A promise kept through time

Childhood is a great experience. While you’re growing up you will never know how cool and awesome it is. You will know it only when you’re hurrying off to work and sit down in your office seat, dripping sweat from your forehead, that it was one of the best phases of your life.

The same thing happened with me as I was pushed back into one of the proudest moments of my life, when someone asked me “Do you smoke?”

My mom was getting me ready to send me off to school. I was 13 and It was my first day of high school. My mom was fixing my tie as I saw my dad enter through his shop. We had a shop that led directly into our home. I saw my dad was smoking. He picked something heavy with both of his hands and was balancing a cigarette on one of his lips at the same time.

I heard my mom say… “Now you are big boy Thousif. There will be ‘friends’ who will teach you things that are not good.”

“Hmm..” I murmured as I continued seeing my dad do the balancing act and go into the shop. My eyes followed him the whole time.

My mom continued “You should be aware that, there are bad things that you should not try.”

“Like what?” I asked.

My dad entered to pick something again. My mom looked towards my dad, “Like smoking” she said

My dad turned around. He was in one of his moods, but I could see a sort of helplessness in his eyes which said ‘I am addicted to this son and I can’t help it’.

“So I shouldn’t smoke if my friends ask me to, is that what you’re saying?” I asked

“Yes” she replied “Smoking is a very bad habit, it ruins your lungs, health and most importantly your life” she said curtly, looking at my dad.

I innocently turned my eyes towards my dad, “but why shouldn’t I mom?...” I said “Dad smokes!

My mother was surprised at my retort. “Well…” she said “I have no answer for that”. She looked at my father “Why don’t you ask your dad if he has one?” she said, smiling an oh-you-are-in-trouble-now-daddy smile.

My dad just stood there, stunned by what I had said. The cigarette he was balancing on his lips fell to the ground. He quickly stomped on it. He looked at me and calmly came towards me.

‘Oh man. I am gonna get spanked’ I thought. I saw my dad come near me and sit on his knees. He looked into my hands, held my hands and asked me “If I stop smoking from tomorrow, will you promise me that you will never smoke in your entire life?”

From the time that I had seen my dad as a child, he had been a chain smoker. Having his own shop was an added incentive to his habit. He would smoke up to 3 packets of cigarettes a day. One after the other, one after the other; It never stopped.

All the while I had watched him, I wanted get rid of his habit. My mom always used to show me pics about what horrible things smoking cigarettes could lead to, and say “Stay away from cigarettes”. And whenever I saw them, I wanted to make my dad stop smoking cigarettes. ‘If I could just get him to quit’ I used to think, ‘If i could just…’, and lo here was the chance.

I met his eyes and said “No dad. If you stop smoking from tomorrow, I will never smoke in my entire life.”

My dad looked into my eyes, ruffled my hair and said “Ok, why tomorrow! I am quitting cigarettes right now!”

I turned towards my mom and saw the look in her eyes. It was like I had done the impossible. She had asked my dad to quit many times, but he hadn’t. It’s not like he hadn’t tried. He’d quit for a couple of months and then start up again. You can exactly blame him. He had the poison right in front of him every day, and he just had to smoke.

I saw my dad after that day. He struggled. The initial days when you quit smoking after having smoked for like 20 years is never-wracking. It’s not like doing drugs, but its close. I saw him every day and he never put another cigarette on his lips.

As I was growing up, I had many instances where my friends forced me to smoke. Seeing that I had a shop which sold cigarettes, they all wanted me to start smoking and be their supplier. But I didn’t.

It was tough. Every day I used to be around cigarettes, and seeing my friends smoke and say it was amazing to smoke, I wanted to try too. I was made fun of, bullied and made to feel that I was missing out on something great. Some days I was so frustrated that I used to take a cigarette and keep it on my lips and suck the air through the cigarette, just the air. I wanted to see what the fuss was all about; but I never lit one and smoked.

As I grew up, each time a ‘friend’ asked me “Do you smoke?” it used to remind me of that time, and that promise my dad made and kept.

