Sonu's Tales

After we left Matheran, my parents and I were talking about how talkative both our horse keepers were and my dad said that the entire day would have been so boring, if it weren’t for those guys. And it’s true. I mean if those guys were silent, we’d just be sitting on the horses and probably just talking amongst ourselves, and I think it’d have been slightly uncomfortable too.

I’d like to think Sonu and I had become friends. He kept calling me didi, which I obviously didn’t like, so I asked him his age. He said he was 19 and he’s been working in Matheran with horses for 7 years now. He’s been doing this since he was 12. Then he went on to tell me that his parents died when he was 4. He has an elder sister and they are originally from Ahmedabad. On hearing ‘Ahmedabad’, I asked him where he was from. Funnily enough, he didn’t know Navrangpura and I didn’t know the place he was from (I forgot the name of the place). My mom laughed at this. Sonu and his sister came to Navi Mumbai after their parents’ death and stayed at an orphanage run by nuns. He said he dropped out of school after 8th grade. Then he said this one particular sentence, “हम सब अपने भाई बहन के लिए कुछ ना कुछ करते है ना?"

The first 10 minutes of the horse ride, probably the only time Sonu was quiet.

He comes to work at 4 in the morning and leaves only at 12), to be able to send his sister to college and probably save enough money for her marriage. He did say “बहन की शादी करनी है”. He doesn’t know what she’s studying but told me that she’s in her 3rd semester. 

Sonu told us a lot of stories, he showed us the resort owned by Ambani and how the resort management used a fake ambulance to transport their guests (Because ambulances and fire engines are the only vehicles allowed inside Matheran). When the villagers of Matheran found out about this, they burnt the vehicle. He also told me about some gold-plated scooter that the Ambanis bought. I don't know how true these stories are but they were fun to listen to. He had a rough time explaining what a “bichu” is to me. He asked me that if I’ve studied Hindi and Marathi for so many years in school, how come I don't know what a “bichu” is. I had to wrack my brain to finally remember that a scorpion is called a "bichu". I was so proud of myself for having figured that. Also, I was embarrassed. I mean we give so much importance to having a great English vocabulary, but when it comes to our regional languages we don’t care. As long as we know English, everything is fine in the world.

After we walked around and saw Charlotte lake, my parents, Jithu, and I were tired and we just wanted to go back to our hotel. When my dad told this to Sonu and the other guy, they were uncomfortable and hesitant. They said we’ll go to the other viewpoints and then go back. Then Sonu took me to one side and explained that if their boss finds out that these guys didn’t take us to all the viewpoints, he’ll deduct their salary. I told him that they needn’t tell their boss that we didn’t see all the points. But then he pointed out that there were other horse keepers around and they’ll gossip around and the boss will find out. I told my dad what my Sonu told me, and he did a very bad act and pretended to have changed his mind and asked these guys to take us to the next spot. Once, we were out of earshot of the other horse keepers, these guys were back to their usual talkative selves and told us that they’ll take us directly to the hotel if they want to (and a hundred other stories). 

On our way back, Sonu very subtly asked me why a lot of Malayalis don’t come to Matheran, unlike the Gujaratis? I told him we have our hill stations and Matheran is far for people to travel from, from Kerala. Then, he said that he likes the Malayali people who come here, when I asked him why he said they always give him extra money. My mom and I looked at each other and smiled. 

He also ranted about his boss for a while. Their boss pays them less in comparison. I told him he should talk to his boss about it, he said he was going to that day. He also told us that he’ll be able to find some other job, he has all his documents in place. The only reason he's staying here is that it's a steady source of income right now, and he wants to marry off his sister after she finishes college. I told him he should write his SSC exam, after all of that is done. I don’t know if he paid any heed though.

When we were almost about to reach our hotel, my mom fell from her horse. These guys had a guilty expression on their faces the entire way back to the hotel. They didn’t talk much. I think he was also saddened by the fact that the horse was hurt. When we finally said bye to them, it wasn’t how I wanted it to be. My dad, Jithu, and I were concerned about my mom and these guys were also not themselves. It was an awkward, weird conversation. But I’m glad I met this guy and got to talk to him. I don’t live in a bubble, I know I live a privileged life in comparison to a lot of people, but hearing Sonu’s story was a different thing altogether. I hope he does well in life. And that a few years later, he gets to tell people stories about how he was once a horse keeper in Matheran before he became successful.