The Mithila Famous “Gonu Jha” in 2015!

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By Soumitra Bose

Truly Believe it as U read it : 13thCentury has come alive in January 2015 with the Mithila Famous Gonu Jha — allias Ganpati Jha — reincarnated in Delhi-New Delhi-West Delhi-South Delhi-North Delhi-Central Delhi-NCR also. In all these areas, Gonu Jha has become synonymous with robust, razzmatazz, rustic, ‘rimjhim’, glitzy, grandiloquence, verbose, voluble, loquacious, uncouth, abusive…Chopras, Aroras, Thukral, Miglanis, Kharbandas, Singhs, Bhatias, Gulatis, Malhotra, Dhawan, Singhla, Berry, Oberoi, Bawa, Pahwa etc.

{Gonu Jha was a “Pratyutpannamati” (ready-witted) character and a contemporary of Hari Singh King of Mithila in the 13th century. There are several humorous Maithili language folktales about him, depicting him as a witty and wise manJha is a surname of India and Nepal, originating from the Mithila. Jhas are 1.12% of the population of Nepal and 0.1% of the population of India.

Jhas are Maithil Brahmins (Brāhamaṇas is the Sanskrit term), a community of highly cohesive, traditional Brahmins who form part of ancient Vedic Brahmins. They are Maithili speakers. The Mathili language is listed as an official language in theEighth Schedule of the constitution of India, and the language and Jha are also mentioned in the constitution of Nepal.}

Thanks to Gonu Jha — surely, sweet, suave, witty, intelligent, sophisticated, sober, yet witty, intelligent sans double entendre — The Maithili Brahmin. He with his widespread “tales” has succeeded in making the above crude personalities (as seen all through East, West, South etc except Capital of India, rare few parts in North; even in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Ropar, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Moga etc, masses are rapidly influenced by Gonu Jha and his mellifluous Maithil lingo, decent Maithili culture, always-presentable Maithil parlance, example-setting convivial Mithila practices-intelligent wit-philosophical thoughts-perfect mannerisms) realize their personality-folly-cum-faux pas and are themselves spontaneously initiating themselves  into changing their habits of all kinds present in them, on their personalities.

They are pretty successful in that. Many of them already are fluent in anecdotes of Gonu Jha; they juicily narrate them to their friends, kith-n-kin for enabling them to benefit like them from Him and change themselves to become presentable in today’s Soft-Suave (no room for inhuman behaviour really as is clearly evident) Society. They are being heeded to, as reports trickle in.

Example of one of mass popular Gonu Jha incidents: A pahalwan went to a sahukar to ask some money.He was having a big golden “gada” with him,he said”This is my grand father’s gada, It is of pure gold,I want to mortgage it and you give me eight thousand rupees,I will pay the interest regularly till the repay.The sahukar believed him and gave him money,but the pahalwan did not give him any interest for six months,the sahukar went to him and asked the interest amount,The Pahalwan said”I don’t have money,you can sell the gada and get back your money.The sahukar showed the gada to the goldsmith he said”It is not golden gada,but it is of iron and only covered by thin layer of gold.The sahukar shocked he immediately ran to Gonu Jha,and asked him what should he do now.Gonu Jha said”Go and invite whole village for good lunch.”Sahukar surprised”What are you saying?””yes!I am serious,I mean it”Sahukar agreed and went away.Next morning the whole village was running for lunch to Sahukar’s House.The Pahalwan saw this and asked one of them”Hey!what is going on,why everybody is running to sahukar’s house””I think he has got a Treasure”The Pahalwan thought”It is definitely my Gada,I must get it back”He went to another village,mortgaged his House,got the money,went to the Sahukar and said”I have arranged money,Please take it and give my Gada back”The sahukar immediately took the money and gave him back his Gada.The Pahlwan reached to the only goldsmith.He said”Why have you brought it here,it is not gold”The Pahlwan came to know that it is only because of Gonu Jha.He decided to sell the Gada to Gonu Jha.He went to him and said”This is my Grand father’s golden Gada,Please buy it,I need money”Gonu Jha took the Gada in his hand and started swinging it,It fell down and a small part broke,Gonu Jha said”Yes Yes!I am going to buy it but we must get it repaired first”Both of them went to the Gold smith”Why have you come again with this Iron Gada,I have already told you that it is not gold.The Pahalwan was speechless now,and Gonu Jha was smiling.

MORAL OF THIS STORY FOR All+Arora, Chopra, Bhatia, Singh, Kharbanda, Keswani, Advani, Jethmalani, Singhla…Always Be Cool, Be Patient, Be Tolerant, Be Bearing, Be…Never Be Impatient, Never be Flimsy, Never Be Fickle Minded, Never Be OverBearing, Never Be Rough, Never be Abusive.

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