Battery Low

‘A real pervert you have become!’

Tony could scoop the sarcasm out of Ann’s voice. ‘Who gave you the license to talk all these nonsense?’ He could easily make out the pseudo seriousness she added to her tone.

‘Your dad and mom, precisely three months back!’ He said. That was when their wedding was officially fixed in the traditional Central Travancore way in Kerala where the culture of arranged marriage still exists at large among the Catholic community. Three months since that lovely day, Tony was on his way from Bangalore, where he worked, to Kottayam, his home. He counted the number of times they met in between. It was exactly eight times and this trip will be his ninth, his lucky number! Two days later they’ll be a couple, officially engaged.

‘This seat is so uncomfortable’, he started complaining. He was seated on the left side towards the back row.

Ann couldn’t hold back her discontent. ‘You truly deserve it! How many times did I remind you last month to book the train tickets? The lazy bum you are. Finally ended up on a State Transport. Now better shut up and enjoy the bus ride.’

He was miffed, but all what he said was, ‘I can see an empty seat behind the driver. Let me check if I could shift there.’  Beep… Beep... Tony saw the alert for low battery. ‘This thing may get switched off soon.’ He told her.

‘Can’t you charge the phone in the bus?’ There was a silence for a while. ‘Hello… Tony, can you hear me?’

‘I forgot the charger.’ That was all what he could manage to say. Silence spoke for her. He didn’t want to provoke her any further and so while shifting to the front seat he quickly changed the topic.

‘Did you think of the destination yet? I’ve told you I’m not into beaches. Why don’t we look at some of the hill stations? It’ll be awesome with the winter chill and a perfect setting for a honeymoon trip.’ Three months were more than enough for them to realize that they were designed quite differently. But somehow they managed to find a middle line.

Decision making came naturally to Ann. ‘Let us settle on Mauritius. You’ll get your mountains and I can enjoy the beaches as well’. By now, Tony had started to develop the skill to differentiate between the arguments he at least has a scope to win and others where he stood no chance. This was a classic case for latter. He conceded without much debate. There was a hidden agenda as well. She agreed to do all the planning and he was super happy that he doesn’t have to break his head for the trip. The fact is she didn’t trust him with the bookings, just the way he goofed up the train booking and ended up travelling on a bus which they both disliked.

Half way through the trip, the bus stopped for dinner. The battery icon lost all its charm and was reduced to a delicate single bar. The conversation continued. She was still confused about deciding on a wedding gown as against a saree. He tried to make informed suggestions, but ended up doing a pathetic job. Attires planning was never his strength. 

Soon after bus left Salem border everyone in the bus was in a deep sleep except for the one soul who was having an awesome time with his sweetheart. The time in between a wedding fixing and actual tying of the knot is purely magical.

‘Hey, you never said anything about meeting tomorrow?’ Tony was getting quite impatient. He could hear her chuckle at the other end of the phone and it was promptly followed by one of the final alerts from the phone announcing a critically low battery.

‘I’m really sorry, Appachan said no more meetings till the engagement is over’. As soon as she said this, his face turned a deep crimson red which could be seen in the blue light of the phone even in the darkness inside the bus.

‘For God’s sake we are in the 21^st century! When will these ever change?’

While Ann could feel his frustration, she almost half wittingly enjoyed the moment since these will never come back to life once they are pronounced man and wife a couple of months from now.

‘Patience dear, patience. Learn to appreciate the value of waiting. I can assure you that the wait will be worth it.’ A mischievous smile found its place on her face as she finished the statement.

Tony lost it and snapped, ‘Your trash can, that’s exactly where this philosophy should rest. I’m going to come over to your place tomorrow, you better be ready’.

‘Tony no! Let us not make a scene at home. You know how much I love to be with you, but this probably is one last time I’ll have to be daddy’s girl’. She pleaded.

‘I’m going to hang up’ Tony was furious and he almost banged the phone to the seat.

That’s exactly when the last bar from the battery icon disappeared and the cabin became completely dark. Ann barely heard his last words but she was sure she heard a loud thud and heard Tony screaming.

Beep... Beep… Beep… The call got disconnected. She tried dialling him. ‘The number you are trying to reach is either switched off or not reachable’. She hit the bed with a smile and soon was in a deep sleep. The beautiful emerald green waters of Mauritius slowly started filling her dreams.

She was up a little late in the morning. She knew that he wouldn’t call her. As always, she kept aside her ego, took her phone and called him. His phone was still switched off. ‘That’s strange’ she thought. ‘He should’ve reached home by now and charged his phone’.