It has been 13 years since my dad quit smoking and each time anyone asks me the question, I say “No. Never have, never will”.

Every time a conversation about smoking comes my way, I am reminded of that promise. I say to myself. “My dad left smoking cigarettes for me. He could have said I won’t stop, but he did. He kept a promise made to his son, and I will keep the promise I made to my dad”.

It has been 13 years and both of us haven’t smoked a cigarette. I could say it is because of that promise, but what I see is love. Our love and respect for each other has made us stray away from a dangerous habit.

I see my dad now and feel proud. My dad sees me and he feels proud. That moment in my childhood was 100% real. It taught me that parents can do anything for a child and if children try, they can do anything for their parents. It might be a small thing, but for me it means a lot. It made me see my dad as a entirely new person. It made us a family; a loving, caring and 100% real family.

This post has been written for 'The Kissan 100% Real Blogger Contest' on Indiblogger.in.

Disclaimer: The images have been taken from Google and Imagesbazaar.com. I do not own any of these photos.

The truth

One of the values kids are taught at a young age is to tell the truth. The same was with my family. My mom was very strict about me and my sister telling truth. She used to say, “No matter what you have done, always tell the truth. It is much easier and it’s always, always the better option.”

In my childhood I was naughty kid. I used to get into trouble every day. As I started growing up, it continued, but the naughty turned into something else when I saw kids at my school wear new clothes, buy new things.

Every time I used to see my friend buy new things I wanted it. It wasn’t like I was obsessed about it, but I wanted it. What I dint know at that time is that there was one thing that would grow into an obsession.

It was the year 2000 and computer games had just made its way into my small hometown of Coorg, Madikeri. Everybody was playing. Kids, adults, you name it they were playing it. I so, so, so wanted to play them as everyone in our school was describing how amazing it was.

I had just passed out my junior high and entered my high school. My dad had given me 20 bucks on passing the exams. I took the money and ran to the cyber café to play the games with my friends.

I dint know squat about computer games. My friends cheated and played with my money for 2 hours, leaving me bitterly angry and unsatisfied. I said to myself, ‘I will play games all by myself without anybody’s help’, and that’s what I exactly did. The feeling I used to get when I played the games was amazing. Just like the feeling I used to get when i drank juice made from Kissan squashes; 100% real and amazing.

I was addicted and spent all the money I had on the computer games. Times were not as expensive as it is now. I used to get 5 bucks every week as pocket money, lesser sometimes. As we had our own shop, every time I used to ask my dad for more money, he used to say “When you have everything here, what do you need money for? If you want something I will buy it for you.”

I couldn’t stand it. I wanted to play computer games and that was it. My dad wasn’t so rich that he’d buy me a computer, so I thought of a plan. Every time I was home after school my dad used to make me sit in the shop and go for a coffee break for 10 minutes. I hated sitting at the shop, but I did it anyway because I wanted my dad to rest.

One day as I was sitting, minding the shop, my eyes fell on the cash register. I saw the money my dad had made the whole day. There were a couple of 20’s, 50’s and a lot of 10’s. I saw how my friends looked at me when I played the games. I was good, not just good, I was goooood. We competed in car races and I always own. I wanted to maintain that winning streak and so I took two 10 rupee notes from the register.

As soon as I had the money in my hand I started panicking. I thought, ‘Will I get caught?’, ‘What if dad comes to know about the missing money?’, ‘What would happen if I get caught?’ A hundred questions crossed my mind. I was sweating and put the money back. I saw my dad come in. He saw me, smiled and said to go play outside. I went.

The thought never left me. My mind said ‘You could have just taken the money and left, dad wouldn’t know!’ I said to myself ‘No I can’t do it. It would be stealing and then if he asks me, I’d have to lie. I don’t wanna do that.’ There was no voice for some time, but as the evening progressed the thought never left my mind.

