The Purple Gullak

The Purple Gullak

21 December 2025, Good Evening Everyone!

As humans, we all have a quest.
A quest, meaning a long search for something which is difficult to find.
The hollow always looks for depth, the empty always longs for whole,
I’m certain, circles dream of angles too and in the same way, mondays envy weekends too.
But the truth is, we are all born with quests and we die with stories.

Ye hai meri pehli kitaab ki sabse puraani kahani
I would like to present, The purple gullak- say hy everyone!

Like every other legend, purple gullak ki bhi ek proper entry hai!
30th October, 2014. The father Aherwar didn’t wake up and I woke up to be the father of the family. While the rest of the family was still mourning for the loss, I would think about ways to keep the family tree stable. Let me paint a better picture:

Ye raat ka andhera nahi, ye andhere se bhi badtar hai,
Aankhon ki roshni abh jaa chuki hai.
Abh dekhne ko cheeze hazaaron hai, un cheezo mai dekhne ko kuch nahi.
Kehne ko log hazaaron hai, hazaaron mai apna koi nahi.
Kayi rang honge chun ne ko, mere liye sirf saaf ya dhundhla,
Saaf tha jo kuch, tha woh pichla, sab dhundhla abh jo kuch bhi agla.
Khair, roshni gayi toh darr bhi gaya, aur darr ke bina toh andhera bhi apna.

On the 14th day, I went to the town’s weekly market to get a photo frame. And that's where I saw it for the first time.Believe it or not, the purple gullak looked at me before I looked at it. As if I knew the gullak was craving attention and the gullak knew I was craving financial stability. I spent my last 15 rupees buying the gullak while possessing not a single penny to save into it. It was not just a pretty box to save money, it was a 9 year old’s sense of security.

Ye mera barsaat ka chhaata hai,
Ye gullak mere bachpan ka khaata hai.
Iss khaate mai, meri chhoti chhoti khushiyon ke sikke salaamat,
Aur bade se bade maslon ka hal maujood hai.
Mai maangti nahi 1 rupya bhi usse,
Sar pe mere guroor jo sawaar hai,
Woh puchta nahi kabhi jaan kar bhi mujhko,
Woh jaanta hai mujhe paiso se nahi gullak se pyaar hai.

Years later, I’m 21 now. Quite independent in my choices and financially on my own too. However, I still do not have the courage to touch the gullak. The money that went in, never came out. Turns out it was never really about the finances but always about the sense of security that it provided me with. The fear that one day everything might collapse all of a sudden like it did in the past, and this time I would have my umbrella during the rainy days. Just me and the 1200 rupees in my gullak against the world. And so to conclude,

Mera darr paiso ko khone ka nahi, sirf khone ka hai,
Masla unchaayi par hone ka nahi, bas kahi mehfooz hone ka hai,
Bura-bhala jaisa bhi ho, manzoor hai mujhe,
Bas mujhko mujhse alag na kare, iss baar darr khudko khone ka hai

Thank you!