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LR Sharma
The story is about eight decades old when my father was a 20-year-old youth. As per his account, Jethu and Kanhu were look-alike twins in the village. Kanhu, the younger one, was taller and gifted. He was willing to lend a helping hand and would take on bullies and mischief-makers. The elder Jethu was then serving in the princely Suket state’s constabulary. Once when Jethu fell ill and was unable to attend the daily obligatory drill, Kanhu impersonated him, attended the drill and came back unnoticed. Such was their similarity.
The piece de resistance is the incident that follows. Kanhu was a great lover of mangoes. In the month of ‘shravan’, he would visit Jarol, a place famous for mangoes. On one such jaunt, he sent for my father, and asked to follow him. ‘Look Brij Lal, I will treat you today with the choicest of mangoes. But you will have to pretend to be my mango taster. Just do what I say. You will not approve any mango till I give you the nod,’ he or