Storizen Magazine August 2018 Issue | Chiranjiv Patel VI | Page 37

STORIZEN CONTRIBUTE
Unassisted by
adults, around
fifteen of us, cousins
included, went to a
barber for the
mandatory crew cut
for boys. He was
curious to know
whether we
belonged to the
same family. My
elder brother, never
having known the
AUGUST 2018
difference between
siblings and cousins,
innocently replied to
his query in the
affirmative. His
shocked reaction
was, “Well! I thought
only us poor had so
many?”
Humor and rumor
were the perfect
adhesives to glue a
large family
together. In order to
stick together
through rough and
dicey times, the
ability to laugh
helped, to let off the
steam. Living in an
argumentative family
could be stifling but
with a regular dose
of sparkling wit,
obstacles were set
aside in a jiffy.
A dear cousin, deep
in the throes of
adolescent love,
comes to my mind.
He had been so
much under the
influence of Cupid
that he had
completely given up
cleaning his room.
Obviously consumed
by love, he didn’t
pay much attention
to hygienic
surroundings. He sat
for hours, moping on
his study table, with
a book open for
deception, his
hormones gone for a
toss.
fist fights, hair-
pulling, tears, and
black eyes. For
other times, it was
fun times with
house-house,
carrom board, ludo,
snakes and ladders,
gilli danda, marbles,
Vish Amrit, I Spy, or
just spending hours
together in creative
pursuits. As we grew
older, education,
marriage,
employment took us
away to distant
locations; the bond
remained undiluted.
In a fit of anger at
his lethargy and lack
of basic cleanliness,
his mother dusted
and cleaned his
room, while he was
away to do what he
did as a matter of
routine, gape at his
lady love secretly,
hiding behind a tree.
That spring cleaning
session spelled
doom for the poor
guy.
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