Tales of Name Slips, Forgetfulness and Golden Wrist Watch

Sequel to ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’

I believe that my last post, through which I exposed some of my dark sides as well as the good side, can serve the purpose of an introduction to this post as this time also I am dealing with the same subject with a minor deviation. If I had evaluated my own character from three different angles in the last post, here I am trying to recollect the incidents in which other people were being respectively ugly, bad and good at me.

The ugly: Tale of Name Slips

I would like to compare my childhood days, especially the school days with those of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, not because of we share the same name, but simply because my friends and I too had some fascination towards certain objects during the school days. If the fictitious character and his friends were attracted to one eyed cats, carcasses of animals, pebbles, yellow cards etc, we had a special affinity towards name slips. Despite of a name slip’s usual purpose of denoting the ownership of notebooks, we used to collect them in bundles because they used to carry pictures of our favorite celebrities. Besides, the kids themselves had developed certain crazy games that they could have played with the name slips.

I also had a special craze to re

ad children’s literature, especially comic books usually in the pictorial forms. Once seeing a very famous comic book in my friend M’s bag, I asked him to lend it me for one day. With no objection, he gave it me and permitted me to keep it till I read it fully. An overjoyed me, after putting it in my bag, kept on peeping at it even amidst the teacher seriously taking the lessons.

In the interval time, M approached me and asked me to return his book. I wondered, “Why, haven’t you given it me to take it to home?”

He said, “Err..yes..But see, S wants to take it to home and you know he has given me some name slips in return. So give it him. I will give it you on another time”

A big bargain. I suddenly checked the pockets of my shirt and trousers and finally displayed some of the name slips I had. “M, I can give you all these name slips. Please give me the book. I will return it on tomorrow itself.”

M looked at my face and the name slips on the table. Suddenly S intruded, “hey M, he can give only paper name slips, what I can give you are sticker name slips. Here are mine, a total of 11. Look the colour,” It was true. S had all sticking and glazing name slips, while I had only name slips made on plain paper. I finally produced one more name slip from my pocket. ‘Hey M I can give you this one also. Look it is also a sticking one with glossy plain.”

But M had decided to give it to S. As I was not rich in terms of name slips, S won the bargain. But with no loss of hope, I again pleaded to M, “Please give it me, I will give it tomorrow morning itself.”

Finally M shouted at me, “Give it him, give it him, I say, GIVE IT HIM,” I saw some of the joyful images of the reading pleasure shattering in front of my eyes.

The Bad: Some Forgotten Tales

I had claimed in my earlier post that human nature is 51% good. So, it is better if I forgot all those incidents in which people were bad at me. If I still keep the revengeful mood towards them in my heart, how can a human being be good at least that 51%?

The Good: Tale of the Golden Wrist Watch

Mentioning all those people who were good at me will be a Himalayan task. Countless number of people, including relatives, friends, and even strangers were good at me, most possibly without expecting a reward in return. I take this opportunity to show my gratitude towards all of them through this ‘vanity-filled’ blog of mine.

Remember the journey that I made with my photographer friend Shyam to Kovalam beach on my sincere bike to interview the graceful Bulgarian singer Dyana Dafova? Well, reading it here would give you knowledge of the background of this incident.

It was on such an occasion, I went to Kovalam beach to meet an entrepreneur there. This time I was alone on my bike and it was a noon time. After the meeting, I returned to my office in an easy manner as I loved riding through the unoccupied paths humming my favorite tunes or talking to myself. I had to travel some 24 kilometers an

d after passing some fifteen kilometers I doubted whether I had been hearing the horn of some vehicles from my back for a long time. Since I was wearing the helmet and I was preoccupied with my own thoughts, I had missed the incidents in my surroundings.

Suddenly, a bike overtook me and blocked my path. They were two young fellows of the same age. I wondered, “What these fellows are going to do?”

“Brother, is it your watch?” producing a golden wrist watch, one of them asked.

I suddenly pulled up the jacket on my left arm and found that my watch was missing. With a sigh, I said, “yes…yes…it was actually presented to me by my father a few years back”

“We were chasing you for the last some six or seven kilometers, we blew the horn many times, but you were not listening,” they said.

“So, brother here is your watch. Next time take care of your belongings,” with no delay, they accelerated their bike and left within the lapse of a few seconds.

An astonished me looked at my watch and a speeding bike at a distance one after the other.