I remember my father, Shafiq Ahmed, speak very fondly of his hometown Seohara (in Bijnor) and his close friend, Gurbachan Singh with whom he studied and played hockey. I distinctly remember one story where there was a Baniya in their neighborhood whom nobody liked and who misbehaved with everyone. one afternoon, the Baniya was sleeping on a charpoy under a tree and a dhobi’s donkey was standing nearby. They quietly took a rope and tied one end to the charpoy and the other end around the donkey. Then they tied some patakhas around the donkey’s tail and lit them up. The patakhas started going off. Scared, the donkey started braying and ran off at full gallop dragging the charpoy with it! The Baniya woke up startled and had no clue what had hit him! For days he kept on inquiring about who had done this to him. The whole neighborhood knew but no one disclosed the names. Instead, they taunted him saying that it was a punishment from Bhagwan for his untoward behavior.