I met my friends next week and as I hadn’t played the games for a week, I was sloppy. I lost all games and I was angry at myself. I said to myself “Enough is enough, I am a winner and that’s what I will be.”

I went to my dad and said “I want money to play computer games!”

He said “You play a lot of games thousif; no you can’t have more money. Your grades will go down, sit and study rather than playing games".

I was pissed. I was so pissed that I when my dad went for his break that day, I took two 20 rupees notes without a guilty conscience. I went and played games without a worry in the world.

My dad didn’t suspect a thing, so I started taking money every day. What started with 40 bucks soon grew 50, 60 and more. Whatever I dint spend on the computer games I used to save up.

After 3 years I had collected a lot of money. Yes, 3 years; 3 freaking years. I would have continued if it wasn’t for my sister.

One of the saddest things in my life was my sister’s death. That event led to everyone in our house become zombies for weeks. I used to fight with my sister a lot and when she passed away I blamed myself for not asking sorry. Remembering her I used to cry on my mother’s shoulder and howl with pain, asking my sister to forgive me. It was normal childhood fights, but the pain of not getting to ask sorry was real and hurt every day.

As I was crying one day, I remembered what I had been doing for the past 3 years. I felt ashamed and I wanted to say it to my parents. But my ego dint let me. I was very afraid thinking what my dad would say, but the guilt was eating me out. I stopped taking the money, but I had the money I had saved. I may have had like 10,000 bucks with me. I wanted to put it all back, but my dad would ask ‘Where did all the money come from?’ and I would have no answer.

I wanted to say the truth and now I couldn’t. I was in agony. I felt like I was on fire, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

One day I fought with my mom. It was a bitter fight. She was crying and I was still angry. Suddenly I saw the picture of my sister on the table and I felt pain. I thought how I used to fight with her and now I had done the same with my mother. An inner voice told me ‘See thousif, you can’t ask sorry for the bad times you had with your sister, but you can set things right by asking sorry with your mother and telling her the truth’

I remembered what my mom used to say ‘Say the truth, no matter what.’ I went to where my mom was silently sobbing. I saw her, went near her, held her hand and let her to my bedroom. I sat down and said “I am really sorry mom” She stopped crying and saw me. I said how sorry I was for being such an arrogant child, and that I was sorry for all the bad things I had done in my life. She said that I wasn’t a bad kid, only a little stubborn sometimes but that was ok. I dint listen to her. I had taken a decision and I would abide to it.

I started talking about my sister and said how sorry I was for fighting with her and how sorry I was for fighting with my mom. I started crying, i was hysterical, like I couldn’t stop myself. It was 10 in the night and listening to my crying my dad silently came from the shop and stood near the door. I started crying, asking sorry and cried some more. My dad came near me and seeing him I just broke down. I wanted to confess and finally I thought it was now or never and I did it.

I said how I had started taking money and how I spent it on computer games and how I had saved some of it. I took a long time to confess and when I had finally finished my dad said only one thing “I knew.”

I looked at him and he hugged me and said “I knew about it, but I wanted you to stop it by yourself.” “You took a long time to stop, saved up a lot of money, but you did it.” he said smiling. I blurted out a laugh and looked at my mom. She came forward and hugged me and said smilingly “I knew too” I looked at her and tears flowed again. “Don’t cry” she said “I know you lied to us, but you taking initiating and confessing you did something wrong and admitting it is a huge thing.” I heard her say this and cried some more.

“Stop crying my child” my mother said hugging me tighter “You took a big step and see now we know you will never do it” she added.

I looked into her eyes and knew that I had cleansed my sins through the tears I cried. My parents rather than being angry were happy that I had realised my mistake. Both my parents got up from my bed and my dad took my chin into his hands and said smilingly “If you ever need money just ask thousif, everything me and your mother earn is for you itself. It always has been.”

That moment was real for me. More real than anything I had experienced in my life, ever. I learnt that whatever happens in life my parents will always be there for me. It made me feel so good to tell the truth. It made me and my parents grow stronger as a family and since then I haven’t taken a single rupee without asking.

