Bachpan Adventure Series- updated!
I remember a few moments from my childhood- a phase of life where most kids are really inquisitive about the world around them. Even I was one of them.
From the time of my birth, I was everybody’s pet and especially, my dad’s. He’s the one who really brought me up with values, discipline and love. (The sequencing is intentional, as seen from my eyes.) Nevertheless, as a kid, it was Daddy who dressed me up for school, oiled and combed my hair, served me food and played with me.
An incident that refuses to ditch my memory is when I was all of 4 years old. Daddy and I were playing with pillows. I was on the bed and Daddy was the ‘tiger’. The rule was that the ‘tiger’ was to ‘eat’ me though wasn’t allowed to climb up the bed. I still remember how Daddy scared me to death with his ‘growls’. We had to throw pillows at each other- defending ourselves!
Now, the twist! There I saw another tiger approaching us from the other room…. A tigress, to be precise… growling at both of us!!! Well, this wasn’t a part of the game but to warn us that we should stop playing with ‘things of utility’! What a spoil sport, you were, mummy!
Now, let me formally introduce you to my Mummy… a woman who personifies ‘sacrifice’ and ‘selfless love’. A typical ‘family’ woman who axes her own wishes or comforts for her family’s sake… who has never seen a dream lest it shatters in the mere beingness of her mundane life.
Well, getting back to the main story, as a little girl, I’d hundreds of questions playing sudoku in my head! I had the weirdest questions with me and always wondered whom to ask. As Daddy was close to me in my childhood days, the obvious ‘soft target’ was HIM!!
Dad (an abridged version of ‘Daddy’) was from the very beginning, a strict, organised, religious and disciplined man and expected all of us to follow suit! (Much to his disappointment!) He used to tell me Biblical values and messages…which whizzed past my understanding at the age of 5!
It was one of these occasions when Dad was ‘preaching’ and out of nowhere, a question cropped up in my head- “Daddy, you said, God lives ‘above’ then how can God watch us through the ceiling?” Dad must have smiled at my unexpected question... But poor fellow, how could he answer my question? He explained me by saying-“God has great powers. He knows what we are doing and always keeps a watch over us.”
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…..
…..
Can somebody please explain what was all that?? Practically speaking, how can anyone see through the ceiling? N that too watch over so many in the world?? These were the questions looming in my 5 year old head but I obediently swallowed the answer... Yes, God is watching us all…even through the ceiling!
Children are a curious lot and as most of them, I too wanted to know the “who, what, when, where and how” of even the smallest event… As a 7 year old, I may have contributed (unknowingly) to Dad’s most embarrassing moments! It was while watching an advertisement of a sanitary napkin with the family on TV. I had this terrible itch about this product shown on TV. All they showed was some blue water on a white handkerchief which absorbs all the content poured! Now, this was a deadly threat to a 7 year old’s comprehension! I could no more tolerate the advertisement of a product which had been airing on TV for sooooo long and whose utility I did not understand! So out of frustration and sheer helplessness, I asked my ‘Question Bank’, Dad- “Daddy, what is this product all about? I have never seen anything like this in the shops and it serves no purpose. Why are they confusing the viewers? Daddy, tell me na, what is it all about?”
‘Ufff!! Oh God, I wish this girl would stop embarrassing me like that’, Daddy would have surely thought! My Dad glanced at my Mummy, then thought for a few seconds and said, “I don’t know either.”
From the time of my birth, I was everybody’s pet and especially, my dad’s. He’s the one who really brought me up with values, discipline and love. (The sequencing is intentional, as seen from my eyes.) Nevertheless, as a kid, it was Daddy who dressed me up for school, oiled and combed my hair, served me food and played with me.
An incident that refuses to ditch my memory is when I was all of 4 years old. Daddy and I were playing with pillows. I was on the bed and Daddy was the ‘tiger’. The rule was that the ‘tiger’ was to ‘eat’ me though wasn’t allowed to climb up the bed. I still remember how Daddy scared me to death with his ‘growls’. We had to throw pillows at each other- defending ourselves!
Now, the twist! There I saw another tiger approaching us from the other room…. A tigress, to be precise… growling at both of us!!! Well, this wasn’t a part of the game but to warn us that we should stop playing with ‘things of utility’! What a spoil sport, you were, mummy!
Now, let me formally introduce you to my Mummy… a woman who personifies ‘sacrifice’ and ‘selfless love’. A typical ‘family’ woman who axes her own wishes or comforts for her family’s sake… who has never seen a dream lest it shatters in the mere beingness of her mundane life.
Well, getting back to the main story, as a little girl, I’d hundreds of questions playing sudoku in my head! I had the weirdest questions with me and always wondered whom to ask. As Daddy was close to me in my childhood days, the obvious ‘soft target’ was HIM!!
Dad (an abridged version of ‘Daddy’) was from the very beginning, a strict, organised, religious and disciplined man and expected all of us to follow suit! (Much to his disappointment!) He used to tell me Biblical values and messages…which whizzed past my understanding at the age of 5!
It was one of these occasions when Dad was ‘preaching’ and out of nowhere, a question cropped up in my head- “Daddy, you said, God lives ‘above’ then how can God watch us through the ceiling?” Dad must have smiled at my unexpected question... But poor fellow, how could he answer my question? He explained me by saying-“God has great powers. He knows what we are doing and always keeps a watch over us.”
…..
…..
…..
Can somebody please explain what was all that?? Practically speaking, how can anyone see through the ceiling? N that too watch over so many in the world?? These were the questions looming in my 5 year old head but I obediently swallowed the answer... Yes, God is watching us all…even through the ceiling!
Children are a curious lot and as most of them, I too wanted to know the “who, what, when, where and how” of even the smallest event… As a 7 year old, I may have contributed (unknowingly) to Dad’s most embarrassing moments! It was while watching an advertisement of a sanitary napkin with the family on TV. I had this terrible itch about this product shown on TV. All they showed was some blue water on a white handkerchief which absorbs all the content poured! Now, this was a deadly threat to a 7 year old’s comprehension! I could no more tolerate the advertisement of a product which had been airing on TV for sooooo long and whose utility I did not understand! So out of frustration and sheer helplessness, I asked my ‘Question Bank’, Dad- “Daddy, what is this product all about? I have never seen anything like this in the shops and it serves no purpose. Why are they confusing the viewers? Daddy, tell me na, what is it all about?”
‘Ufff!! Oh God, I wish this girl would stop embarrassing me like that’, Daddy would have surely thought! My Dad glanced at my Mummy, then thought for a few seconds and said, “I don’t know either.”
I don’t blame him.
well u have described moms very well...
ReplyDeletethey are self sacrificing always...
that particular description added some serious elements to the post...
the post was damn funny otherwise...i haven't understood as to why ur mind was laden with doubts...
and what on earth made u ask ur dad about sanitary pads..???
if only u had to ask u could have asked ur mom...
:D
keep writing...
well.. i was close to dad at that tym, both literally n figuratively n i was all of 7 yar! where is the sense to demarcate the 'can ask' from the 'never ask'??!! ;o)
ReplyDelete