Bachpan K Din #3

It’s enough of CCC for a while and time to discuss stuff about me. It was the Pataki season then and I was pursuing my 1st STD (I don’t pursue anything these days so please bear with the usage of the word pursue. It happens to be my favorite word).

That was when I was given heads up to burst crackers from pa. He was/is always over protective when things involved rather revolved around me. I wonder why; & That will be another post. Anyways serious things aside, so it was Diwali time.

I would never wait till the lights got dim and the night prevailed; which would mean that the diyas are lit and then we would start the cracker business. Once the crackers were home I had to burn each piece out of every box to test that all were fine. Even when it was daylight; so after checking the “susurbathis”, “match boxes”, “Snakes” the last one on the block was the gun.

Mama specially bought one for me along with loads of gun shot tapes (the ones in maroon). I felt like those heroes in the action movies holding the gun, firing and killing the villains. I forced mama to load the gun so that I can start shooting.

He asked me whether I need any trial display; I replied in negative. I had obviously seen in the movies. My first victim was ma. I yelled at her that I shall shoot her.

She said that I can, knowing that it would do nothing but just create blast. I kept the gun close to my eye, aimed at her and pressed the trigger.

“Dammmmmmm”

The blast was just near my eyes. Little did I know that this is not the gun filled with bullets; I had watched on the TV that aiming was essential else the villain would escape. Thankfully no harm was done.

So that was the last time I touched the gun and my dream of being one of the Charlie’s angels faded even before it blossomed.

Grandma though did not lose hope on me. She wanted me to be like the bond girl if not the angels. So she taught me how the maroon strip can be fired just using the feet and the gun was not at all needed. She made me wear the famous rubber those times, “Paragon” and place the tape with the white side facing up flat on the ground. Drag the tape with the help of the feet so that with the friction the gunpowder blasted.

I was so proud of myself; thought I was very special until even CCC started doing it. I ventured out to try the gun again & this time not keeping it near the eye but far away from my body. But the sparks hit the area below the thumb and that was it.

I was in 5th & that was when grandma invented her special agarbathis. She made a long one with the help of 3 agarbathis; she joined them together so that I would not bend to light the “aane” Pataki. There I was bursting lakshmi, aane, lars and atom bombs.

But gun is something that I still can’t withstand even now. I still have that gun; as an exhibit. After all it was the one that gave me an experience of lifetime. “The Blast near the Eyes”