That day I learnt that truth no matter how hurtful it is, is always a beautiful thing to say. I learnt that the real thing to have is a family that trusts you, no matter what you have done. It made me feel that saying the truth will always be better than telling lies. It’s your family that counts, the trust they have in you that counts. Lie never mattered and never will. I had their trust and from that day till now I have honoured that trust, always will.

This post has been written for 'The Kissan 100% Real Blogger Contest' on Indiblogger.in.

The story of the faulty stairs and the head-butting goat

Work work work, that’s how life has been. But then comes the bonus of working in an AD agency every week. Holidays on Saturday and Sunday when I can finally go meet my parents and everyone living at my aunt’s. There are a total of 8 people in my aunt’s home and that includes 2 of my bhabi’s. Among them is my fav bhabi Tasmia :).

She is adorable and helps me out in every possible way. Cooks all my fav dishes and is a real fun person to be with.

I’ll tell you one thing, people who are nice are always taken advantage of and it was no different with my bhabi. Only this time, the advantage taking selfish human being was me. Yes, I can be cunning too :P.

I was on my weekly visit to my bhabi’s home, when I saw that they were shifting some things from their storeroom in the house below(in which they were living) to the house above(where they are living now). I saw them carrying heavy items and I being the nice guy that I am offered help. I started carrying things and then I saw the dinner set, entirely made out of crystal. It was a magnificent piece, so beautiful, and very costly. I offered my help in carrying it too, they were reluctant, but finally let me (Arey, I am 22 years old yaar, or 23? I am confused :P) .

As bad things always come my way, this day was no different, I started carrying and then it happened. I saw a cat at the road beside sneezing relentlessly and jumping up in the air. I started laughing totally forgetting about the dinner set i had in my hands. It started doing some really crazy antics, when the goat that was going beside it was irritated and rushed forward to head butt it when the unthinkable happened.

A guy who was walking without a care in the world got a weird surprise when the charging goat mistakenly head butted into the guy’s behind, getting its horns stuck there.

It was freaking hilarious and i was laughing so hard that I dint notice my footing on the stairs and lost my balance and DHADAAM!!! the whole dinner set came crashing down. Everyone in my aunt’s family came out, I looked at the man who was still struggling to get the goat’s head from his behind and I looked at myself and said ‘we both are screwed today yaar’.

My Bhabi saw the disaster of a dinner set and started yelling ‘What the hell happened here?’.

I quickly shifted my head from here to there and an idea flashed in my head. I yelled back ‘It’s all your fault’.

‘WHAT?’ she said surprised.

‘How many times have I told you to get those steps fixed’ I said pointing my finger to a dent in the stairs where the cement had come out.

‘It’s dangerous, dangerous!! I’ve said it so many times but nobody listens to me. Now see what has happened’ I said.

‘So you stepped on that and fell, and I have to believe it?’ she asked looking at me.

‘Then what bhabi, why would I lie to you?’ I said and my gaze shifted to the guy on the road who was now kicking the goat which was trying to head butt it again. I snickered.

‘See see’ my bhabi started ‘..breaks my favorite dinner set and laughs too’ she said pointing towards my smile.

‘How can you say that bhabi?? What if your son had dropped those plates slipping from those stairs, would you have blamed him the same way you are blaming me?’ I said hurt and started to cry.

Wow Thousif is so emotional you might say, it’s nothing like that. The reality is that I have this ability where I can cry without reason. I know it’s weird but I can cry at will, it’s not an awesome quality but I think it’s kinda cool.

So, I started tearing up and the whole atmosphere changed.

‘I could have seriously hurt myself you know’ I said sniffling and my bhabi melted.

‘I have said so many times to repair those stairs but you bhabi you….’ I sniffled ‘You never listen to me’ I said and sniffled some more.

