Papa Mummy as Football

I again ask for leniency from readers for this write-up is not related to governance and I apologize in case it hurts anyone.

Banks during the days of nationalization treated their employees as shit. We as a family of four had to endure frequent transfers. I was the latest entrant. Mr. P Chidambaram (erstwhile FM) in his speech in UP had once mentioned about the administrative policy of frequent transfers of police officers to protect criminals of a particular political party. He said “Police officers should not be treated as footballs” ki bhayi jahan chaha tabadla kar diya.

Read:

Chidambaram asks police chiefs to raise voice against arbitrary transfers

In that context I can call both my parents as footballs. Mom had to endure the most pain as she was the one who took all responsibility to pack things and papa I think procured labour to load them on trucks. I think India still has not come home to furnished homes. The worst part of packing your boriya bistar is to decide whether to transport the small things or to dispose them. You get attached to certain of your possessions. We (me and my bro) as kids did not understand what a transfer entails and never witnessed our mom packing things until we were big enough to lend a helping hand.

It was absolutely bitter experience to join school late every time. You had to endure the indignity of entering an already full class. Parents left you at the gate and we never saw them talking with teachers(were they too scared of them? no one knew). It boosts the confidence of children tremendously if they are made to feel that their parents care for their education. Esp if parents meet teachers and we as kids are appreciated. You could not witness the inauguration or attend the first day/class. Reason for all this was parents were too much attached to my native. We made this ritualistic yearly trip to native to witness “teru” 

which invariably fell during our summer holidays. We took our own sweet time to return to the regular rigmarole of life (going to school) after vacations. As retribution I am not visiting native that often now.

Some of our journeys across the country were on trains and we as kids enjoyed them. Once papa got down from the train to fill water and did not get in when the train left. We spent anxious moments and relieved when he came through the passage from the other bogey.

After my tenth we finally settled back in our native karkala to the longest stay in one place of about six years. Those were the years when I did engineering. I grew considerably stronger physically and had the best days of my life; you know this aman aur chain ki zindagi. People don’t mess around with you in a place you were born in. That local thing gets you the support and a shield against being ragged/mauled. The farther you go from your native and lower you are in the economic strata the more chances of you being ill-treated. You know calling names and a variety of insults.