Kanphata Yogi, the one with ripped ears. His earrings mark him thus. The Bishts wept when Ajay donned saffron. Shashi has seen her darling brother only thrice since then.Walk with Yogi Adityanath’s story through Uttarakhand’s Sal forests,to Kotdwar, on to Gorakhpur. Meet the man behind the Mahant.
Shashi Singh’s promotion to Class five came with a pleasant responsibility: she would escort her brother Ajay to the government school, a kilometre from their Panchur village in Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. He was five years her junior, and they happily meandered through the Sal forests on the way, and she would often drop into his class to see that no one bullied him. In the evenings, five siblings—two more would join years later—sat around a wick lamp and read aloud, while their mother cooked dinner after spending the day in the fields and tending cows.
Electricity came to their village—a cluster of just a few houses—in 1982 when Ajay was 10. His father, Anand Singh Bisht, who worked in the forest department, was the first in the area to buy a TV, a Philips Black-and-white set. People from nearby villages thronged his house to watch Ramayan, the epic telecast every Sunday at 9.30am in 1987-88.
On Diwali, father would gather all children to take pictures. “Ajay was precocious, and focused on studies,” said Shashi. “He changed different schools and went to college in Kotdwar and later in Rishikesh. He was very fond of children. On his way back from college, he would drop into my house to meet my daughter, his pocket full of toffees.” She now stays with her husband and children in Kothar village, 30km from Panchur.
Ajay was closest to Shashi, as two other sisters—Pushpa and Kaushalya—were older than him by 16 and 9 years. One of his brothers, Manendra Singh, was two years his senior, and two other brothers were born almost a decade after him.
Yet, since 1994, the favourite sister has met Ajay only thrice, and they have not spoken a word to each other. Though she sends him rakhi every year, she does not know whether he ties it on his wrist.
This story is from the May 28, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 28, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Word, A Spark And Nancy's Mission
America's most powerful woman says she is happy to relinquish that position in favour of Kamala Harris.
America Ready To Elect Kamala Harris Because She Is The Best
Nancy Pelosi opens her latest book, The Art of Power, describing what was perhaps the most traumatic day of her life, personally.
Peeks into peaks
A book on the Sherpa community throws light on the arduous and often heroic lives of the mountain climbers.
Show some muscle for Phogat
Um, are we timid again? There was a time, back in the day, when Indians were timid.
Ikigai in India
With their new book, Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia look to India to find the meaning of life.
When tradition marries technology
In this digital age, where a tweet flutters away faster than a thought, the tradition of storytelling remains quintessential for our collective consciousness as well as our cultural connections.
MASTER OF LETTERS
A madrassa-going Muslim boy walks into a synagogue.... The story of how Thoufeek Zakriya became an acclaimed calligrapher and memorykeeper of Cochin Jews.
WE SHOULD NOT JUST CUT-PASTE WHAT ADVANCED ECONOMIES HAVE DONE
Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian has several titles you are free to choose from-the regular 'Mr' to 'Er' for his engineering degree from IIT Kanpur to 'Dr' for his doctorate in financial economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, or the one he seems to personally prefer, 'Prof' from his academic days at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad. Subramanian, however, would brook no argument on India's prospects of becoming a global economic leader by 2047.
Rules for rule-makers
The Hindenburg allegations have put the spotlight on probity of regulators.
KNIVES ARE OUT
Even as Uddhav Thackeray sharpens his attack on the BJP and the government, his ally, the Congress, hopes it will be the single largest party post polls