Growing up as a child in India is something very unique. And you cannot understand it until you have spent the first quarter of your life in this country. It is like how an old hindi song would feel after being remixed with new instruments, new music and new vocals.... Overfed and Messed Up.
I remember this time when i was 9 years old. I was in my room, sitting on a wooden chair and my science course book kept open on the study table, in front of me. It was eight in the evening earlier when i unwillingly had opened the book and decided to read, starting Chapter-3, Page No. 22. Now, 45 minutes later, leaning forward, with my head turned down and eyes fixed on the book, the Page still read No. 22. All i had done in the last 45 minutes was to painstakingly read the first three lines of the chapter and then manage to loose my concentration (in my case, it was a disaster always waiting to happen) to what was being played on the television and then feel sad on how lucky mum and dad are watching television and iam not. No sooner had i started to feel sad, the power got cut. I could hear sounds of 'Oh ho' and 'Uff' from the room where the television was kept. But here in my room, i turned my face sideways, looking up in the direction of the room where these dejected sounds had come from, i smiled mischievously with a sense of enthusiasm.
A power cut after seven in the evening, when i was a child, meant :
1. A time when your room, your terrace, your locality would turn pitch dark.
2. A time you could walk freely anywhere in the house and see your parents being helpless in asking you to study. ( My father had once come up with an idea of studying with a bunch of candles around, to which i had objected for getting my eyes strained. This was when all during my nine years of life i had no experience on how it felt to have any part of your body strained, let alone eyes)
3. A time your friends in the locality would come up to your home and ask you out for a walk.
It was five of us that evening, walking together, trying to emulate our respective fathers, the way they would walk together after dinner, discussing their professional lives. Most of my friends were an year or two older than me. We all would complain how tough life has become for us (yes.at the age of 9 and 10) and try to prove how his own life was tougher than the other four.
"STOP!" one of my friends suddenly screamed. Too scared to face the consequences, i stopped dead on my track. " I saw a black cat crossing our path" he said. " We shouldn't be going any further"
If a black cat crosses your way, it would bring you bad luck. This was something i had no clue of until i was told by my friends that night. To which one added, "Yes, I know of one of my uncles who's path had once been crossed by a black cat, while going to work one morning. He met with an accident later in the afternoon." I was petrified to hear that. I was too scared to see my luck riding the cat, as she jumped from one balcony to another. I started to visualise the cat and my luck sitting together and planning for my accident the next day until another friend came up with another theory. "This is so untrue. What actually happens is that when a black cat crosses a human's path, she absorbs the rays from the human body which make her stronger and us weaker. It is scientifically proven." (As if the earlier theory wasn't stupid enough). As kids, we always held science in high regard. Moment someone would say scientifically proven, we would take it granted for the statement to be true. "How do you guys know so much?" I asked. Prompt came the reply, "That is because we are a year older than you. We are more experienced. We have 'seen life', u see." I wondered how having a year's of more experience made them know so much more than me. But soon after i felt happier, thinking that such a statement could be used comfortably by me to silence my younger cousins.
As i grew a little older, the taboo of non-acceptance of other's views caught up with me. Views which couldnot pass unfiltered through the prism of science, were outrightly rejected. 'I only believe in what i see' was starting to be used by me at almost every gathering.
It was one afternoon when after returning home from school, i went upto mum, who was busy reading the newspaper then. I did not want to interrupt but could not resist the temptation to do so.
"Mum, i believe in what science says because it is based on facts that can be seen, and i only believe in what i see" i explained proudly.
"Does that mean you do not believe in God?"
I was stunned to hear that. Not believing in God was something i could not afford to, on a personal level. After not studying for the entire year, who else would i go begging to, for the grant of a passing score. After not having completed my homework, who else would i go begging to, for the teacher to break her leg. And on an overcast day, who else would i go begging to, for preventing the downpour, so we could play cricket after school hours.
"Not everything in life requires an explanation of your kind. There are certain things which you just have to believe in. A lot of things in science are based on the very assumption of an atom and a molecule, which you cannot see. Ther is no thumb rule into believing or rejecting things in life. You have to use your brain and think what is true and what isn't. You would learn as you see more of life"
It immediately made an impression in my mind. I felt what she said was right. There isn't any thumb rule and that is exactly why we have been provided with our own brain. To think. And that her seeing of life was different from what my friends had earlier mentioned of 'seeing life'. While their's was for a year or two, mum meant progressively over a period of 10 to 15 years.
But there would be time as a child where i would believe things as per my own convenience. I remember my granny asking mum to feed me with curd and sugar before an exam as it would bring me good luck. I never used to object, because after not having studied, i hoped the curd would do the miracle. I had no option but to swallow that thick, greasy and creamy curd without making a disgusting face.
And no matter how much you shut your ears to all these theories, they would still catch you. There is no escape. Like how you would learn that you have a long life, when you barge in a place with people already talking about you. Like how, sitting on a chair, you are not supposed to vigorously move your legs to and fro (it supposedly results in over expenditure). Like how by taking a dip in the holy Ganges, you would get rid of all your sins ever committed and like how you are not allowed to sneeze when someone is leaving home (it also, like a lot other things, brings bad luck)
But for once, there's one thing i believe in certain.. 'The Thumb Rule'.
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