The Childhood Exploits

I had a haircut this weekend ( Yes .. the hairline is climbing upwards in pursuit of its everest mission, but i still do have hair in my head). Thanks to the haircut, the scar right over my chota magaj (for those who are confused, watch krantiveer) was clearly visible. So like it happens every time i have a haircut, people started asking "what happened to your head man ?"

And then i tell them that i got this gift on my 3rd birthday (it might be 4th birthday also... i am not sure). And suddenly i realize what a tiny unlucky fellow i was. It's another story all together, that my parents will prefer to call me a notorious kid they have got. Well.. i still stand by my version, don't believe me ?? Read this

• The first one is about that chota magaj only. It was 30th june, i was happy, dancing around, singing my nursery poems and then i fell down from good descent height into a gutter (yuck). It was dry but it had stones there :(, and then it was no longer dry, it was filled with my blood now. This incident gave me that famous scar which is reminded to me every time i get a haircut. Note the day... it was my birthday !!
  
• Then one fine day i was again very happy, dancing around, singing my nursery poems ......again. Not a place, where you should dance around... 'the kitchen'. Somehow managed to drop a paunsil / sarouta (An instrument used to cut vegetables / kairi) and had a head-on collision with that thing. I lost my senses, when i saw blood flowing from my knee. I still carry that memory with a good 6 inch scar in my knee. Note the day... it was Krishna Janmashtami !!
  
• In one of those humpty dumpty days, i was playing in the streets. A monkey came from somewhere and took my toy car with him. All the other kids were running away from that monkey. And I 'the daredevil' went up to him, shouted at him " give my car back to me". He rewarded me with not one...... many tight slaps, tore my shirt apart, pulled my hair to the extent of removing some of them from my scalp. I don't think it was my birthday or an auspicious day, but i had a sakshat darshan of hanumanji. It was no less than a 'day to remember' for me, i still get frightened when i see a monkey (even if its in my distant dreams)
• Now my nursery poem singing days were over, but not my heydays. I was playing cricket and i had slippers on. Then i realized, that i am not able to run at my full speed because of the slippers. I started playing barefooted so that i could save extra runs (If ganguly had this much dedication for fielding, he would not have been ousted from indian cricket team). While saving one such extra run, i run over a broken glass and surprise surprise.... i got my gift again, a scar in the foot (But this one did not turn out to be my soulmate, it has gone now). Now note the day again.... it was Dipawali !!
  
• Cricket reminds me of another incidence. I was playing cricket with my younger brother. He was bowling (obviously; since by hook or crook, i always ended up batting and he ended up bowling whenever we played cricket). I can still recall the flashback, he came charging towards the bowling crease ala shoaib akhtar. I hit a straight drive ala sachin tendulkar which flied directly towards my brother's face. To his misfortune it was a hard plastic ball, it hit him right at his lips and he lost a precious tooth. My mom scolded me for the deed saying.. "thoda dheere dheere nahi khel sakta... tameej se". I was like "Mummy... agar sachin aisa sochta, to kabhi boundry nahi mar pata, agar kapil aisa sochta, to india kabhi world cup nahi jeet pati" But off course i was s*** scared that time and i did not dare arguing with her. And oh... offcourse, note the day, it was Ganesh Chaturthi !!
  
• There are enough wounds, burns and injuries which i don't remember....... because they did not happen on an auspicious day !!!

GOLD !!!

With the least expectations, i started following the beijing olympics. When it started, i just prayed that india should not come back empty handed. It started in a familiar way. For the first 3 days, a small column in the newspaper, a brief mention in the 24x7 news channel. All conveying the news in disappointment, that our players failed to qualify for the finals, were eliminated in the preliminary rounds.  

Then suddenly one morning, a news comes that Abhinav Bindra has got gold for india in 10m air rifle shooting. The whole mood changed. The man from chandigarh changed the whole scenario. He became the darling of an entire nation, everybody was in awe of him, newspapers were filled with his stories next day, news channels started singing his praise. After all, he is the first indian who got a gold medal in an individual event. He deserves everything he got. And the man of the moment was absolutely right, when he says that

"I would like to reiterate that everyone who represents India at the Olympic Games has put in years of toil and sweat. I ask the Indian people to support our athletes more. It is fine to celebrate our achievements but it is just as important to keep up the backing when we are not on top of our game."

Here is a man, who has achieved something which was only a dream till now. But he did not forget to mention his fellow athletes at his moment of glory. Thank you very much Mr. Bindra for bringing smile in the face of so many people !!