LIFE OF A SURTI LALA……………..
So, you thought that life of a lala was all about living life kingsize, eh?
Last evening, I happened to meet rich and famous Surti sheth Dhanvantbhai Shethia.
‘Kem cho, Dhanvantdada?’
‘Prubhu ni krupa chey dikra,’he sighed,’baki badhu locha lapsi chey’.
‘Why so sir? I asked, worriedly.’
‘Arrey, things are not as they used to be in laladom.Times having changed; it is no fun being a lala anymore’.
Then, looking at my bewildered expression, he explained

Life of a lala then and now…….
.
Saheb, biwi aur ghulam-Once upon a time this simply meant a rich man with a wife and a loyal slave. Life was fun as lalas would be pampered by both, his patni and his paid servant. Now, alas, life is different. There is a new Saheb in the lala’s life; in fact, there are several. Babu log in Surat are called’saheb’.Day in and night out, Lalas rack their brains on how to find new ways of pleasing the ‘sahebs’, so as to be in their ‘good books.’ As if this was not enough, there is the other major task of keeping the ‘lalarina’ happy and pampered So,24/7 and through the 12 months of the year, a lala has to please both beuarocracy and biwi and needless to say ,within this whole exercise, one can very well guess who the new Ghulam is.

Surti Spidermen-In the days of yore, Lalas were superheroes. The Surti slang ‘chappra kudey’was,as the name suggests, given to adventurous lalas who would literally jump rooftops; within the old walled city of neighbouring homes, to visit their beau, who awaited on the terraces, to spend precious, private moments with their amour’, a la Romeo and Juliet. But the new suburban residences of rich Surtis has ensured ‘love don’t’ live here anymore ‘circumstances. Forget roof top jumping, even a lala farmhouse ,built with much love for their loved ones, is more of the kind of place that others use and all that the lala’s are left doing there is cleaning up the Surti spiders, man!

Roti kapda aur makaan-There was once a time when 8 course ‘Surat nu jaman’ meals were laid out with 3 farsans and 3 desserts and 5 vegetables for lalas to relish the rich man’s Surti meal. Cloth for lala’s shirts came from special shops that sold exclusive fabric. Every time the lala brought land, he was upgraded to being called a ‘zamindar’.Things have changed, eating a Surti meal now means standing at a ‘lahri’ next to common man, besides mangy dogs. Our paanwallahs wear linen shirts to work and owning land now means one is a ‘khedoot’.As if that was not enough, Shahrukh owns part of the Moon now, making piece of land sound passe’.

‘So you see dearie? He sighed as he boarded his swanky new chauffeur driven car,’ I paid for this SUV, but the good fortune to drive it, is Ganpat’s!’
What more can I say, other than,’yeh jeena bhi koi jeena hai lallu, err…lala?

Tapi town tattle-Aeronaughtricks