by the scorer to the ultimate tally. Back then, it was a normal practice.

Like milk, a little bit of adulteration here and there in gully cricket score was not seen as a big deal, it won't hurt anything. I was aware about tiny black pebbles were bought from a special place near JATNI, a small city on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. It was used as an the perfect mix for Rice and Daal. Grounded red brick granules were considered as the ideal mix for Chilli powder, dried Papaya seeds for Black pepper and so on. It probably explains why Gold is always 22 carats, never 100% pure.

Cheating in Indian subcontinent is also called CHAR SHO BISHI which simply denotes the number 420. The number comes from the section 420 of Indian Penal Code which deals with cheating.

The eminent writer Khushwant Singh's father Sardar Sobha Singh was a rich contractor in Delhi having plenty of cars at his disposal. He would visit Delhi Vehicle Registration office asking for CHANGA (eye catching) numbers to make his cars to make them distinguishable from others.

He was promptly given a number of 420 by a playful employee of the office. The poor rich Sardar (Sikh) drove the car around Delhi with SARDAR 420 engraved on the number plate on the car, until someone disclosed it to him that he had been taken for a ride. The fuming Sardar changed the number plate.

So names may or may not, but numbers have their significance, from no. 1 till no. 420. As the song from the movie DUS NUMBARI goes - DUNIYA EK NUMBERI, TO MEIN DUS NUMBARI (The world is no. 1, straightforward, but I am no. 10, Crooked).