March 21 -
Mothers’ Day. Mother is the greatest of all gifts, life
has to offer!
Amma, my
mother, the protagonist here is akin to a superwoman possessing stupendous
energy levels to multitask round-the-clock for efficaciously managing home and the
people living there! Managing me and my
tantrums demanded an exemplary calibre, so to say. Before
introducing her, it would be worth taking you through those memory lanes!
It was my first
day in school after getting promoted to Grade 8. As if watching a suspense thriller, I was
skimming through the lists of students (allotted to different Divisions), that were ceremoniously pasted on the doors of
the designated class rooms. After a
frantic search for my name starting from the list of Division A,
I found myself allotted to Division G.
Typically, the next search was to find out my prospective classmates, as the school used to shuffle the students and
reallocate their Divisions every year, for reasons oblivious to me. The next in the search pattern was an enquiry
as to who the class teacher would be, and whether or not he’d be lenient towards
children who do not complete the homework on time.
But, I was
baffled when I scanned the list for the second time. In the list was the one name I dreaded the
most, “Saurabh” - my rival, my contender, my competitor, or all these rolled into
one. And, ruefully I realized that his
presence was bound to make my Grade 8, a wretched one! I had
a gut feeling that Saurabh who also happened to be my neighbour was poised to obliterate
my happiness.
It was just a
little while ago that I had stepped into the school keeping my head high under
the notion that I had become a “big” man.
The misconception started when the combination of school uniforms was
changed from shirt-shorts to shirt-trousers for high school students. But, all my excitement drained out when I
found out myself sharing the class with Saurabh!
The label of a “high school boy” turned out to be a
liability for me. Because, all of a
sudden, an unsolicited “bunch” of well
wishers including my relatives and
neighbours popped up from nowhere expressing their utmost concern and curiosity about my
studies, trying to goad the importance of high school in one’s life!
Due to the
pressure infused by the people around, Amma
pressed the panic button by binding me with tuitions and beefing up the
frequency of such classes per week.
Tension and frustration within myself knew no bounds as I shuttled between
tuition class and school, before and after school hours while Saurabh remained nonchalant
without any tuitions to attend.
Saurabh, a
relatively brilliant student, progressively posed to be tough competition in
class and soon and I ended up relating my plight to the historical running race
between the hare and the tortoise.
We remained good friends and had many similarities but there remained a
consistent disparity when it came to our marks!
He stayed superior as all his marks were “remarkably marked”!
On many
occasions, I used to ponder why Amma didn’t join the police force. Though Amma seemed to be unassuming, I felt
that she had all the necessary competence required for a super cop. Knowing my proficiency in swerving away from
class tests, for instance, she started strategically cross checking the facts
with Saurabh in my absence. Subsequently, I had to encounter her rapid shoots
that used to culminate in my embarrassment, as my facial expressions defied me
whenever I tried to hide the truth.
I was under
tremendous pressure immediately after the results of the first term examination
were announced because I could not reach anywhere near Saurabh in the marks we
both obtained. I felt so awkward that I
decided to study harder for the second term examination and wrote the
examinations with a boosted confidence.
Till date I don’t know
why, but Saurabh too had also thought on similar lines!
After a short break, the school reopened for the final term. The evaluated mark sheets were ritually distributed
by the teachers for a quick verification before entering the marks in the
Progress Report. Unlike previous terms,
I was relatively relaxed while receiving my answer sheets, especially that of Mathematics and English, the subjects I believed I had written pretty well.
On contrary to my
beliefs, my ego suffered a colossal dent when the full set of answer sheets
were distributed. There was a humongous difference in marks
obtained by Saurabh and myself for all the subjects, let alone Mathematics
& English!
Anticipating the
impending mark-comparison activity upon reaching home, I had no other option
but to indulge in some foul play to save my face. I conspired with myself to report my marks
with a realistic inflation thereby giving an impression that the difference
between the marks of Saurabh and mine was not that exorbitant. I had my own apprehensions to execute the
conspiracy, as the first person waiting to attack me on the firing line would
be Amma.
The most “afflicted”
was the marks we got for Biology as I could get only 25 while Saurabh scored
45. As I walked back home from school,
I worked on the inflation strategy. When
I left the school gate, I upgraded my
mark to 30. But, 30 was not convincing
for me, as there still existed a huge difference between mine and Saurabh’s. I had the slowest walk of my life to delay
the probable encounter. By the time I
reached my doorstep, I had inflated my marks so realistically that I reported
my Biology mark as 40 out of 50. With
a sigh of relief, Amma patted my back for trying my best in securing good
marks.
Escaping Amma’s gunfire
by passing the first trial wilily, I repeated the inflation theory for all the
subjects, but with a realistic buffer. Amma was thrilled as her son has scored 80%
and the son was happy that the ordeal was over.
After about two weeks,
I, having blissfully forgotten the
augmented marks, presented the Progress
Report for her to sign. After a quick
glance, she returned it to me, sans her signature. Without uttering a word, she got off her
chair and walked to the kitchen. I
followed her. She opened her kitchen
shelf and took out her note book which she used to jotting down recipes and kitchen-related
accounts.
She extended the book to me opening the penultimate page and asked, "How much did you score for
Biology?" Looking at the
Progress Card, I said - "25”.
She reconfirmed -
"Not 40, is it?!"
She repeated the same questions, for all subjects. I was caught red
handed by the mother cop. I learned that mothers are not to be
underestimated!
TODAY, as I write
this, Saurabh is living in Texas and we
are still friends. Me, thanks to my mother’s
love & affection, I enjoy where I am, what I am, who I am.
Happy Mothers’ Day!
