Craftwork saves the day!

THE PARENTS - Part 5/8 – Craftwork saves the day!

Kay, who was on the Home Computer, suddenly jumped off the chair and ran to the Living Room, he held his mother’s hand and dragged her to the Study Room. His mother followed behind pleading “Wait Kay, wait. I am coming …... wait”

At the Study Room, he pointed his index finger towards the computer monitor, which had images of various Ben10 characters and the alien forms. Alongside, these images were blinking icons which read ‘Print Now’ He asked his mother “Can you print these for me Amma?”

His mother replied “No need to print it. That’ll consume a lot of ink. Whenever you want, you can go to the Cartoon Network website and watch it.”

Kay angrily rebutted with a choking voice “It is not for only watching okay. I want to put it on my water bottle and change the Barbie to Ben10” to which his mother shouted back furiously at the top of her voice “Stop shouting Kay! And you know it is not possible to do that on a water bottle. The bottle will get spoilt if it gets wet”

Kay begged “But Amma, you can put varnish paint and it will never get wet. Never Amma…. Please Amma …. Please…. Help me Amma. All the boys are teasing me Amma. Please help me” and started crying inconsolably burying his head inside his mothers breasts. Little Vye, who stood there behind his mother started pulling her Dupatta and begged “Pesss Amma….pesss. Chetan crying, pesss amma” (Please Amma, Please help my elder brother. He is crying)

Elle’s eyes turned watery and tears trickled down as she was caught unawares by a spate of emotions, which instantly transported her mind some twenty years back to a small town city in remote India, where her father worked at a prominent Steel Plant as a Supervisor.

Weighing eighty five kilos at thirteen years of age, she was an overweight podgy well endowed girl and to add to her misery, she was bespectacled too. At the school she was the butt of all jokes, not just for her rotundity or the thick frame of glasses that she wore, but also for her thumb sucking habit. Boys would hide behind the bushes and call out “Chikki chikki bum bum come and suck my pom pom”, “Double Battery Roller”, “Pee pee suck suck” and “Bada hai toh behtar hai (Big is better)” as she passed by. She wouldn’t react. She just pretended to shut off her ears, closed her eyes and walked away fast.

She was a timid girl and a below average student and her teachers too relished poking fun at her. One such day during the Sanskrit class, her teacher Mrs. Grishma Bhonsadey spotted her sucking her thumb and punished her by making her stand on the bench. As her teacher turned to write on the board, some boys threw chalk missiles into her skirt while some bent down and tried prying under, into it. The humiliation was further extended onto the midday assembly, where the then Head Mistress of her school, Mrs. Chinky Champak summoned her on the podium and made her to suck her thumb and asked all other kids to jeer at her. She was devastated. She had cried the whole night, and developed an aversion for her school.

The next day she begged her dad to change her school, but her dad, who was a man of principles and who believed in taking life’s challenges head on and her mother who was a determined steadfast lady fought on for their eldest daughter. After repeated visits to the school management and the local education council, she got apology letters from the Sanskrit Teacher and the Head Mistress, whom the management eventually removed from the school.

This act of bravery and dogged persistence by her parents had done wonders for her. Her parents were her superheroes now and she had turned into this fearless girl, who fought back the teasing boys attacking them with stones, punching them on their faces and kicking them on the crotch. Eventually the teasing stopped and by the time she passed out of school, she was a beautiful young popular girl who did well in sports, academics and extra curricular activities too. She eventually pursued architecture and developed into a bold one at that. If she had not taken up a break to rear her kids, she would have definitely been very successful in her profession.

As her mind came back, she knelt down to her seven year old kid and hugged him and said “Sorry Kay, for letting you down. I love you and I will protect you always” Vye joined in and the three hugged each other and cried. And as she hugged her kids and cried, she repeatedly murmured “Sorry Dad…. Sorry Dad” and closed her eyes and with tears rolling down her firm cheeks prayed that her Dad, who had passed away two years back would forgive her from the heavens, for neglecting his namesake grandchild.

The mother and sons trio now printed out the Ben10 characters and alien forms and converted the Barbie water bottle into a very boyish looking rugged Ben10 water bottle with an embossed feel and finish.

The boys were happy and joyous, especially Kay who ran around the house in circles akin a victory lap holding his water bottle like a trophy and singing loudly “Ben10 saves the day, Ben10 saves the day”

As they ran around and played, their mother received a call on her mobile. She picked up the call, and she said only three bits to the person on the other side of the line, which were “Oh! Don’t say that”, “Yes, waiting” and “Please try”

They stopped by at their mother, who now sat in the living room smiling and looking at the kids running and playing happily. Kay hugged her and said “Amma, thank you. You are Gwen, and I am Ben10 and Vye is Kevin Levin. Together we can fight all the bad boys who are aliens and we can kill them….and no one can destroy our world. Together we can save the day. Thank you Amma. I love you”