It is a clear sunny day in the city of Rajkot with the
forecast of temperatures ranging from 40 – 42 degrees Celsius with absolutely
no clouds on the horizon. I've just come back from my driving lesson, and writing
this post with the cup o’ tea Mom made in the morning but which I couldn't
drink, because well, I’m a late person.
Now, it so happens that it’s my birthday and I've been
fielding calls ever since the clock struck twelve last night. Friends started
calling up then and kept at it till 3 in the morning and when I finally crawled
into bed and seemed to get a few moments of blessed sleep, I was awakened by
the sound my phone going off again. Not only my phone but three phones - all
over the house, just for me. And it was 7 in the morning!
Who calls up a 21 year old guy at 7 am in the morning? In
the vacations!
I’ll tell you – his aunts.
Yeah, so I jump out of bed with the enthusiasm of a koala
bear, literally. I talk to my aunt and the first thing she says to me is, “So,
now you have the Golden Key of Freedom!
You’re 21!” and I went, “Huh?” partly because my sleep- addled brain couldn't
make sense of what she was saying and partly because I didn't know what on
earth she was talking about. So I asked her, and she said now that I was 21, I was
a MAN! I could do anything I wanted, and nobody would stop me. I could be the
king of my own life and Dad wouldn't be able to tell me what to do anymore. They
said I could even go and marry anyone I chose, yes, you read that correctly,
marry. And I again went, “Yes, yes aunty.” And kept smiling stupidly at the
phone.
Image courtesy: Google Images. |
It was only after I hung up and went to the washroom to
clean up that I realized that what she said was true and a little frightening.
I stared at myself in the mirror for a long time, looking into my own eyes. It was
as if I’d gone into the past, the mirror - a window into my soul, my memories. I
saw in black and white, the care of my father, the love of my mother the camaraderie
of my sister and the support of my loved ones, the things that had brought me
up to be the man I am today. I saw all this as if on film, the flashback in
seeming slow motion but running in fast forward at the same time and I realized
that things were never going to be the same again. I had left my adolescence behind
and now I was old enough to shoulder my own responsibilities and be a man of
the House of Dabhi. It was a strange feeling, a bit too much? Yes. But also a
bit of pride in now being included among the elders of my house.
I finally watched the reel run out into a haze as I was
brought back into the present by Flo Rida singing, “Can you blow my whistle baby…”
I picked up the phone and said,
“Hello aunty, good morning…”
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