responsibility. After working hours I went to gymnasium, at
home I spent time playing Chess, shuttle badminton, watched T.V or listened to
music. Most of the weekend, I went for new movie. Life was good.
All our neighbors were very
courteous especially one Anglo Indian family. They had two little lovely
daughters. At that time, the small one was not studying but her elder
sister was studying in L KG. I named the small one Missile! She was very
mischievous and boisterous. At her will, she stormed in and out of our
house. She will always get it whatever she wants, if not she will break it.
Hardly two years old and two feet in height .she wielded enormous power with
impunity. Whenever she threatened me with drier consequence, I was at her
mercy. She usually threatened me by saying that she will break any one of my
items or tear any of my favorite books. She announces her arrival by flung
opening our main door .the door that slams against the side of the wall tells
her temperamental moods. She made sure that we all felt her presence in our
house. Whenever she storm out of our house she made sure the main door was’
properly’ closed. Aftermath of the hurricane can be felt all over our house. I
found missing cartoon, picture from our newspaper, broken items, and at times
missing object of her desire from my house. LITTLE MONSTER! Between us, we had
a love hate relationship! Her elder sister was diagonally opposite to her. She
was docile and very obedient. She sang nursery rhymes for me, at times she told
fairy tale stories from her books. Sometimes she asks me to read fairytale for
her. Seven dwarf, Cinderella, Alice in the wonderland...I liked both of them.
They helped me to understand their little world. Before I met them I was very
allergic to kids. Kids are very stubborn, they cry without any apparent reason
and make mess around; above all they check my patience. Later in my life, it
helped me to understand my own little princess, my only daughter.
In India unlike other
community people Anglo-Indians are more open. Missile's dad was a hen packed
husband .he doted on two of his daughters .her grandmother (nana) was an old
respectable lady .she suffered from asthma .her grand pa was a retired army
man. Regardless of our age we were good friends. Second World War he fought
along with British army against Japanese in Burma. Inside the giant elephant
grass field his enemy charged at him with his buoyant. He was lucky enough
to survive. On his baldhead, he carried the souvenir. Ten-inch deep wounds were
visible. In those days I had only black and white T.V .No VCR, that brought me
and uncle even closer .to see my favorite Holly Wood or Hindi movies I used to
rent video cassette and took it to their house to watch . When missile's family
was away we also watched x rated videos. Age difference? No bar!
Missile’s mother makes delicious food. Whenever she makes any special food, she
personally brought it our house .my mother always had health problems .B.P,
Diabetics, arthritic, orthopedic, depression...she was a great help for my
mother.
After dinner, my parents and
their family sit and discuss in our lawn. My parents were looking for their
feature daughter in law that time. I told my parents that I do not wanted to
get married .as a bachelor I was enjoying my life with responsibity .Me and my
freedom, no more obligations. That was my slogan. Freedom means everything to
me. Selfish? I had never misused my freedom .no drinks, drugs, gambling or
prostitution. I am a very privet person. That was the way my parents brought me
up. They taught me about family values and important of roots. The fight is not
between me and the rest to the world .the fight is within me! I wanted to
flyaway (freedom) but my roots are firmly grouted. Missile’s mother told me
“Jivan. Since you do not believe in religion or cast. Shall I look for a girl
for you? Tell me about your kind of girl? She smiled at me .I said a big NO. “I
am enjoying my celibacy life.” she may be bit elder to me but we vibe well. She
worked in a privet company as an executive. She was a Leo. She was the boss in
her house but with me she was down to earth. She was a loving mother for her
little darlings and caring daughter for her aged parents. At that time, I was
working for Chola Sheraton five stars, hotel in Chennai .I knew lot of girls at
my work place either as friends or colleagues but this woman was different from
all other girls I had met so far. One of the reasons could be because I was an
introvert. I do not mix freely with girls besides I suffer from inferiority complex.
Other than, for official talk I still do not mix with girls. Even though she
controlled and manipulated her husband, she loves her husband more than she
loves any else in this world .my friendship with her was not based on love or
sex. She had no sex appeal at all. Taller than me, about six feet and weighs
tons? May be ninety-nine kilograms or so... so FAT. Dark complexion, chubby
cheeks with bob cut hair .at home she tie it with elastic rubber band and make
it looks like a piggy tail. With heavy curtain maxi, she looks parallel and
barrel in shape. Her Posterior was like 70 MM ultra Wide screen. Does she
excite you? Two of her daughters were studying at the prestigious convent in
the city. To catch the bus in the morning rush hours she walks pretty fast
while two of her little daughters struggled to catch up with her. She remained
me of mama duckling. Once I told her “you looks like a mama ducklings” she
never took me seriously .she treated me like a kid brother .I did not know the
name of our friendship .To me it’s the persons character and his or her gray
matter and his/her creativity that
attracts and fascinates me. Love thy neighbor? I think because of her good
character I was infatuated with her. There were no untoward incidents in ‘our’
life. Everything was fine until one bad morning...
My father found few suitable
brides for me. But I was not interested in getting married. I was already
thirty three year old. Marriage means lots of responsibility so I told my
father that I do not want to get married soon. Before my father's death, he had
embraced to saint's way of life (Sanayasam) for the past eight years. Even
thought my parents slept in same room. They had separate cot for them. I think
my father had intuition about kicking bucket on that particular day. Usually my
father goes to bed after listing to 9.30 p.m. news but on that particular day
he was talking to my mother even at 11p.m. just after 11p.m he went to sleep.
At 1.30a.m mother came to my room crying. Immediate I went to my parents’ room.
Later my mother told me that
my father had spoken about my marriage and my future .he was more worried about
my feature. Just a service technician he was sure I would not be able to make
out a decent life. I am also not interested in getting married nor am I serious
about my life. He recollected all the major incidents from my parents married
life to till 11p.m. At about 11p.m. he retired to bed. I was fast asleep in my
adjacent room .my father felt uneasy pain on his chest. He got out of bed and
asked my mother to lay mat on the floor .he reached for lord murugan’s photo to
pray. Shooting pain on his chest brought him to floor. My mother’s fanatic
calls woke me up .I checked time .it is my habit any time if I woke up in the
middle of night I first check time, it was 1.35 Am. I rushed to my parent's
room. Father was lying on the floor and was writhing in pain, he was holding on
to his chest. My father suffered massive heart attack. I give him first aid,
but he did not respond to me. Suddenly his body ‘relaxed’ (collapsed).
Everything was over in less than two minutes. It was 1.38 Am. April,’89. I knew
everything was over, May be doctor can revive his heartbeat. My mother
started wailing. I went and called Anglo Indian family. They all came to our house. We had no phone
at home so I took my bike, went to the nearest specialty hospital about two
kilometers away, and brought the ambulance. Her husband accompanied me to
hospital in the ambulance mean while she stayed with my mother. Doctor placed
two electrical prods on my father's chest, even after giving electrical pulse
charge three times there was no responses from my father. Report. Brought dead!
We took my father's body back to my home, for us it seems life had ended.
