Dr.... DK Bose

The memories of childhood are strange in that they are mostly so hazy that I can't recall much even if I think hard but then there are a few images and some details of incidents that are so clear as if they happened just yesterday. Got recently reminded of one such incident that happened long ago when I was in class 1.

Just like most other days during that time, I was the first one to reach the jhoola park right next to our home. I used be quite an expert in doing 'paing' which is essentially: you stand and swing and when you are satisfied with the amplitude of the oscillations you sit down and at the maximum point release yourself like a projectile out of the swing. For the thrill of being airborne for those few seconds, one never minded the landing onto hard ground and getting brushed against the typical flora of that region, blade grass.

I was surprised to see ma in the park that day as she told me to slow down. Then remembering something about the gas being on in the kitchen she left in a hurry. The next thing I remember I had lost my balance while scratching my nose during 'paing', I rotated and landed and the jhoola, the green one, banged against my head lightly a couple of times.

My mother was carrying me home and at that corner in front of Kauna Mashi's home I saw over her shoulder how my left hand was hanging loose and limp. I remember telling her not to cry as everyone could see her doing so. The next memory is of me lying in the bed in a dark room and some neighbors coming to see me, I could only see their silhouette against the verandah light.

The memories centered around that incident end with the final scene at the orthopedic ward of the hospital in the city where my compound elbow fracture was to be set. Based on the x-ray, the doctor started the setting which was to pull and try to relocate the bones to their right places. While I don't remember any of the associated pain but I do remember spewing out curse words at the doctor for the entire duration. The choicest hindi ones from UP, one after the other.

Thereafter there was deep silence in the room. I was unsettled by the brutality in the name of setting broken bones, the doctor was stunned at the breadth of my vocabulary considering my age and the fact that my father was an academic. And my father's colleague who had given us the ride to the hospital in his car must have felt what most parents feel when they hear the DK Bose song: stay away from my children! Whatever my father thought, he never said anything about it to me and now he says he doesn't remember so many details.