Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Of Bond, policemen and guns..


It was the last day of school for bond this year. He was evidently over excited and full of plans. The plans however had not changed anything in the slot between 4pm and 6pm. That remained a religious slot for cycling, cricket and football. As usual at 4pm he collected all his stuff, pinched his sister just for kicks, drank water, slammed the main door, opened it a bit again to hear me shout, smiled and closed it with a bang again and scampered down to be with his 'guy friends' for what he calls his only 'guy time'!!

Nothing out of the ordinary so far, but then in an hour the bell rang. A ringing that makes your heart beat faster, a hurried, cannot wait even for a minute kind of a ring that follows incessantly till one drops everything one was doing to open the door. We have all seen leaves shaking in the chill of a frosty winter, that day, I saw my thin bond shaking like an autumn leaf. His wails made it difficult for me to comprehend what he was trying to say, but one word that was clear was 'police'!

I made him sit on my lap and held his tiny, shaking body. All sorts of thoughts cropping up in my head. With one eye on the door, and the other on bond, I tried to soothe him as best as my agitated self allowed me to. Then he said, " dont go down they will shoot you!! They are calling you down, the police, you dont go, they will shoot you!" I realised I needed to act, but didnt know how to. I gave bond a glass of water and drank one myself, I was by this time convinced that he had witnessed a shooting scene on the streets of my peaceful neighbourhood. Locking the door, I went to the windows that overlook the street below, the police car was there, and so were a lot of other moms, there was a discussion going on, but no spilled blood as I had imagined. By this time bond had snuggled close to his sister, It was a rare moment for them, and amidst all the confusion, I could not help smiling at bond being comforted by Toshali - small wonders.

Getting back to the point, I eased myself out of the door and hurried down the stairs to where the action was. A Morrocan woman, who lives in the building next to ours had called the police, complaining against the noise the children were making. The scene in front of me was confusing to say the least. There were two officers in their smart uniforms with shining guns, a parked Mercedez benz, which is the usual carrier of the police force here, there was the Morrocan lady in agitated conversation with the police and there were the moms, helpless and uncomprehending spectators to an unfolding Arabic drama. I silently added myself to their side of the battle.

Police man : "No loud noise ok, quiet neighbourhood, no disturbance ok..(smiling all the time)"

Morrocan lady: "They dont let me rest, I have a demanding job, I need rest, these kids are shouting all the time, how can I sleep? (wilding flailing arms)"
Representative from the group of moms: "kids no? vacation for them, where to play? they are small, all of you must be having kids at home, they make noise, what to do? Sorry, we will tell them to be more quiet in future."

Police man: "Ok good good(smiling even more now )"

They climbed their shining merc and raced away, the lady said a few more stinging words and also cursed I think and left as well, the mothers looked at each other and smiled sheepishly, gossiped about the morrocan who lives alone, and is apparently frustrated and so all this, I left them to their gossip and went up to see bond waiting by the door his face still very fearful.

Me : "Why did you think the police would shoot me?"

Bond : "Thats why they called the moms, to shoot them."

Me: " I dont see the connection, you all were creating a racket down there and so the neighbour complained and the police came to attend to that complaint and obviously they had to talk to the parents so they asked for the moms, why would they shoot us?"

Bond : "Thats what they show on tv, the police shoot people!"


Aha, he gets his overactive imagination from me.. and the TV helps too!!Toshali was on facebook by this time, and she glanced up and smiled. "Such a duffer he is mom, really all his bravado is in front of us, look at him, how he got scared today!!"


I looked at him and there he was scared that his mom would be shot by the police because of him, he ran to me and hugged me, a bit embarrased now, and a bit shaken still.

Such things happen all the time, boys are naughty they get involved in fights, at times the authorities are called in, this was a first for bond and a first for me as well. I gathered him to me and said whatever you do always remember that it will never be so bad that somebody will kill your mom for it. Whether he believed it or not, is another thing, but I felt good saying it to him.

41 comments:

Bhavya.B said...

Me first ....

Nice post Sujata....Once again you proved to be a lovely mom .Many moms 'd have taken the opportunity to warn their kids of making noise and threaten of a possible shooting.

Arun Meethale Chirakkal said...

Beautifully written...

The Holy Lama said...

Play a disturbance- what kind of people? Living abroad always has these problems. My friend was scared silly each time her three year jumped on the flooor of the second floor apartment. She expected a complaint and subsequent clearing out of the complex.
Anyways, now you know how much bond loves you

Destiny's child... said...

Poor kids, vacation time and they can't make noise? How unfair!
Beautifully narrated :)

Suraj said...

Great One....I really enjoyed reading it and just to relate it with my life i too fought with my sister always but bad days saw us coming together standing next to each other.Its sad that the kids cant play and that too during evening hours...i hope Bond plays again...

Shivangi Shaily said...

I felt my heart pumping hard, while reading.

Gymnast said...

Phew...i got just a little scared.

Living in foreign country , where you cant even expect the law to be equal for all and having to face the police is pretty bad..

But really , kids making a racket is worth complaining ?

Poor little kid , bond.

Just bring them off to India , Sujatha..here they can laugh and shout and do as they want!

Nona said...

That might have been a very traumatic experience for Bond!

Two points to note. Toshali cares and he loves mom. :)

Unknown said...