She totally bought into it and said ‘It’s ok, don’t cry. Yes the mistake is mine I should have got your bhaiya to repair those stairs’ She said and started collecting the broken pieces. I joined in smiling as I thought how cunningly I escaped from the situation; later in the evening I saw my bhaiya fixing the stairs.

Good day indeed I said to myself; even though it started with a horrific accident. Yeah, sometimes you have to be cunning to escape from a bad situation, even if it means crying fake tears. I am so proud of my abilty :P.

This post was written for the Indiblogger contest ‘Sets you on fire’

Disclaimer: All images have been taken from google. I have no right over any of them.

The wrong time to pickup something

Every morning I have to travel in buses to go to work and it’s packed in such a way that you ask yourself, ‘Am I travelling in a bus or Winrar’s edition of human compression factory??

It’s very difficult and one of the unsaid rules which you have to follow when you are in a bus is: Never touch a girl, even by mistake; else you are beaten to pulp. I thought the Monday morning of 12^th November would be a normal one, but this day would bring me something I’d remember for a long time in my life.

I got onto the bus and it was packed as ever, I was pushed and pushed and pushed from the back till I reached the girls section of the bus in the front. Among the girls many were students who were on their way to college. I was behind a girl and I saw her hair, it looked beautiful and smelled like dove shampoo. At least some good things happen in bad times I thought. I tried to back away but the bus was very full and I continued to smell her hair, involuntarily, its then when I saw it.

I saw that her bag was open and something fell out from it. I let my hand slide from the bar I was holding above my head to pick it up. As I bent down I dint notice that the pin in my watch got stuck to her dupatta and slid down with my hand and to everyone else in the bus it seemed like I was pulling the dupatta forcefully from this girl’s shoulder.

‘STOP! STOP! WHAT ARE YOUR DOING??!!’ She screamed.

I looked up and said ‘What?’, totally clueless and then I saw what had happened. I was about to explain when I saw the conductor rush forward towards me.

The bus was stopped and every eye on the bus was locked on me like hungry cheetahs waiting to tear my flesh apart.

My brain analyzing the situation saw that there was no hope for me now and said ‘Dude, goodbye it was nice living inside of your head’ and shut itself off. That’s what brain does right?, shuts itself off in these kind of situations, especially mine.

The yelling began: ‘Hey, hey hey..’ said the conductor ‘Was it you who stripped the dupatta of this girl’ he asked

‘Yes, it was me’ I said confidently. I was surprised at the confidence in my voice.

‘Oho ho look at the audacity of this guy..’ The conductor said ‘..does such a dirty thing as pulling a girl of her respect’ he said addressing to her dupatta ‘and admits it too. Come let’s beat him up’.

‘WAIT!!’ I yelled. ‘I admit I did it and I’ll do it again if I have to’ I said.

(I am a good guy, believe me....)

There was a collective haan running through the bus, like this was the most disgraceful thing that they have ever heard. But what could I do!! With my brain asleep I was saying what I felt was right, but it was coming out all wrong.

The conductor came forward and held my collar, extending his arm out, ready to turn my face into a pizza base, when I screamed ‘But do you know why I did it?’

He was surprised at the tone of my voice; instead of apologizing I was arguing my cause. ‘No, we don’t want to know, I just want to bash your skull, join me in brothers’ the conductor roared. I think he had a vengeance against his wife who always used to beat him up, and he was trying to take it out on me.

‘It’s because of this’ I said holding a piece of paper, displaying it like the declaration of independence. It obviously was because it would guarantee my freedom from these guys.

It was a hall ticket for an examination the girl had to attend that day. She came forward and checked it and said ‘Oh, thank you so much but why did you pull my dupatta?’

‘It was because of this’ I brought my other hand into view. A pin was sticking out of my watch.

‘when I bent down to pick your hall ticket, your dupatta got stuck to my watch pin and followed its stride down, making me seem like a… you know who’ I said embarrassed.

Everybody understood that I was innocent and I saw the girl smiling towards me and then giggling when she understood her mistake.

‘Hug her’ my brain coming back from its slumber said. Oh lord, my brain.

