FanStory.com - The Swing! by RPSaxena

The Swing!

The swing kept me oscillating for about half an hour between my house and the huge Neem tree on a drizzly day in rainy season, and ultimately got me thrashed by an elder brother for my sly but instinctive chuckle.

It's a very funny incident of my childhood when I was hardly nine years old, and

had a big family comprising two elder brothers aged 15 and 13 years, one sister aged 7 years, two younger brothers aged 6 and 3 years, and mother, residing at a tiny, desert- surrounded, and sparsely populated town of Rajasthan in India.

We had lost father a few years back. Though it was like a bolt from the blue for us, yet facing the challenges bravely we started hoping for better days to come, and soon they did materialize by the grace of God.

Needless to say that in the whole living world, it's only the human beings who can think, express their feelings in words, smile or laugh and make others do so. Therefore, no sooner did I notice this contest, 'The Swing related story' popped up in my mind as a natural fountain displaying various hues worth enjoying and sharing with those who are close to me.

It was Sunday in the month of August, the peak period of rainy season in India. Cool breeze enriched with soothing drizzle was blowing, thus, making weather highly pleasant.

Being holiday, all kids in the age group of three to thirteen from that area had gathered on the vast open ground since early morning, and were playing as per their choices.

Boys were playing football, hockey, and kabbaddi in their rustic way while most of the girls were enjoying skipping, swinging or running to and fro, though there was no differentiation of sex in this regard; both could play together sometimes as a mixed team but often as rival teams.

Different races and jumps were generally the common pastime, but hide- and- seek was the most favorite game of both boys and girls alike.

When such games were in full swing, I heard an authoritarian voice of my elder brother from homeward whence he was watching all these activities. Thinking I had not heard him, he came out of his room and spoke aloud, "Hey, John! come here."

This time I couldn't ignore, and at once ran to him leaving football match in the middle. On reaching there I found he was becoming very mad, and scolded me for avoiding his repeated calls. "Don't you hear? I've been calling you for the last five minutes," he said.

Hearing this, I retorted, "No, Brother! it's wrong." My this blunt reply made him furious.

"What!" he shouted, "You want to say that I'm telling a lie."

"Please, Big Bro! Don't misunderstand me. Our football match was in its last phase, and the ball was under my control at that time. However, as soon as I heard your call, I rushed to you." I entreated him.

"OK. You are excused. I want you to do a piece of work for me. Will you?" he spoke softly.

"Of course, brother, why not?" I said.

"Right." He smiled, and told me to come back after the match.

*****

Brother was extremely surprised to see me back, and uttered, "Oh, So soon, John?"

In an ecstatic tone, I said, "I told you the match was nearing its end, but when I reached the field, luckily the ball was again in my grip and I was able to score a goal. Thus, our team won the match and I as a captain came out of the ground with flying colors."

"Bravo! John," saying so and patting on my back, he told me what I was to do next.

Indicating to the 'Neem Tree' at a distance of one hundred meter, my brother said, "What do you see there?"

"A swing is hanging from the tree branch, and four teenage girls are swinging turn by turn as generally happens," replied I.

"Wow! very intelligent. Take this packet containing 'parched grams' and hand it to the girl in red dress, understood? Now move fast," ordered my brother.

At once I rushed to that place like an arrow of Arjun, the best archer of famous Indian epic 'Mahabharat' and handing the packet to the girl, I returned with the same speed thinking that brother would be happy, but lo! I found just reverse to it. Getting mad on me, he spoke, "Whom did you give the packet?"

"I gave the girl wearing red dress as you told me," said I.

"Idiot, you gave the packet to the girl in dark green dress," he scolded me.

"What?” I nervously spoke.

"Yes, you have done a foolishness," he continued fumingly, " I was watching you but couldn't guide from this much distance."

"Sorry, bro but as a matter of fact, I'm almost color blind, and therefore could not differentiate between red and dark green," peevishly I said.

"Okay, leave it now, and tell me do you know Nancy?"

I enthusiastically replied, "Yes, the girl who is wearing black and white dress."

"Oh, clever boy! Your mind has started identifying the colors," he said making fun of me.

I said meekly, "No, nothing like that, but the truth is that I can recognize only two colors: black and white."

"Okay. Don't bother about colors, now take that, run fast, and hand over it to Nancy," he bid me pointing to a packet of Parched grams.

Swiftly I ran to comply with my brother's orders, but on reaching there I found Nancy sitting on the swing, other girls pushing it forcefully, and all were singing a folk-song.

Having waited for a minute, I tried my best to give Nancy the packet. However, sympathizing with me on my innocence, she told me that since she was holding the swing's ropes with her hands, she could not take it right now and therefore give the packet to Lily.

I did as she told me, and feeling satisfaction on my accomplishment I proceeded homeward, but while doing so I noticed that all girls, except Nancy, were eating grams and laughing loudly.

On reaching home, I saw my bro strolling impatiently to and fro in his room and as soon as I reached there, he chided me for not working properly, "John, John! I have seen everything. When you couldn't do even this petty piece of work, what will you do in life?," disapprovingly and as a great astrologer he said.

I kept mum, and turned to go out of the room but my brother stopped me with his hand and ordered, "Wait! This is last chance for you. Do you understand?"

"What! No, not at all," I almost lost my temper.

Seeing the situation, he also cooled down and spoke mildly, "My dear brother, I know you are intelligent enough to get success in every field. Hence, handle this case astutely, and then you are free to play the whole day."

"Now I'm fed up bro, and it's the last attempt on my part," said I, lifting a packet from the table and running outward.

When the girls saw me coming towards them, they began laughing and at once I realized the gravity of circumstances but even then I went on.

Approaching Nancy, I tried to hand her the packet but before I could speak, she said sullenly, "John, you are a nice boy but I can't accept it."

"Nancy Sis, take it for my sake, please," said I very modestly.

Seeing other girls laughing and talking with tongues in cheeks, she took the pack from me and then without wasting much time in that suffocating atmosphere, I moved homeward. However, out of curiosity on the halfway I slightly turned my head back to see the result of my efforts and was extremely shocked to perceive the scenario there.

While Nancy was feeding those grams to a buffalo's calf, all girls were laughing, jesting, and dancing around the calf and Nancy. Hardly controlling my chortle, I went on walking slowly to home.

When I entered the room, my brother took me inside hurriedly and seeing me in a buoyant mood, asked fervently, "Hey, Hero! Mission accomplished?"

Trying to restrain my guffaw with downcast eyes, I narrated the whole story which infuriated him beyond words. He thought that I was making fun of him, and consequently, he started thrashing me.

However, the Almighty rescued me because at that moment in time some friends of his arrived out of nowhere and taking advantage of this opportunity, I rushed out of the room to vent my long suppressed laughter at some distant place and felt tremendous relief by having a hearty laugh there.

The sum and substance of this funny story: Nancy's natural inclination was to my eldest brother and not to this bro, though the latter was well conversant with this fact yet never tried to comprehend it and kept on making wrongful advances towards her.

As a result, on the one hand he had embarrassed Nancy badly and on the other hand he had become a laughing stalk among all the buddies.

MORAL: Love is not a one-way traffic, but it's as a two-way traffic with a lot of bends, moreover, the blind ones. Hence, we must be very careful while moving on this serpentine, and risky way because a slight misjudgment may lead us to an awful situation.