After independence several natural landforms like rocky hills or river banks etc near the cities got encroached upon by politicians and their allies in the guise of some Ashram etc. Same was the case in Delhi also. But a Barsati nalla (a ravine) near our school had not yet been gobbled up. In the eighties the land acquisition act was not abused as we see nowadays where a chunk of land is first acquired forcibly and then after some value addition (by providing electricity, sewerage etc) is sold to the favourite business houses. Politicians in those days pried only upon the wastelands.
The Barsati nalla was comparitively safe because any temple or Ashram made near it could easily cave in. I wondered how the Principal's residence remained safe despite being at the brink.
One day l and my friends ventured onto the other side of this ravine by crossing it. The flats on the other side had used the rear portion near to the Nalla for growing radish etc. For the purpose of thrill we uprooted and ate a few of them. Next day also the same routine followed during the lunch break. But soon the cat was out of the bag. We stopped this extra curricular activity as the fellow classmates of tenth standard got a whiff of our adventure. How they came to know is not clearly known but they claimed that they found it out as the fart of one of our comrades had become excessively stinky and gave an indication of the Mooli (radish) eaten during the lunch break.
Moral- Truth can never remain hidden. More so when it involves the radish.
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