Everybody sat down and I went up to the conductor and said. ‘Next time when you try to beat a guy black and blue, listen to what he has to say first. Not everyone is a pervert’ I said firmly.

He lowered his eyes and went back. I sat beside the same girl listening to her talk, it was nonstop. I smiled at what could have been my half-murder for sure. ‘Thank you’ I said to the god above and smiled at the memory made.

This post was written for the Indiblogger contest ‘Sets you on fire’

Disclaimer: All images have been taken from google. I have no right over any of them.

The wrong turn to the right side

I love Sunday morning, you can do what you want when you want; given that you can wake up on time. I was excited from the time I woke up because I’d be going out with my friend to watch a movie. We went on his bike finished watching the movie and I was riding back with him. We had made plans that we’d go to a friend’s place and surprise more friends with a party. We were riding shouting the movie’s dialogues at the peak of our voices when suddenly a traffic inspector called us to a stop. ‘Oh, shit’ we both said in unison.

‘Take out your license’ he said.

My friend took out his license, he showed all the other necessary documents required and I thought we’d get out without any fine. I thought wrong.

As it was Sunday and ‘business’ was going low for the poor policeman, he took a thorough inspection of our bike. The fact that we were caught screaming in a lonely looking street dint help our cause either. He completed his inspection and said, ‘Your tail light doesn’t work pay 500 rupees’ I saw the tail light that the inspector suggested and said to myself that tail light is cursed sir, that’s why.The reason for it was, no matter what you did, how much you changed the wiring, bulbs anything, it never worked.

We put out a united front and said ‘Why sir. It’s just a tail light why are you charging us with 500 rupees?’

‘Don’t speak too much, give me the money or else lets go to the police station, now’ he ordered.

I had had enough ‘Sir, it’s just a tail light, you can let us go with a warning, why do you want to take a bribe for it, that to 500 rupees?’ I said.

Taken aback for a second, he looked at me. I being a fat looking lean guy had no power in my arms. He weighed his odds that if a fight started, getting punched by me would be next to nil, so he came forward boring his eyes into me and asked me ‘You won’t pay?’

‘No, to hell with it. We dint break the law, I know our taillight doesn’t work but that doesn’t mean you ask us for a bribe’ I said.

‘The punk who has come yesterday to Bangalore will teach me what to do and what not..’ he said and raised his hand to hit me. Just then a jeep came from around the corner with a bunch of guys screaming “Free our nation from this curse, kill corruption in its base”

The jeep was a part of the rally being done in the name of Anna Hazare (bless you sir), and these guys were going to the main stadium where the meeting was to be held. I agree there wouldn’t be any praise for their poor rhyming skills but these guys would eventually save my life so listen.

I ran in front of the jeep and told them what the inspector was doing and how he was asking for money. They got down and started walking towards the Inspector with clear intentions that they were going to beat him down when I meddled in and said ‘Don’t hit him, let’s take him to the police station’.

He was reluctant, cursing and saying so many colorful words (which are not meant for younger viewers), when the guys thought they had had enough they pushed him into the jeep. Screaming his name along with the corruption slogans, they made the run to the nearest police station where they explained the whole situation to the inspector there.

Seeing so many people at once the inspector was scared for a second. He listened to both the sides and then led us out with a warning, booking a case against the inspector.

We came out of the station among a fleet of guys who thought corruption was killed that day by saving us. They started lifting us up as we were some sort of heroes and they pushed me up higher and higher. I was afraid, if I dint get kissed by the officer’s hand earlier, I’d surely be kissing the ground below if these guys pushed me any higher. But I saw their smiles and I understood that it was a win for both of us. I joined in with them and had a magnificent day ahead cursing the corrupt leaders of our nation and partying with them later. It was a good Sunday indeed; I saved my behind and saved my nation a little too. Hurray ;)

This post was written for the Indiblogger contest 'Sets you on fire’

Disclaimer: All images have been taken from google. I have no right over any of them.