Kids' rhymes

You can learn a lot by listening to children.

Yesterday I heard Asha and Enoch do a school-yard chant I had not heard before:

Hero Honda
Police ka danda
Kaise maare?
Aise....

They were in another room, playing by themselves. Intrigued, I asked them to do the chant in front of me. They did - doing it the classic school yard clapping of hands. The last line started with one finger - and with each round another was added - till the final bit - a small 'playful' slap on the face.

So lets 'deconstruct'.

This rhyme was certainly not around when I was in school.

For one "Hero Honda" wasn't even a glimpse on the horizon. This company is now "the world's single largest two-wheeler motorcycle company".

So we have someone with a motor cycle.

Then enter the police. Not just a normal policeman, but the 'Police ka Danda' the infamous 'lathi' - a bamboo pole used with considerable force in various situations.

A recent photo gives an example. In this case - Police vs. Lawyers in Kashmir. The lawyers seem to be giving it back just as good as they are getting it.

So the question "Kaise maare" - is how does the policeman hit?

Aise - like this!

Believe me, policemen in our blessed land do not tap as lightly as my children did in their game. A friend of ours recently spent a night in custody at a police station and told about hearing the cries of a man being beaten up at 4 AM. The 'police ka danda' is used, usually quite viciously.

There is a real fear of the policeman. This fear is used by many men in khaki to have their way - bullying others - taking things without paying for them etc. I understand that there are even clear bribes given when someone is taken into custody so that they will not be beaten by the dreaded 'danda.'

What I found amazing was how this fear has been brought out in a children's rhyme. Who came up with it? Was it a child? Was it a mother whose husband had been in a lock-up? Who put the 'Hero Honda' bit together with the 'Police ka danda'? Someone who had been booked for not having a license (rare - most give a small bribe and keep driving)?