PARLE-G REWARD
PARLE-G REWARD
That's more than 12 years from now, me with all our classmates are sitting on the bare cement floor and look through the window by sharing multiple own developed stories to one another. Those own developed stories worked like a fire for us to keep ourselves warm in the night; yeah, we are in mild darkness even under the electric tube lights because all doors of our classrooms are closed. Unusually, we don't have any classes apart from the small lecture about "how to defend ourselves in rainy season?" that too just a few minutes long. After that, all our faculties are getting busy like us with their colleagues, which made us much more felicitous. I and my elder sis who was two years older than me were studied in the same standard but in a different section. Because I over jumped my age simply to assist with her regular activities. Even we are isolated by two sections; meeting each other doesn't a big deal because all of our classrooms are just split by half-length wooden walls, which allows us to enjoy that unexpected happiness together. All this happened just because of the heavy rain outside, but the rain wasn't that heavy at the instant we entered our school, that's why we are all enjoying this in our school classroom instead of our house.
At last, the rain decided to take a pause, which may for allowing us to home, sadly that was close to the usual time we used left our school. But that won't makes us sad because we enjoyed the whole day. Our classrooms doors are starting to get open on by one, actually, we didn't expect any surprises that day as we fetched the day as a surprise. But nature got some other idea and surprised actually shocked us. Our school ground was filled with water; it seemed like a brown ocean without waves. We are all shocked, but not sad because playing with water was a favorite play for most of us, unlike me. Few after others, everyone started getting away by stepping into the water because getting strain on the uniform isn't a new thing for us; moreover, the water isn't even high to our knees. All of us are just studying up to 5th standard and nearly same age category, but my responsibilities are pretty higher than them. Holding my sister's hand for giving balance to her to walk and carrying her bags was my regular routine and I never felt as heavy as that. But that day was an exceptional one, because of the brown ocean.
We have to reach the pavement of church for getting an auto rickshaw, which was our regular transportation source to arrive home. I decided to bring my sister in the church first, but while doing that it's felt heavy just because of the water, which touches my knee that just because, I'm the shortest one in my family. That travel also wets my complete skirt and part of my shirt. I reverted back to collect the bags, but this side by side travel drained out my strength which made me feel my regular luggage as heavy. I don't know still, which was the reason, my low strength or the thought that I already lost my strength before or the balancing techniques I used while a walk to keep the bags in my hands above the water, I don't know which one was the reason for the great fall I had that day. Yeah, I fell down into the water.
Actually, I can describe my fall in detail now also, because that was my first and last fall in the water till now. After missing balance over my step, I felt like my whole body lost gravity. The bags I had in my hands reached the water first, then my knees and then gradually my whole body. But luckily my face made contact with water, at last, my closed eyes and slightly slows inclination of my face added safety to my face. I felt the water around my neck and deep down my collar. The gradual movement of water close to my waist and side to my thigh made me feel like sinking into the deep Brown Ocean. As soon my fingertips reached the ground I got some help, which brings me out of the water and some of the hands grabbed the sinking bags of my sister. those hands are from in and there around me. These all just few seconds lost, only felt long for me.
All those hands helped me to get my sister, who blindly in shock with tears. I enquired her, about her province as soon I examined her puzzled reaction. She calmly explained to me that we are going to get slapped from our mom for letting our school bags sink into the water. Actually, I also got that scare because that was our school bag, those days tearing a single paper from a notebook itself gets treated like a bank robbery and this time it's about the whole school bag. I tried to blame my sister's bag for my downfall, then my bag, then finally my flip flop slipper, I tried to blame everything around me because I don't want to get slaps from my mom and not even a scold. The auto journey and steps towards my house just increased my fear more and more. But my mom didn't praise me with slaps after I reached my home. That was some other surprising thing I got that day. Instead of scolding, my mom dried my hair.
That day we had hot tea with parle-g biscuits together, most importantly, I got more share of parle-g than my sisters. Actually, those days getting more share of pale-g than our siblings feel like getting Oscar in front of our kin. That day, I sink into Brown Ocean first, then I sink into happiness because I didn't expect the pole-g reward for my great mistake. Then getting older alone, I found that I really didn't make any mistakes that day, that was just an expected and acceptable slip of my regular routine and that pale-g reward was for honoring my regular act.
That day becomes one of the most lovable childhood memories because of the Brown Ocean and parle-g reward. Everything aside, those days bring happiness for very little things, but big and big surprises also aren't enough to make us happy now a day.
by
Atchaya Bala
