Have you ever run away from your house? ‘No’ is the answer……..right? Most of the worldly people never runs away from their house. But some have the achievement to their credit! And I am one of them! You must be thinking Achievement Huh! Yes… I believe it is an achievement. You need extreme guts topped with loads of frustration, anger, shame, rebellious mindset to achieve this feat. It’s a cocktail of red hot stuff! And once like many others I had this cocktail! How was the taste? Well you need to run away from your house to know it.
I did this honorable thing when I was in the Sixth standard. This is the age when parents dream about their Child’s future. And like every other mom, my mom was concerned about my future. Oneday after seeing one of my sketch she had the audacity to dream that I have the skills of becoming the next Maqbool Fida Hussein. No No…I did not paint anybody nude! I remember clearly the day when my mother spotted the budding painter in me. It was a Sunday afternoon. Both my parents were sleeping. I tip toed out of the bed. I had nothing to do. And I decided to do a sketch to kill time. I did a pencil sketch of ‘Radhe Krishna’ together in my drawing book. Well even till today I am super confused how the hell it turned out so well! Probably when you paint God something supernatural happens! My mother seeing the painting wanted me to join a drawing school. Now most of my friends did this and that apart from the boring studies. Some learnt karate, some cricket, some were into theatre. So I readily agreed. And I joined a local drawing school. And pretty soon my teacher found me out to be pathetic with colors. I sketched well. But soon after few weeks he told us to start using water colours. And he also wanted us to do pastel colour mixing. Man it got real tough! I did a mockery of myself with the brushes. And I started hating going there. But the young teacher was adamant. He seemed hell bent in converting me in to some kind of a Pablo Picasso. Soon the exam dates arrived. Enough is Enough! I bunked my class. Those days there were no cell phones etc. So it was hard for people to find it out. I went straight to the river side and spent two hours there. I was always a nature lover. I spent around two hours watching the sparkling water, the birds returning home along with the fishermen, the sunset over the river, the salty wind caressing my face. Soon it went dark and I started walking towards my home. An uncle who stayed in our sector saw me. He was returning home from his office in his bicycle. He smiled. I smiled. No suspicion at all. But I was wrong. He told my parents that I was seen near the river side, all alone. I understand his concern…but a child should have little freedom man! When I arrived home I found my mother waiting at the gates.
“Nodir dhare ki korchilis tui eka eka” (what were you doing alone at the riverside), my mother boomed.
“I went there after my drawing class to observe the river for my homework” I tried to look poetic and sensible.
“Don’t lie. I know you didn’t go to the drawing class.”
How did she know? Ufff…mothers are too much. They are capable of catching the lie just by looking at the eyes!
And the action started when my dad came. He hit me black and blue. Told me to get out of the house. And I obliged. The power cut aided my runaway. I went out and took shelter in the nearby park. But it looked Childish! If I am hiding I need to hide in a proper place. And also in some place where people won’t look for me. (Imagine Jab We Met. Shahid and Kareena hiding on rooftop). So I went to the back of our building which had lot of trees. A canal passed through that place and there was a rickety bridge over it. I crossed the bridge and positioned myself behind a tree. It was dangerous. The place was dark and scary. But then people who run away need to be ‘daring’.
And soon people started looking for me. Every fifteen minutes I went to the other side and had a close look. I could hear known voices. All in the hunt! Sunny wanted Alive! Our house was in the ground floor. I tiptoed near the window from the back. My mom was crying. Dad was sitting with a grim face. Lot of neighbors gathered inside. Everybody had one question “Where did sunny run away? He is a kid and hope nothing bad happens to him.”
Soon my maternal uncle who was staying with us for his office work found me out. He had the intelligence to look at ‘one’s own backyard’. And I was violently brought back home. I didn’t want to return. He had to pull my ears to get me inside. And I was in. What a warm welcome I had! People consoled me instead of abusing me. My mother gave me a glass of warm milk. Wah! I never knew I was so much loved by all! So much concern! I was flattered! I promised myself that I will run away once a month. Well I didn’t keep that promise.
Today after so many years when I remember those days I feel nostalgic. What is life? Nothing but a bagful of memories that soon gets lost in oblivion. I wish those Indians who have stashed away Rs 1400 billion of black money in Swiss banks realized this.
