Jab Main Chhota Bachcha Thaa…

Even though I look shy, serious and innocent, it takes few days for anyone to demystify the Real Yogesh behind these simple looks. And the things I usually have to hear are “Looks are deceptive”, “You don’t look what you really are” etc etc….

Sometimes such statements make me think of what I was as a kid and take me back to my childhood memories.

Flashback…

No one would believe that I was a fat and plump baby till the age of 2 years. After that I have maintained myself slim and trim to date. Though I looked fragile and thin, I used to eat a lot… especially when we visited any relatives’ home. Within a few minutes after entering their homes, I would make gestures – suggesting the level of my hunger to my parents. Taking this cue , the hosts would give me chocolates, biscuits n sweets… May be I was interested only in this part of our visit. One day, tired of my weird habit, my parents gave me serious dose of warning coupled with a severe punishment… And I had to get rid of this habit…

As a child, I had performed few violent action scenes. Once, my elder brother had a fight with his friend and I could not control my anger… I went close to them… Others might have thought that I would try to pacify them and stop the fight…Instead, I grabbed his friend from behind and tore his shirt….. And then, I ran back towards my home… It happened in split seconds and no one could realize what the hell was happening there… I guess I was in the 1st standard at that time… After this incident, no girl in my colony dared to argue/fight with me… even though I was a small kid…

I was good at throwing stones at targets. Once I broke a car’s window and luckily one of my friends, standing next to me, was also pelting stones. No one could figure out who had actually broken the glass and onlookers blamed him as the troublemaker …Finally his dad had to pay the price for it (in cash)… Once I had a fight with my friend and we were both hurling stones towards each other… He didn’t know how good I was at hitting the target and I managed to hit his forehead. With blood-stains on his face, he complained to his mother. Surprisingly, she just narrated what had happened to my parents and didn’t complain… Either she was scared of my expertise in stone pelting… Or… She couldn’t believe an innocent looking boy would do this… I guess various political parties must have approached my parents for my career in stone pelting activities at Bandh, Morchaas and Riots etc etc…

When the “Big” boys of colony played cricket, they never allowed small kids to be a part of the game… To accommodate myself in their scheme of things, I preferred fielding at first slip…To feel like a real-life wicket-keeper, I used to wear my socks as hand-gloves (even though I stood at slip cordon)… No wonder why our wicketkeeper frequently dropped catches - as his hands were busy blocking his nose…

That was the age of Mahabharat, the TV serial, and He-Man… We all tried to imitate the same while playing… We used to sit on our tri-cycles (our so-called Rath)… divide ourselves in two groups and fight with He-Man swords and Gadaa of Bhim… That was our kiddy-version of Mahabharat !!!

Once my parents bought a new tri-cycle for me… Eager to show it to my friends, I immediately went to my best friend’s house. I had completely forgotten that was his birthday. He shouted happily… “Is it a birthday gift for me??” I was completely baffled with his misinterpretation of the situation… I shouted back…”It’s mine!!” and I disappeared…

When other kids were busy crying for toys I always asked my parents to buy comics for me… Most of the times I used to return from school with tears in my eyes, as I always wanted more and more books to read… Even at that age, I was very price-sensitive… I remember… I had not allowed my mother to buy expensive colours for me and insisted on low-cost colours… A lady present in that shop exclaimed… “New generation is so price-conscious…!!!” I used to save lots of coins in my piggy bank and whenever my parents offered me currency notes in exchange of those coins… I always refused… as I was reluctant to accept less number of notes for more number of coins (even though value was the same!!) No doubt my financial fundamentals were wrong as a kid… But ‘Saving’ and ‘Value for Money’ are still core principles of my life…

When I was in the 3rd Standard, I had participated in a stage play of my school. I was (and still I am) really a poor actor… I had a tiny role and few dialogues in that play, still I would forget my lines and end up watching others steal my lines…. We had many screenings of that play in various schools… As the number of shows increased, the number of lines I could speak on stage went southwards… And after each show I would cry, wondering why I didn’t get a prize for best actor… and my poor mother always did the tough job of consoling me… as she knew that I never deserved it…

With life approaching the wrong side of twenties, it is great fun to recollect my childhood memories … Especially when I can see glimpses of my childhood when my little nephew plays around… And I feel like a circle has been completed… when he drags my bag with all the strength he has …searching for toys and chocolates that I do bring for him…!!!

(Note: The picture at the top does not offer any evidence that I was trying to steal a car... It is the same car whose window I had broken successfully...)