My most early birthday memory, receiving extra long packets of, in golden pack, sugar coated NICE packets of biscuit, and puja at home followed with grand lunch and dinner session because most often than not my birthday fell near or on the Rakshabandhan day so the celebrations would double as maah parents used to find their way to “ek panth do kaaraz” birthday ka birthday rakshbandhan ka tyohaar manaaounus, (courtesy Govinda in some Nepal shot film) and I remember, maah uncle and aunts gheraaoging our home for that special budha purnima puja session and then delicious “chhole bhatoore” made at home (no that was not the time when you used to get it anywhere @ Rs. 10) or something of that sort which was again prepared meticulously by my mom and the relatives who used to drop in the night before for perhaps their bond with maah parents were extra strong but I do not remember whether Fevicol was still there with a strong bond image.
And how not to talk about gifts when we talk of birthdays, the gift that I was most fond of was a Leo Toys machine gun with an irritating sound raaattttaaaattttaaattttaaat when you press the buzzer oooops (blame the reality shows which have made us so used to it) the trigger!!!!
And from that day maah parents did not get a second of peace at home, raaatttaaatttttaaaattttaaattt, they knew every minute and second of maah being at home that this is their son and whatta a son maah mother has given birth to!!!! Rattttaaaattttaaattttaaatttaattt I am in the loo, raaatttaaattaaatttaaa now I am in the kitchen, raaattttaaaatttttaaaatttaaatttt now I am going down on stairs, raaattttaaattttaaattttaaatttand now I am in the puja room!!!! Now I can! I just can understand how irritating it was for that rattttaattttaaatttaaat to be heard all through our home. Many a times that Leo Toy was confiscate and at several, it was hid far from my reach but thanks to the blood toiling hard work of me and maah zister, we always managed to find the irritating fellaa down under some unforgotten, unused household item of maah of our home, I wonder continuing with the same zest me and maah zister would have been the next best after Gems Bond (yes Gems I have received packets and packets of them at maah birthdays) and next day I used to run to brush maah teeth so that I could pop few in maah mouth before maah zister does!!!
Coming back to maah most favorite gift the rattaattattaatttaatttmachine, that was the night of horror, the night of justice or perhaps the nights when everything was to bring under the hammer (order order), I wish I could remember the date, time, day and year. I wish I could. Maah father was setting our bed after a hard day of ratttaaatttaatttand while he was doing that, I was eyeing in appreciation and deep love, that Leo Machine kept just atop the racks of kids bedroom at maah home and then suddenly something disturbed maah eyez!!! It was skinny black, gandaa shandaa chuhaa a mice or a rat or a mouse I just don’t care but what occurred as a horror to me was phoremaah own blunder!!! I just screamed out maah lungs “papaaaaa chuhaaaaaa” and this chuhaa the bad man was the one who has made irreparable losses to our home so maah father got extra agile, faster than a cat!!! And in a fraction of second he picked up maah favorit Leo sobb sobb sobb or rather I want to do the professional rudaali types , and maah father jumped at the chuhaa with that gun and I said to maahself..how funny as if this gun oogles bullet but whattaa scaaaam!!! Maah father used maah jaan se pyara gun as a stick…and I did not get maah time to stop him!! maah jaws dropped till ground floor (we lived on second), eyes already rolling on the floor, and hands about to beat maah chhhaattii (chest) (haaye haaye je kyaa ho gawaaa ) and maah Leo Machine was in two piece….cont. in comments
