Some Childhood Escapades - 2

When I consider my childhood I am forced to conclude that I must have been a devil of a kid or my parents were singularly inept in bringing up children. Perhaps it was a combination of both.

Just yesterday I wrote about my first day at school but that was what happened when I was around five years of age. Would I have left the the world at ages of three and four go a waste?

When I was around three years my mother would force me upon my sister (10 years) who would be eager to play with her playmates without the botheration of having to watch over a small kid. My sister would plead with my mother to let her play by herself and her friends in the evenings, but no! My mother would insist that my sister take me along and watch me as she played games with her friends.

I generally would hang around playing by myself as I was too young to involve myself with other kids. That was also a time when a few grown up men and women found me 'cute' and would pamper me quite a lot. One such person was a man who owned a petty shop at Sajjan Rao Circle and whenever anyone would take me to his shop he would give me a toffee or two gratis. He would also smile and be generally cheerful with me and engage me in small trivial sweet nothings. So it happened one day that while my sister was playing with her mates and busy doing her own things I decided to visit this shopkeeper and touch him for a few toffees. I walked away from the compound of the house where we were and slowly made it to Sajjan Rao Circle. The shopkeeper was glad to see me albeit being a bit surprised to see that I was alone. Nevertheless he gave me a few toffees and after a few pleasant words sent me along. After collecting my booty, instead of turning on the East cross road to head back towards my home, I walked across the circle and headed towards Kalasipalyam and City Market. Taking time to inspect the shops along the way I gradually found myself near the City Market. I remember a 18 to 20 year old youth coming and asking me something and soon I found myself being led by him to the Kalasipalyam Police Station.  Most tiny tots in India were terribly scared of the police as it used to be one of the ways adopted by parents to scare children into good behavior by threatening that the police would cart them off.

The Sub-Inspector who was on duty at the moment seemed a kindly person and he tried to elicit some information from me regarding my parents and so on. When he found that I was on the verge of tears he asked me kindly what I would like to eat.  At that stage of my life I used to intensely like what in Kannada is called 'Rave Unday'. This was a dish made of semolina, grated dry coconut, sugar, one or two cardamom  and compacted and pressed into spherical balls. I asked that from the kindly cop. He asked a constable to take me along to one of the shops and get me one or two. I still can see in my mind's eye the bluish grey transparent large cylindrical containers with aluminium lids in which these used to be stored in the shops those days. The cop got me two Rave Undays and was busy talking to some acquaintances of his for a while so that when we returned to the police station, the duty timing of the kindly sub-inspector was over and a stern and ferocious ruddy and balding officer with a thick mustache was seated at the table. He glared at me and I proceeded to sit on the bench as I had done earlier. After a while I tried to ask this cop something and he glared menacingly and shouted "AAaaayyy...!!!"  I lost my nerve and sat glumly. After quite a long while again I tried and he again roared "AAAAaaayyyy...!!!".  I began to feel that things were not turning out too well and shut up and was seated on the bench on the verge of tears.

The time must have been around 6:45 or 7 p.m and it was the hour when the constables who were on duty were to retire for the day. I was seated on the bench beside the entrance door and as each cop entered he would look at me and size me up. As one cop after another entered and kept on sizing me up I felt increasingly nervous and panicky. I tried saying "Amma..." and the cop roared menacingly.

In the meantime my sister has realized that I am missing and has reported the matter to my mother. The mechanism of the universe has been set in motion to trace me. A party has gone towards Lalbagh; a party has proceeded towards Mavalli; and the worst part is that this Mechanism of the Universe has also alerted my father. They've searched all around and in the meantime I've been feeling more and more wretched when finally at 8:30 p.m. deliverance arrives!  A distant relative of ours - a man named Appanna - a bachelor of about 24 years who lived on a rented premises in the next street arrived at the Kalasipalyam Police Station to lodge a missing complaint. As he entered I was glad to see him and he was rather surprised to see me sitting quite placidly on the bench just beside the door. The Sub-Inspector gave a rather harsh lecture to him and I was sent on my way with him.

But they say every cloud has a silver lining and the one that I found now was that I was made to sit on the bar of the bicycle on which he had come to the station and was thrilled by every fiber in my body that I had my first bicycle ride home. I still remember the pleasant cool breeze that kissed my face and the thrill of speeding on as we rode the bicycle home to face my father.

                                              xxx