Oh I love this lil brother of mine! In fact even more than love, it's the respect and admiration for a few of his qualities that now serve as an inspiration for me.
I first visited him the day he was born, a tiny baby. Unfortunately, he was mentally retarded by birth. But I realize now, after my first hand experience with this little enlightened creature, that mentally retarded are often gifted with other virtues and insights into the philosophy of life.
Years passed and the next time I saw him was when he visited our home with his parents, when he was about 7 years old. The first time I experienced his philosophy in that young age was when his mummy interrupted our game to put on the shoes on his feet because it was getting cold in the evening. The game was interrupted and his mummy was also talking to my mummy while putting his shoes on. In her conversation, she took a bit more time than usual to put the shoes on and pat came the scolding from this little busy bee to his mummy...
'Aloo Patthhi !'
'What was it ?' we asked his mummy as she immediately halted her conversation and put shoes on his feet first so that he could go back to his game.
'He just called me pupil of an owl. He can't pronounce it well. This is what he says. I don't know who taught it to him but I am unable to stop him from saying that whenever he is dissatisfied with something.' She told us.
'Wow !!' I exclaimed to my lil sister. Now that's what you call attitude. She agreed.
After all it had been our long time desire to be able to accomplish something like that, but you see...out of 'respect' we could never. That that respect was wrenched from us by brandishing the sticks is a different matter.
Years passed again and we kept in touch with them through letters and lately through phone. The incidents continued pouring in and my respect for him grew. Sometimes these were at school, sometimes at home and sometimes in other situations.
And what impelled me to write this on my blog was something that he finished just a week ago. He is now about 15 years old.
His mummy arranged a home tutor for him as he was not performing well at school. One day, the teacher asked him to prepare for a test the next day. His mummy told us that he worked hard that day. He prepared that day for the test. And wrote the test the next day. When he had finished, the teacher checked it. Chhotu had performed about average and the teacher gave him 9 out of 20. Chhotu then asked the teacher to give him a 'Good'. The teacher refused. Teacher said that the performance was not up to the mark. Chhotu requested again. The teacher told him that he didn't deserve a 'Good' in this test. Now this was enough for this lil enlightened soul. He worked hard the whole day and here the teacher told him that his hard work didn't deserve a 'Good'!
Chataaaaaaak ! Chhotu immediately dispatched a right hander to the teacher's left cheek. Now that's what such insensitive teachers really deserve.
If any of you has experienced a mentally retarded kid then you know when they do such things, they do them with full force and surprisingly, their full force is more than that of their normal counterparts. I could imagine the impact of that slap. The teacher left the job.
How many of us go to the school, tuitions and college and keep our day to day grudges with our teachers and professors deep within our heart and later pass out with a heavy heart. Remember how we feel then when later in our life we meet one such professor who didn't spare a single ordeal to us and we could do nothing about that. This...precisely this...is what I respect the most about chhotu. He doesn't carry load with his heart. He balances score when the game is on and at night sleeps with a clear conscience.
Last night, after hearing this, when I went to bed, my conscience was even heavier than usual, for not just the load of unfinished businesses but the load of a flawed philosophy and cowardice bugged me. Never change my dear chhotu. Perhaps you don't know what kind of life you are inspiring us all for!
I first visited him the day he was born, a tiny baby. Unfortunately, he was mentally retarded by birth. But I realize now, after my first hand experience with this little enlightened creature, that mentally retarded are often gifted with other virtues and insights into the philosophy of life.
Years passed and the next time I saw him was when he visited our home with his parents, when he was about 7 years old. The first time I experienced his philosophy in that young age was when his mummy interrupted our game to put on the shoes on his feet because it was getting cold in the evening. The game was interrupted and his mummy was also talking to my mummy while putting his shoes on. In her conversation, she took a bit more time than usual to put the shoes on and pat came the scolding from this little busy bee to his mummy...
'Aloo Patthhi !'
'What was it ?' we asked his mummy as she immediately halted her conversation and put shoes on his feet first so that he could go back to his game.
'He just called me pupil of an owl. He can't pronounce it well. This is what he says. I don't know who taught it to him but I am unable to stop him from saying that whenever he is dissatisfied with something.' She told us.
'Wow !!' I exclaimed to my lil sister. Now that's what you call attitude. She agreed.
After all it had been our long time desire to be able to accomplish something like that, but you see...out of 'respect' we could never. That that respect was wrenched from us by brandishing the sticks is a different matter.
Years passed again and we kept in touch with them through letters and lately through phone. The incidents continued pouring in and my respect for him grew. Sometimes these were at school, sometimes at home and sometimes in other situations.
And what impelled me to write this on my blog was something that he finished just a week ago. He is now about 15 years old.
His mummy arranged a home tutor for him as he was not performing well at school. One day, the teacher asked him to prepare for a test the next day. His mummy told us that he worked hard that day. He prepared that day for the test. And wrote the test the next day. When he had finished, the teacher checked it. Chhotu had performed about average and the teacher gave him 9 out of 20. Chhotu then asked the teacher to give him a 'Good'. The teacher refused. Teacher said that the performance was not up to the mark. Chhotu requested again. The teacher told him that he didn't deserve a 'Good' in this test. Now this was enough for this lil enlightened soul. He worked hard the whole day and here the teacher told him that his hard work didn't deserve a 'Good'!
Chataaaaaaak ! Chhotu immediately dispatched a right hander to the teacher's left cheek. Now that's what such insensitive teachers really deserve.
If any of you has experienced a mentally retarded kid then you know when they do such things, they do them with full force and surprisingly, their full force is more than that of their normal counterparts. I could imagine the impact of that slap. The teacher left the job.
How many of us go to the school, tuitions and college and keep our day to day grudges with our teachers and professors deep within our heart and later pass out with a heavy heart. Remember how we feel then when later in our life we meet one such professor who didn't spare a single ordeal to us and we could do nothing about that. This...precisely this...is what I respect the most about chhotu. He doesn't carry load with his heart. He balances score when the game is on and at night sleeps with a clear conscience.
Last night, after hearing this, when I went to bed, my conscience was even heavier than usual, for not just the load of unfinished businesses but the load of a flawed philosophy and cowardice bugged me. Never change my dear chhotu. Perhaps you don't know what kind of life you are inspiring us all for!
2 comments:
"That that respect was wrenched from us by brandishing the sticks is a different matter"
TRUE TRUE !!!!!
wish i culd be like chottu and sqaure of all my accounts as soon as possible
P.S.cheers gr8 blog
lol
u look like a tortured soul like me :)
and Thanks :)
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