How my Grandpa got a bump on his head!!

This is again a very funny tale. I always wanted to listen to stories while going to sleep and that too from my grandpa.

I love him so much that I wanted him to get me dressed to school, pack my lunch, bathe me, play with me, help in homework and sleep with me. He was my official care taker even when my parents were around.I have always wondered how he was so sweet to me but strict with all the other grandchildren. He never let anyone polish their nails, trim their hair or anything. But when I was with him, he would let me do anything and everything I ever wanted. He is my all time favourite superman, super saviour.

I always wondered how he had got a little bump on his head. It was a small hump on right side of his forehead. Out of curiosity and always ready for a story, one day I finally asked him ‘Ajja, how do you have this little thing pop up on your head?’. His reply was really surprising. Story goes like this,

He had been brought up in a very strict family. It was that age where even young boys had all the rules and regulations at home and anyone who fails to follow it would be belted. My great grandpa, Late Anantha Bhat was one of that man; strict and stubborn. It was my Grandpa’s teen age; obviously the time of fun, frolic and risk taking. One day there was a play going on nearby where my grandpa wanted to go with his friends. But his dad didn’t permit him to go to the play by any means. But my grandpa was never less of a risk taker. So he had a plan now. He asked his Amma to feed them dinner early on the day of play, giving some reason which even my ajja doesn’t remember. I guess it was easy to convince mothers until his time :P

So after their early dinner, they waited until dark and slowly sneaked out of home and headed towards the place of play. I remember ajja telling how he had to hide from his father in the audience area to watch the Yakshagana.

It was somewhere around 4 or 4.30 in the morning when they thought to go back home so that they wouldn’t be caught missing. When he reached near home, it was almost 5 and to his bad luck, he saw his father walking in the garden. Ajja said how his spine went cold seeing that scene. In urgency of hiding, he hit himself to Tondekai Chappara(I have no clue what a Chappara is called in English, if anyone knows it please leave it in the comment section below), leaving a bump on his head. Though he medicated it, the bump never left him and the memory of risking. I still remember the look on his face. Though it was a small bump, every time I combed his hair, it did come in-between.

On the whole, my ajja has always been a risk taker and I do inherit a small % of it. He loved the plays so much that, he had scheduled a play to my oldest aunt’s wedding too, but that didn’t happen. He loved Patrode; a South Indian dish so do I. I inherit most of his habits, style, interests in tits and bits. Though he had never left my back any day, I miss him now and then.

This story is kind of lucky because when I was in 6th standard, I had to do an assignment of an interview with an earlier generation. I had done it in the name of ‘ A lunch with my Grandpa’ ( though the title was given by my father as I was never good at English and writing then). Surprisingly I had won a big star on this and some prize.

That’s it for this time.

I will come with another fun story of my family, some other time.

Cheerios!

Until next time!!

P.S : Hope I will be able to be as fearless as you, as risk taking as you, as sweet as you and live the life as fullest as you or at least in a small percentage.

Yours,

Deva :)