Skip to main content

Lockdown tales ii

"I don't quite like our generation, do you?", asked my cousin.
"Well…", I fumbled for I didn't have any answer.
"Everything today can be bought with money, I want to know what it feels like to long for things which we can't buy and yet need them", he added wisely
"Did amoi( grandma) teach you this?", I enquired, curious.
"No, I thought about it on my own", he smiled.
…

I was dumbfounded by my ten year old cousin. This kid had learnt his lesson on life. He has been my "walky talky" these seven days. I chose to call him by that name because he briefs me about everything that's escaped my notice. He perhaps senses my off minded behavior. For he jerks me time and again, pulling by my hand clicking his tongue in disdain.

Each morning, we hit the paved village roads crossing green paddy fields and muddy ponds. My grandma's place is a farmer's paradise. The fields are lush green with rice being planted. The ponds are filled with fishes. The backyard has juicy "outenga" and "kothal". And all hail to the incessant downpour, the air is soothing and the village looks calm.

I see the mud clad village girls sheepishly exchanging smiles with their loved ones. My heart goes out to my childhood days when I could freely roam around in the fields running after cows, today I no longer belong to their world.

My cousin often asks me in our stride about how the village looked like when I was a kid like him. His eyes would grow in wonder when I explain to him about bullock carts, the merrymaking of harvest season, the abundance of fruits in orchards,  the unavailability of private cars, the enthusiasm of riding a bus and watching "Shaktiman" on t.v. during weekends and above all the absence of a mechanised lifestyle.

This ten year old kid longs for my childhood of the 90s. Well, I can't take him back to those days but I for sure can weave stories from my past for him. That way, I stay rooted to my past and he gets a fair picture of what life looked like when he was not yet born.

Time and again our conversation takes unexpected turns. Today, he wanted to know what causes anger. Well, I told him a story which grandpa had told me long back.

As far as I recollect, the story was about a conversation between two people where one abuses the other verbally. The other person stays rooted and doesn't give any reaction to the wrath he receives. He, at the end, addresses the person who had been abusing him saying, "You said whatever you wanted to, but my friend I wouldn't accept any of them. You are free to take those words back with you." This left the abuser in shock, guilt and dismay and thus, he had learnt his lesson.

I turned towards my cousin to see his smiling face, he probably had realised that anger not only affects the person we abuse but also the abuser. It probably is wise on our part to hold back whatever we feel while angry, for once we spit it out we can't have those words back.

#lockdowntales#morningsessions




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life on wheels

The one thing that I always had dreamt of as a kid was to have a caravan that could take me to places.I always wanted a gypsy styled life. The idea itself mesmerized me to the extent that I kept dreaming of it the whole time not even realising how it was time which kept on rolling but I stood exactly at the same place, my dreams could never concretize. What was laughed at as a childish game was so important to me that I keep doodling it in my memory till now. I see a meadow, lush green with those small daffodils growing by, perhaps Wordsworth's daffodils! Then I see a girl, her wild unkept hair sailing in the gentle breeze. She has a smile which speaks of solitude, and her heart , well that's swelling with happiness as he looks at her caravan, after all she finally has a life on wheels. What more could she wish for, what more  can anyone wish for? It's not always that we get to live a life we conceived as a kid, life keeps on deciding our track. From what we liked doing...
2 comments
Read more

What do you want to be?

While I was in my 10th standard, almost everyone I met wanted to know what I wanted to be. This question always perplexed me. From the lens of a fifteen year kid who was not yet sure of the changes which awaited in the near future, this question gave me nightmares. I would constantly sit by the mirror and ask myself, what actually would be my answer. My friends always had fancy answers at their disposal. They would confidently chirp whenever any one asked about it. What amused me most was, my friend who had no inkling to study Biology wanted to be a doctor and another friend who detested the idea of even cooking noodles, wanted to be a chef! But whenever they spoke about their wishes, they would always sound confident. And there I was, fumbling for words which refused to escape my lips. It was not until I entered Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya to do my plus two, I found my voice. The teachers there have a different way of viewing life. For the first time, I no longer felt the classroom...
2 comments
Read more

Grandpa and me

I am the eldest grandchild in my family. And being the eldest, I was pampered a great deal by my grandparents. My aama (grandma) and baa (grandpa) always shielded me from every possible dangers including thrashings from maa. I have pleasant memories of evening story sessions as grandpa took me to bed. Aama would oil my hair and tie pony tails which resembled coconut trees that I used to draw. Sundays meant elaborate sessions with my grandparents. Baa would trim my nails, aama would fondle me to sleep. Their bed room was literally my playing room, my story book reading room, my painting room and what not. With time, as I grew, I got a room of my own but their room was still my favourite one. When I left for hostel, I missed them more than I missed my parents.  It was in the year 2014, I had come home after my exams when aama received a pressure stroke . She couldn't make it. I had spent a month as he lay sick on her bed. All of a sudden, there was a role reversal. I could...
2 comments
Read more