Freedom of Choice

  Last week my family celebrated the 6^th birthday of my niece. I missed the celebration since I moved to the UK. I have seen my niece grow from day one. She is a super smart and lovable kid. To me, she is an ideal kid; the epitome of how much a kid should be mischievous, talkative, fun-loving, caring, and disciplined.

When she was barely 2 years old, we had been to our aunt’s home. I was getting into the bathroom to take a shower. I was in my shorts and my niece asked me, “Are you.. are you gonna take off your chaddi before the bath?”

I nodded.

Then she said, “Chachu, don’t forget to take off your chaddi before you bathe, else it will get wet!”

When her 3rd birthday happened, I was in Bangalore, and then too I had missed her birthday celebration. I visited our home a few weeks after her birthday and took her shopping along with the family. I wanted to give a birthday gift to her. We entered a Trends store and moved to the kids’ section. I told my niece to go around and pick a dress that she liked the most. The kid moved around the aisles and returned in a few minutes with a purple-colored frock and said, “I like this”.

When I checked its size, it was for 7-year-olds. Then I went to the section from where she had picked it up and took the one with an appropriate size for her.  She looked so happy with the gift in her hands.

Then in a few days, my vacation ended and I left for Bangalore. The usual life commenced.

[After 2 years]

I visited my hometown. My niece was 5 years old then and was studying in UKG. She had learned so many rhymes and songs. She never missed her favorite ‘Anupama’ serial every night.

One evening, I heard her howling non-stop. I came out of my room to see what was happening. There was a fight going on between her and her mother. I inquired as to what was going on.

Her mother said furiously, “We are going for a wedding reception. There are so many new dresses. But this girl is hell-bent on wearing her old frock. It’s been like years and she wants to wear the same freaking frock for every festival or function. It doesn’t even fit her now. This is crazy!”

Then I went to check which frock that was. It was the same purple frock that I had gifted to her on her 3^3rd birthday. My goodness! she was wearing the same dress for over 2 years!

My brother, her father came and took her in his arms and consoled her. Then he asked her why she wanted to wear the same dress all the time.

She said wiping her tears, “Because Pappa.., I bought it!!”

 

 

Antakshari

 

Back in the day, during my childhood, we often played a fun game that is extinct now. It was called Antakshari. 

 

It was our favorite pastime in the dormitories whenever power cuts happened or when we used to have free periods in the classroom. 

 

One of the songs that was always contentious was the mother of all item numbers - Ek do teen from Tezab. 

 

Once, when we were playing Antakshari, a team got the letter ‘A’. They started off singing, “Ek do teen.. char panch che saat…” 

 

Then suddenly one smart ass from the rival team abruptly interrupted shouting, “Stop! Stop! This is a wrong song!” 

Now, there used to be a few smart asses in either team. Smart asses didn’t sing! In fact, they never sang. But they had great knowledge about all the songs. They were like lawyers. They would catch the incorrect songs, contest them, argue vehemently and win points for their teams. That’s why they were smart asses. When they had to sing a song for their team, they just read out the lines of the song; like, “Hum. Tum. Ek. Kamre. Me. Band. Hon.” like prose. Then the dumb singers would pick it up and sing happily and earn a point for their team. Teamwork, you see.

 

 If somebody just remembered the first line of the song, they used to repeat it like 10 times. This was where the smart asses came into the picture again. A smart ass would argue, “Not allowed! 0 points! You should sing the entire mukhda. Or at least sing a minimum of 2 lines!”

 

Typically, there are quite a few different characters in the game of Antakshari. Some shy types sit in the back row. They don’t know any songs; they can’t sing anything; they are just the cheerleaders applauding and laughing.  No one would notice even if they take a break for a piss.

 

There will always be a character who will be eagerly waiting for a particular letter so that they could sing their favorite song. They will be all quiet until they get their letter, say ‘L’. Then they suddenly jump in and start singing, “Likhe jo khat tujhe.. o teri yaad mein..” with all their feelings by closing their eyes. They even sing both the antaras lol. 

 

Now, let’s get back to the Ek do teen story. So, a smart ass of the opposite team stopped the song and argued with a smirk saying, “Wrong! This song doesn’t begin with ‘A’. It begins with ‘D’. It actually goes like, “ Ding dong ding.. ding dong ding dong ding ding.. ding dong dong!” 

 

“Kya pakda hai re!!”, cheered his team. Then, a smart ass of the other team stood up. I already said there used to be quite a few smart asses overall. 

 

Smart ass 2: That is Alap. Alap is not allowed!

 

Smart ass 1: Hell, no! That is not Alap. It’s very much part of the song

 

Smart ass 2: That means, this song doesn’t begin with ‘D’ but with ‘N’ !!

 

Smart ass 1: How? 

 

Smart ass 2: Check out the song. Madhuri starts with, “Namashkar! Kahiye, kya sunenge aap? Main kar rahi thi kisi ka intezaar.. bla bla” 

 

“Yes!”, yelled his team in unison claiming victory.

 

Smart ass 3: Wrong! The song actually begins with M!

 

Smart ass 2: How? 

 

Smart ass 3: It literally starts with the crowd chanting, “Mohini! Mohini! Mohini” 

 

“Oh fuck! Yes man”, surrendered all the other smart asses.

 

Fed up of all these altercations, the captains of both the teams unanimously declared that Ek do teen will be banned from all the antaksharis going forward. 

 

And the game resumed. 

 

Not sure why I wrote this. The point I was trying to make was 2 things. First, I love Ek do teen, and second, I miss Antaksharis!