CHAUDHARY KAKA'S DREAM
Chaudhary Kaka was the most powerful man of the village. Whatever he said was written in stone. No one dared to contradict him. He was a nobleman from a family. He owned several hundred acres of land. He had set up a sugar mill on the roadside in the village. Most of the men of the village worked in his fields or mills. His mansion built on several acres was known as Badi Haveli in the surrounding villages.
Chaudhary Kaka’s personality was imposing. Tall and broad, fair complexion, and with big mustaches, Kaka who looked tough from the outside was very kind from the inside. It was his habit to participate in everyone's happiness and sorrow and help them. It was not possible for someone in the village to get married and Chaudhary Kaka was not present there. That is why every person in the village respected him from the heart. If there was any shortcoming in Chaudhary Kaka's personality, it was that he was illiterate. Due to pampering, his parents did not send him to school and later Chaudhary Kaka also never felt the need to study.
Although Chaudhary Kaka was not educated, he had a very good memory. He had memorized dozens of verses of Ramayana and many shlokas of Geeta by listening and he used to sing them with great rhythm and voice. He also used many English words freely. Therefore, those who came in contact with him did not realize that Chaudhary Kaka was illiterate.
There was a primary school in the village but Chaudhary Kaka did not take any interest in it, due to which the condition of the school was very bad. The school building was in a dilapidated condition, so the children used to study sitting under the banyan tree. The teachers posted in the school had requested Chaudhary Kaka for help, but Chaudhary Kaka considered the expenditure on education as a waste of money. Therefore, he did not pay any heed to the request of the teachers.
Two adult education centers were opened in the village for teaching men and women, but due to the negligence of Chaudhary Kaka, those centers could not function.
It was wintertime. The evening darkness had spread all around. A bonfire was burning in Chaudhary Kaka's Chaupal. The villagers were sitting around the bonfire and warming themselves. Chaudhary Kaka was sitting on the cot and smoking hookah. In between, stories and tales were also being told.
The night was slowly getting longer. One by one people had gone to their respective homes. The fire of the bonfire had also cooled down. Chaudhary Kaka smoked the hookah for the last time and after this, he went to lie down on the bed.
Chaudhary Kaka was lying on the bed. He covered himself well with the quilt from all sides. He was about to sleep when he heard some noise. Chaudhary Kaka opened his eyes and looked. Four tall and broad men were standing around his bed. His whole body was covered in a black robe. Chaudhary Kaka was a very courageous man. He was surprised to see them but he did not panic at all. He asked them sternly, "Who are you and why are you standing here near my bed?"
One of the men in black robes said, "We are messengers of death and have come to take you to Yamalok."
"What?" Chaudhary Kaka's mouth fell open in surprise. He was stunned that death was so close to him and he did not even have a hint of it.
Then the grave voice of the messenger of death echoed again, "Get ready to go to Yamalok. Now the time has come for you to leave this world."
Chaudhary Kaka pleaded with the messengers of death do not take us to Yamalok right now, we have to fulfill many responsibilities here. But this did not have any effect on the messengers of death and they took Chaudhary Kaka on their shoulders and left.
Choudhary Kaka's surprise reached its peak when he saw that as soon as he stepped out of the mansion, the messengers of death picked him up and started flying in the air. After a journey of several hours, the messengers of death took him to a place and dropped him there. One of them seemed to be their leader. He said in a commanding voice - "Stand up, creature. From here you have to walk exactly three kilometers towards the east. After reaching there you will see two big gates. One of them is the gate of heaven and the other is of hell. Heaven is written in bold letters on the gate of heaven and Hell is written on the gate of hell. You have to decide for yourself which gate you want to enter. Then the Yamdoot warned, remember that once you enter a gate you will not be able to change it, if you try to do so then you will become a ghost and your unsatisfied soul will keep wandering on earth. After this, the Yamdoot disappeared from there.
Chaudhary Kaka stood like a statue for a long time, then he started walking towards the east. After a painful journey of two hours, Chaudhari Kaka reached the place where two huge gates were built. Those were probably the gates of heaven and hell, something was written on them but Chaudhari Kaka was unable to read it because he was illiterate. For the first time in his life, he understood the importance of education. He thought that if he had been educated, he could have easily recognized the gate of heaven and entered it, but now what could be achieved by repenting?
He stood there for some time, then he entered a gate and started moving forward. The road was flat for about half a kilometer, but beyond that, the road was very rough. Sharp stones and thorns were scattered here and there. After walking a little further, the sharp stones and thorns injured Chaudhary Kaka's feet. He groaned in pain. Now he realized his mistake. Being illiterate, he had probably entered the gate of hell. He wanted to go back, but then the warning of Yamdoot echoed in his mind, "Once you enter a gate, you cannot return. If you do this, you will become a ghost." He shuddered with fear. He gathered courage and started moving forward again.
