Child’s Lullaby

                       At around 3:50 P.M, Laxman pulled out the class diary from inside his school bag. Apparently his school bag was lying under one of the wooden desks placed inside a classroom with a plaque “III STD” on it. One corner of the blackboard had all the homework for students. This activity of putting up the homework (for the day) on blackboard was done by all the teachers just before leaving the class. Every day, students copy down all the activities from the blackboard into their diaries. Laxman opened the page which had 28^th JANUARY , 1999  watermarked on the header section. He jotted down that day’s homework, put his class diary back in the bag and ran towards the main gate after the long bell rang.

                              It was exactly at 4:30 P.M. when an auto-rickshaw arrived before Sumithra’s home. Sumitra was 32 , wife of Dasarath and mother of Laxman. She was embroidering one of Laxman’s hand-kerchief when the auto arrived. She saw Laxman dragging his bag which had the face of Scooby-Doo printed on it.

Laxman came to his mom, saw her and yelled  “ maa, I reiterated that my hanky must have LAXMAN on it. Not LUCKY . “

“Lucky boy, I will have LAXMAN embroidered on your 4^th- grade hanky. Now go and refresh yourself. I will have the milk boiled for you.”

Sumitra had packed Laxman’s bag and prepared him for his tuition before Dasarath came home. Dasarath came home at 5:15 P.M. He bespattered his face with water and tidied up himself.

“Are you ready Lucky ?”,Dasarath enquired.

“Yes paa”, Laxman replied frivolously.

“Sumi, I will leave Lucky at his tuition and meet my friends “ told Dasarath.

“Should I pick him up at 8:00 P.M. after his tutelage ? “, asked Sumitra.

“No my dear, tonight , I will have him picked up .” responded Dasarath and walked out along with Laxman.

                               Laxman hung his bag to his back as his father had him seated on the baby seat of the old fashioned Hero Cycle. Then Dasarath rode the cycle away from his residence. While Dasarath sped fast across the streets, Laxman watched through the roads as he did regularly. At 5:45 P.M., Dasarath’s cycle entered the front portion of Gulshan Theatre. Laxman was surprised to see the poster of Toy Story -2. The poster was wide and very large. The poster had the characters Woody, Buzz Lightyear and many others on it. Laxman was excited as well as surprised by looking at it.

                               Dasarath bought Laxman down from the cycle and made him stand on the ground. He parked the cycle at one corner and bought two tickets while his son was busy staring at the poster.
Dasarath came to Laxman, stretched his right hand and knelt before him saying “ Now promise me that you won’t speak a single word about this to your mom.”

Without a single tint of hesitation on his face, Laxman hastily placed his hand on his father’s and smiled – “Love you paa.” Later the duo walked into the theatre. Laxman was utterly gleeful because he had skipped his tuition for his favorite cinema. Laxman had watched Toy Story-1 on television. Since then he had developed a special interest on all the characters of the movie. Particularly Buzz Lightyear.

Usually, the theaters of Dasarath’s hometown never screened animation movies. Even if they do, the screening would last only for 2 days. And today being the last day of the screening, Dasarath hardly wanted Laxman to miss this opportune moment. And he knew that Sumitra would turn down this request if he asked her. Hence this sweet conspiracy.

                           Just before the movie started Dasarath thought – “My son has bunked his tuition even before he learnt the meaning of the word BUNK.”

This thought brought a broad cheer on his face. During the movie, Dasarath noticed Laxman watching the 70 mm screen attentively with sheer dedication.

“Does he exhibit the same interest while watching blackboard ? ”,Dasarath wondered.

After the movie Dasarath rode Laxman back to home and behaved as if he had picked Lucky only from the tuition. Both father and son were very careful all the night. After supper Sumitra helped Laxman in finishing his homework and put him to bed.

                  Next day morning at around 8:30 A.M, Sumitra stood at the porch of her house, carrying Lucky’s school bag. Dasarath was busy tying the shoelaces of his son’s tidily polished shoes while Laxman relaxed in a chair. They were waiting for the auto-rickshaw to arrive.

“So which movie did your father take you to ? “ asked Sumitra by looking down at Laxman.

Laxman stared at his father before he opened his mouth. He noticed that even his father’s face was as baffled as his.

Later they both stared at Sumitra with a puzzled look on their faces which read “ How the hell on earth did you find out ? ”

 “I found a little popcorn packet in Lucky’ s bag with  ‘ Gulshan Theatre ‘  imprinted on it “, Sumitra cleared the air.

“paa, now I see why you keep saying - maa is not only beautiful but also intelligent “,Laxman spoke turning his face towards his father.

“But Lucky, why didn’t you complete your popcorn in the theatre ?” Dasarath enquired.

“I thought I could distribute it to my friends at school. And moreover they won’t believe me that I have been to Toy Story -2  until I showed them some solid proof “ Laxman responded immediately.

“Hmmmmmmm !! So your popcorn testified both of us”, Dasarath sighed as the auto revved its engine in front of his house.

Laxman watched his mom and asked her to come to his face. She came to him asking “Now what !! do you want to say sorry ?”

Laxman came close, kissed her on the cheek and whispered  “ MOMS ARE TOUGHER THAN MATHEMATICS “. Saying that he slid with jet speed into the auto.

Sumitra, with her eyes wide open, watched his little son get into the auto as Dasarath asked her  “Should I also do the same to cool you down ? “

Conceived and Written By,

Jayanth