Chiru Story (Short Story)

I was in second standard. Like everyday sun rose and lazily I got up from bed & finished bath and went to kitchen to check out what dishes were included for afternoon lunch. Mom was quite busy with work and asked me to bring eggs and gave me a  10-rupee note and an egg tray. I walked down to the kirana store in our colony. The new year was just around the corner and the shopkeeper was busy adjusting greeting cards. I purchased four eggs like my mom had asked me to and before leaving for home,


                                        

                                     Picture Courtesy - google images 

I decided to take a look at greeting cards on display. Among the ones that struck my eye, there was the one on which there was a picture of Chiranjeevi wearing a red shirt and a blue jeans holding a guitar against the backdrop of Howrah Bridge. I recognized it was from “Choodalani Vundi” and instantly loved it. I had seen the movie recently in a theater and he had me turn into his fan. Immediately, the first thought was to buy that card. And I did. Paying no heed to the fears of consequences, I quietly came home and hid card in my notebook, and gave remaining change to mom, but suspiciously, she asked me if there's still a rupee missing. I blamed it on food inflation and the government. After finishing her cooking, mom came back around me and asked me to hurry up and keep all my notebooks in bag in order to not miss the school bus. While keeping one of my notebooks in the bag, accidentally, the greeting card I hid fell in front of her. She angrily asked me where I got this picture. Scared, I lied once again and said that one of my friends gave it to me for the upcoming new year. Constant lies made her angrier and she had reached her boiling point. Finally, she lost her control and slapped me hard on my face.I saw the “Saving Private Ryan” D-Day Omaha beach sequences & “Rambo:First Blood” all in the next few minutes. Later my father entered the scene and stopped her from beating me, and asked me to stop crying.  He, then, gave me an advice - do not steal money and stop telling lies in future, and carried out an odarpu session and said he will drive me to school on his scooter. My father lifted me up and made me sit on the back seat of his scooter.  He tried to kickstart and sometimes and he had to bend the scooter. After seeing him trying to start his vehicle, our neighborhood aunty informed him that a couple of days ago, I messed up his petrol tank by inserting broomsticks in it. This time my father & mother showed me “Rambo: First Blood II” and kicked me out with my school and lunch bag and asked me to go to school on my own.
That was a life changing incident for me. I never lied to my parents after that and never misused their money. Even today, I ask them for permission before buying anything online. Life's best lessons come disguised in simple  everyday events.



Thanks to Deepak Karamungikar garu for editing it.