Mixed Bag - A pound of thrill!

Alright folks, I am back after a long hiatus... What with the annual appraisals around the corner and targets to be chased and make the last mile connect, I just did not have time or inclination to write. It is like all my creative juices got dried up. I have told myself that I will make a come back in October, after the appraisals are over and done. But, the restlessness took over me and I have to write if I have to survive till the appraisals.

Okay, last time I closed off with the only ghost story of my life (not really true, also experienced something when I was doing my graduation at Hyderabad. I strongly suspect it is the landlord who was behind it, rather than a supernatural phenomenon, though). It is time for me to recount the "thrills" we experienced in this little home of ours in Cuttack. Most of these are limited to summer times, when our home got packed with uncles, aunts and cousins. Mummy and Daddy were very warm and welcoming hosts and enjoyed having people at home. I don't ever remember a time not having someone living at our home - an uncle, an aunt, a cousin or a friend - though we never ever lived in a joint family.

I remember one summer when we had a posse of them descending on us - Rashakka, Sirakka, Bharati atta, Jhansi atta and Ajji - short for Ajay. He is my first cousin, born to Nirmala (Peddatta) and Krishna mamu. I used to call him Bondu mamu, as a kid, a nick name I gave him as he was on the fatter side. Ajji was quite an energetic kid and was always upto some mischief or the other. Though, he was 4 years older to me and a lot younger than the others, he was the ring leader to our gang.

Daddy and Mummy were constantly making plans to take us around the city every day. One day it was to walk on the banks of Mahanadi, it was to a park the other day, and then we also went on day-long trips to Konark and Puri. I don't remember when and how, but we picked up a stalker. Till date it remains a puzzle to me, as to who was he stalking - as all of us were kids, the eldest among us being 15, wearing a pavada and blouse. I, wonder, was it Mummy he was stalking? Hmmm...

Anyways, the stalker followed us everywhere on his bicycle - to the walk on the banks of the river, to the parks, to the movies, even to Konark and Puri. He knew where we lived as he would follow to our home and wait outside it, till very late in the night. We would stand on the porch and make threatening gestures at him, against my parents' advice and without their knowledge. We would punch and kick in the air, made angry faces, and Ajii with a rope in his hands would make groovy stunt moves. And all of a sudden, the stalker disappeared! When I look back now, I find it both funny and scary, too. You do not understand the seriousness or consequences of such behavior, when you are an innocent child.

And then the incident that scarred me for the rest of my life happened! It was a Sunday and Daddy was expecting guests at home - a Telugu family, who were distantly related to us. We were told by Mummy to go out and play, as she found it difficult to manage seven kids at once inside the home. It was around 3-4 in the afternoon and unusual for Mummy to allow us to play outside at that time of the day. We decided to make the most of this freedom and raced out. Ajji and Rashakka decided that we play "I spy" and that too on the terrace of the building next to our two-storied home. For the life of me, I cannot comprehend how did we ever think of playing hide and seek on a terrace, beats me till date. Round one was over and it was Rashakka's time to be the "den". She started counting the numbers till hundred and the rest of us ran to hide whatever secret places the terrace could offer us. Rashakka started searching for us and I was giggling in my hiding place, enjoying the fact that it is unplottable. And then I heard a row and peeped out of my hide-out. Rashakka was screaming at Ajji, "I spy", and he was arguing with her saying that he is not out. While arguing, he started walking back and hit the one-foot parapet wall of the terrace. While I stood there and watched in horror, I saw him disappear over the terrace - he was there one moment and gone the next!

All of us started screaming and ran down the stairs. The family which lived in the house, on whose terrace we were playing came running out. Daddy and the male guests rushed to the boundary wall that divided the property and the adjacent banana plantation, into which Ajji fell. That was the first and last time I saw how athletic Daddy was - he jumped over the wall in his lungi. The guests and the neighbours followed suit. Few minutes later, the limp form of Ajji was handed over the boundary wall. Daddy carried him in his arms and I have noticed that his eyes were open and he appeared to be conscious. A rickshaw was called into which my parents jumped in. Ajji was laid gently across their laps and he was rushed to the hospital.

Ammamma herded all the wailing children into the house, she herself was sniffing loudly into the palau of her saree. Rashakka wiped her tears and asked all of us to troop into the puja room. She made us all stand in the order of our heights and asked us to start praying, which we complied immediately. We sat there weeping and praying, all worried what kind of news we were likely to receive. After a while, ammamma asked us to come out and wait in the verandah. As the time ticked away, our hearts grew heavy with worry. We all sat huddled there on the verandah, all seven pairs of eyes glued to the corner of the street, watching the nigh fall. The neighbours came to enquire about Ajji, every now and then, and turned back when they knew that there was no news.

An hour later we spotted a rickshaw at the street corner and we all sat up. From the distant I could make out two people, who looked like Mummy and Daddy in the rickshaw. There was a boy, who looked like Ajji, running along side the rickshaw. As the entourage came closer, we found that it was without doubt, Mummy and Daddy in the rickshaw, with Ajji galloping next to it. He was grinning ear to ear, though he was gasping for breathe. I could also make out Mummy trying to convince him not to run so much after such terrible fall, but in vain.

It was truly a miracle that Ajji survived that fall hardly a scratch on his body. Thanks to the banana plantation, his fall was broken by a banana leaf! It was more the shock of it that made him limp than anything else, I suppose. There were two consequences for this incident - one short-term and another long-term. The short-term one was that Ajji was sent back immediately along with Bharti atta and Jhansi atta. The long-term one is that I suffer a great fear of heights! When I see people lean on the balcony railings or on the parapet of the terrace, I become hysterical.