A few days back some bank has called using Noida call
center. And to my disgust the caller didn’t know English. And my Hindi is at
best comical. So I passed on the phone to my son. After the call he asked me
with his usual twinkle in the eye and a smile on his lips how come I had this
important day as my official birthday when my actual birthday was different.
And it triggered again a flood of memories.
I was fourteen in 1974 Jan . I was filling the application
form for my board / 10th class examinations and rules stipulate one
has to be fifteen. So you had the option of backdating your birthday. At that
time everyone was so particular about even days of backdating the birthday
because one would lose government service and pay and promotions by even few
days of birth date. I have backdated my birthday by more than two months than
required and filled the form with 14th Feb as the date of birth.
My principal has come to the class for verification of the
forms and he asked me why I had backdated by more than two months than
required. I told him because it was Lovers Day. He was 6-3 and 200 kg and I was
3-6 and 30 kg. He flew into rage I had never seen. He cuffed my collar and
dragged me out of the class room. I was terrified that he would kill me if
dragged me to the end of the courtyard. So I just held on to the chapatah of
the well and would not let go. In all telugu literature writers used to
describe the “ chintha barikalu” the
branches of tamarind tree which are very hard and were used to beat up the
kids. But here palm tree branches were used ( eetha kommalu) which used to come
down on you with whooshing sound and take off a small portion of the flesh. I
do not remember how long this beating went but when I woke up I was in the most
forbidden place across the street, the girls hostel. On a cot with one of the
most beautiful women on Earth. Another teacher was applying a paste to the whip
lashes, never knew what it was. Must be navaneetam ( lime sludge mixed with
coconut oil ). I was having a raging fever and come to think of it there was no
ice. It was just water drenched clothes to rub off the temperature. I just
reached out to her and kissed and told her I love her. She just joined a couple
of days back then. She looked into my eyes and told me “ Ramana, You be the
same as you are in your life”. Well I didn’t understand then. I was naked and I
thought she was actually asking me to remain naked for life. Both of them wiped
the shit off my ass, sponged the urine for two days. I was later told they
refused to hand me over. Both of them were sacked on the second evening and
were refused that night’s stay in the hostel and had to leave evening . It was
so fortunate that bus drivers did not rape and kill night passengers then.
On hind sight, I think I should have used this opportunity
of staying in the girl’s hostel for two days by curing myself quick and
utilizing the opportunity.
Some thirty years later, when this shitty head HR people
come to you to congratulate on your birthday I suddenly realized the meaning of
her words. What she meant was “come what may, don’t budge.”
And then a couple of years later I went to Australia for a
holiday with my family. I was with my cousin at the Blue Mountains Off Sydney
and it was a Sunday. So there was local market. I bought packets of
strawberries for every one. Every one was freaking out with the little
purchases in the market. Till that day, I have never eaten a strawberry. I ate
one strawberry. When I had bit into the other, I remembered this lady because
her mouth had actually smelled of strawberry. And I just sat slumped at the
curb. And this giant of a man came to me and asked me:” Any problem mate”. I
said I just remembered someone whom I had kissed some 3 decades back. He was a
massive person and he bellowed with laughter and said:” Big deal mate. When I
was 14,I had kissed six, fucked three, married one and my life is screwed now.”
I didn’t know how to respond. I just told him her mouth
smelled like his strawberries. He was taken aback. He went back a few feet to
his place, consulted his another hulk of wife and brought me another full carry
bag of strawberries with no charge.
And then he told me one thing. “ Savour the memory, enjoy
the fragnance till the end of your life”
I had deep pockets then. So I launched one of the biggest
man hunt or rather women hunt. There was nothing. No records. No person alive
who would give me who she was.
Even till today, even if all the women in the world come
together and pour acid on me, I will always love women till I melt to the last
drop.