As soon as she walked into the living room, saw the newspaper lying on the sofa. The heading read, “Truck crash into a KSRTC bus from Bangalore, 20 feared dead”.

She had a strange feeling. It felt exactly like the sand disappearing under your feet when the waves recede into the blue green waters of the ocean. 

The story in between...

It was bedtime. Our elder one being blessed with the ability of instant sleep was already half way through his slumber. The younger one had developed an insatiable appetite for bed time stories. This time she wanted to hear a story involving an animal.

I tucked her under the blanket and started telling her an adventure her appa was involved in, many years back. I told her about a visit to an uncle’s place at Koottikal, a beautiful hilly region in Kerala. There was a large rubber plantation there. At one of the corners of the estate there stood a cave which very few had explored till date.

It was a considerably big cave and I was all excited at the prospect of getting to explore a natural cave right in the middle of wilderness! As I was about to step into the cave, my cousin who was with us stopped me. There were certain sharp looking objects lying around the mouth of the cave. He carefully picked up one and showed us. It was a quill of a porcupine!

My four year old didn’t quite understand what a porcupine was and so she stopped me promptly there. It took a few minutes before I could make her understand what a porcupine is and how it uses its quills to attack its enemies.

I told her that the porcupine had gone away and we collected a few quills. By the time the narration reached this point, amma, her mom came back finishing her bath. It was time for me to go and shower. So amma took appa’s place with the offer that she will complete the story.

As I moved out of the room, I could hear my daughter tell her mom. “Amma, the porcupine just left. You continue with the story"! 

No Vs Know

We recently went on a vacation to a beach destination. The place we stayed was a lovely house situated right on top of a steep hill overlooking the lovely blue-green waters of Indian Ocean. After getting refreshed, we got out to explore the nearby places. Mia, our little one, was all excited that the steep slope down the hill was something she didn’t pay much attention to. She rushed to the slope and before we could even stop her, had a painful fall. It took a while for us to pacify her. But the fighter spirit in her didn’t let the fall drench the spirit of adventure and the trip went on to become a huge hit!

A few days later, we were back home from vacation and were walking to the parking lot to take the car out. There was a slope that led to the parking lot and Mia was running towards the car. Quite naturally I stopped her by saying, “Don’t you remember what happened during the trip? You’ll fall again”. She looked into my eyes and made a statement that literally left me with a profound thought. She said, “But Appa, I now know how to walk carefully on a slope.”

These are the times when your so-called wise brain gets a shock treatment from a tiny brain as little as a four year old one. It really sends an electrifying pulse to your brain that you have no choice but to sit and think about it. How many times have we stopped a dear one from doing something for the fear of them getting hurt? How many times have these resulted in them losing an opportunity to learn and overcome a fear factor? In fact our action of stopping someone from doing something due to our fear is in fact instilling fear in them as well. If they yield to our request, it is highly likely that they’ll never do that ever in their life, especially if this happens in their childhood.

I’m not generalising. I know quite a few people who have dared their loved ones to go beyond the comfort zones and get themselves experience what’s beyond usual. But if you are someone who set a limit to our dear ones, knowingly but at times unknowingly, we need to be aware that this results in them not getting moulded to overcome the challenges in life.

I remember a cousin brother of mine who was crazy about Navy that he got himself enrolled in a defence academy. One of the initial drills they had was being taken to the open sea on a naval ship. As soon as the ship reached the outer sea, they were asked to jump into the wild waters. Those who showed reluctance were mercilessly thrown into the sea and were left to experience how life will be for a Navy personnel.

While we do not necessarily have to be ruthless as the Navy, the question from my little one was a jolt for me to think differently. I realized the need to unlearn a few things I’ve been following. I really need to give my loved ones the space to learn and succeed than to stop them from doing something and be a perennial failure from not attempting the task.

The attitude becomes so positive when we let people ‘know’ something than saying ‘no’ to them which by nature is quite negative. Having said that, we need to make sure that we don’t cloud our common sense and let our loved ones go into dangers that are evident. The point is to realize the fact that we have a responsibility to make our dear ones experience certain aspects of life and not to deny them an opportunity to make their personalities better.

We all are what we are today, due to someone taking such decisions way back in the past. It could be our parents, teachers, siblings or friends who influenced us one way or other to either stop doing something or jump into and get the experience yourself.

Hence on this Valentines month, here is a warm wish to each one of us to extend our love to dear ones to let them experience what they rightfully should all the while keeping an eye on the boundary of risk by applying our common sense.