The scene ahead was even more astonishing. There were thorny acacia trees on both sides of the road. Men were hanging upside down on their branches. The soldiers of hell were lashing them. They were crying, screaming, begging for mercy but there was no one to listen to their pleas.
Chaudhary Kaka's courage started failing. He thought that he should stop for a while but then the warning of the messenger of death echoed in his ears again. Do not stop anywhere on the way. If you stop, you will be burnt to ashes immediately. A shiver of fear ran through his whole body and his feet started moving forward automatically.
Ahead, on both sides of the road, there was a pond spread far and wide. It was filled with dirty water. Moss and grass were floating in it and insects were also buzzing. Chaudhari Kaka was surprised to see that thousands of men and women were bathing in it. The children were splashing the same water on each other. Chaudhary Kaka's soul trembled at the thought that they too would have to drink water from here.
He moved further ahead. There was a high sloping hill ahead. Thousands of men and women were climbing the hill with pebbles in a tray on their heads. Their bodies had dried up and become skeletons. But still, they were busy working. If anyone stopped for even a moment, the soldiers of hell posted there would start lashing him. Sweat was dripping from their entire body. There was a deep ditch on the other side of the hill in which these people were busy leveling it by putting pebbles and stones. Chaudhary Kaka's soul trembled at the mere thought of the disaster that was to come.
Before Chaudhary Kaka could move ahead, four soldiers came and caught hold of Chaudhary Kaka and lifted him. They started climbing that sloping hill with Chaudhary Kaka. After reaching the top, they threw Chaudhary Kaka down the hill into a deep ditch. Chaudhary Kaka screamed.
When Chaudhary Kaka woke up, he was lying on the floor below his bed. Hearing his screams, Kaki, his sons, and daughters-in-law came and Kaka was standing all around.
Kaki said, "What dream did you see in your sleep that you screamed so loudly that the whole house woke up."
By the time it was morning. For a long time Chaudhary Kaka lay there, terrified, then after making up his mind, he got up and sat. He did not tell anyone about his dream. He said to his elder son, "Send the servants to beat the drum in the whole village so that no man or woman of the village goes to work. All the people should gather here in the courtyard at ten o'clock. I want to talk to him." The son nodded in agreement. All the family members were surprised but no one dared to ask Chaudhary Kaka anything.
The entire village knew Chaudhary Kaka's courtyard as the big courtyard. It was so big that a thousand people could easily sit in it. People started gathering in the courtyard at nine o'clock. By ten o'clock the courtyard was filled with men, women, and children of the village.
At exactly ten o'clock Chaudhary Kaka came and sat on the cot. He made the teachers of the village school sit on the cot lying on the right side of the throne. The elders of the village were sitting on the cot lying on the left. Everyone was looking at Kaka with curiosity.
Kaka cleared his throat and told everyone in detail about the dream he had seen at night. Everyone was listening to Kaka with great surprise. Then Kaka said, "Now I have understood the importance of education. So now I will not let anyone in the village remain illiterate. From tomorrow every child in the village will go to school. The school will no longer run in the old dilapidated building. A new school building will be built in my field near the temple. Until the building is built, the school will run in the back portion of my mansion. The women of the village will study for two hours in the afternoon and the men in the night. I will give one sack of grain free of cost to those who go to study regularly at the end of the year. I will bear the entire cost of further studies of the child who comes first in his class. I promise that lack of money will not come in the way of anyone's studies. Then they will tell the teachers While addressing them, he said that all the children of the village started taking an interest in studies, you people have to create this environment. The teachers happily nodded in agreement. Everyone was very happy. Chaudhary Kaka distributed four laddus to everyone. People went to their homes with great enthusiasm.
Today, it has been two years since Chaudhary Kaka's dream came true. The dedication of the teachers under the supervision of Chaudhary Kaka and the enthusiasm of the villagers completely changed the picture of this village. His village had become the first village with 100 percent literacy in the district. Today was a memorable day for the people of Karampura village. The District Magistrate of the district was going to reach the village himself and hand over the certificate of 100 percent literacy of the village to Chaudhary Kaka. All the people of the village had gathered in the new building of the school. Kaka was standing ready to welcome the District Magistrate with garlands.
Just then the car of the District Magistrate came and stopped. Kaka went ahead and put the garlands around the neck of the District Magistrate. But what is this? The District Magistrate took off the garlands from his neck and put them around Chaudhary Kaka's neck. Everyone started clapping. Then the District Magistrate came on the stage with Chaudhary Kaka. He made Chaudhary Kaka sit on the chair lying near him with great respect.
When the District Magistrate handed over the certificate of 100% literacy of the village to Chaudhary Kaka, Chaudhary Kaka's broad chest swelled even more.
Kaaki was very proud to see this, she was very proud of her husband.
From the stage, the District Magistrate made another announcement that the school of your village has been selected as the cleanest school in the state, and for this, the Chief Minister of the state will call Chaudhary Kaka to the capital and personally honour him. Everyone in the crowd welcomed this announcement by clapping and with this, the refreshments started.