It's so unfair that the kids have vacation time and cannot make noise. Childhood will be incomplete without this aspect. I'm sure the experience must have been really unnerving and shocking for Bond and yes, Toshali once again proved that she's the ideal daughter you can have. The way you narrated such a traumatic incident proved that the kids are really lucky to have a "yummy mummy" like you :D.

ekta khetan said...

Very nice post sujata. Reading it after such a long time.

Bond is reallly cute. Love.

http://ektakhetan.blogspot.com

indranil said...

guess the moms should have uttered a collective "mafi mushkil" to the police and let the kids have their fun. but nice lay out of the episode. should try script writing

KParthasarathi said...

Superb.I could see before my mind's eye the scenes as they unfolded.It made me smile at the child's credulity.You write amazingly well

Debopam Chaudhuri said...

Good, as always.. and it shows that you are now a lot with Bond, as you had said in your scrap as well..
Its really strange, how the little mind thinks and how they analyse situations. You know my kid had also had his last school day on 23rd. Strange Coincidence.. But there is some more reality in it as it was his last day in this school. New School from next session, god knows whether they will accept Debarghya, more importantly whetehr he will accept it!
And to end it on alighter note (a PJ from me as usual). Tell me what is the similarity between Frieda Pinto and Sujata Sengupta???


They are both the New Bond Girl!!!

:-)

sujata sengupta said...

@Bhavya yayy you are first!! Seriously come to think of it, the idea of warning and all never occured to me..

@Arun how have you been? hows the new city treating you?

@The holy lama At times things do get abnormal, like yesterday the same lady chased the kids with a stick!!


@Destiny's child whats a vacation without some action right?

@Suraj I can imagine rani must be beating you up like crazy as a kid, and now look at her, shes almost become responsible for you..thats the amazing sibling bond!

@Shivi, motherhood is not for the faint hearted, I realised this pretty early in my life..

@Gymnast, I remember being chased by security quite a few times in India as a kid, we plucked mangoes from groves that were leased out and the security chased us like mad!! Its all a part of growing up really

@Nona I couldnt agree more!

@Spike :-) :-)

@Akshay thanks for the lovely comments, and i think it was very unnerving for bond, but hes small and will get over it soon.

@Numerounity thanks, will hop over to your blog soon, how are things/

@Indranil, mafi mushilah indeed!! I can narrate only what is applicable to me in some way, am not a writer, just a messenger of my flowing thoughts! Thanks for the compliment though.

@ K Parthasarathi thas huge coming from you. Hope things are well at your end, good to connect after ages.

@Debopam Chaudhuri hahahah let me laugh first at the pj! Debarghya is a wonderful little boy, he is going to a new school? I hope he will like it and make friends here. Acceptance from peers is quite important, I agree, but end of the day it doesnt matter, what matters is our confidence towards our kids, thats where they get their ability to rise and shine from! all my very best to little Debarghya and to his wonderful parents!

R. Ramesh said...

hey buddy..as usual good post ya...if kids dont make noise, will senior citizen do that? anwy all sorts make the world..

Meira said...

Let's advertise on our Shaadi.com for a groom for the moron-ic lady. And lets get her a Punjabi dulha. She'l never in her life complain about the noise :D

Ire said...

Lovely post and Bond is awesomely cute!

ZB said...

Kids do have overactive Imagination. We used to imagine how our classrooms in school would look like at 12 midnight when all the lights went off. Ghosts in WHite saris, roamed and hunted for boys for their blood.
I would leave the toilet doors open when i used them, until i was about 10 years old. Its all part of growing up i guess.
Lovely narration, BTW. :)

Aparna said...

First things first. I am so glad you changed the song on your playlist. ABBA was getting a bit boring.
More than the Morrocan lady's tirade, I am bit surprised at Bond's reaction. I thought he was a plucky boy, remember how bravely he faced the monkey at Elephanta?
It's actually all the violence the kids see on TV these days. I am seriously thinking of curtailing the TV viewing time at home.

Aparna said...

Sujatha,

Nice post...got to say you are a great mother & your children are lucky.

Aparna.

Balachandran V said...

I wonder about the comments, Sujata. I wonder why nobody has sensed the kind of scarring that Bond must have suffered...

Kavi said...

There are many layers to the post. children playing and the noises that make the world are such a treat that they must be cherished well !

We live in different times though

RGB said...

I stay in an apartment and I have to tell my daughter everytime she runs/jumps around or dances/screams with excitement, to keep it low, even as I hate to do it. Bcoz people staying on the floor below can actually hear the thumping around, and for people who can't tolerate noise, it can be annoying. I'm glad nobody called the cops yet and I'm hoping I don't have to deal with them anytime soon (or later)! The little guy must've been freaked out, what with all the sirens, the cops and the guns. Incident nicely narrated.

2Shaye ♪♫ said...

Wow, what a scary experience for your bond! Poor kiddo.

It's so tough when kids can't be kids. They have so few years to be loud and rambunctious as they find their voice and enjoy their pretend worlds during those early years. :(

Before we purchased our house, we just almost moved into a house where another tenant lived just beneath us. It wasn't like an apartment so that floor was very thin and you could hear even low voices through it. I told the people that I worried they'd tire of hearing little feet running over head and the lady told me that it would be better than a house of rowdy college guys who are playing loudly late into the night (that's what they experienced the year prior). LOL

By the way, I don't know if you already heard about our surprising news. We are excited, but still oh so surprised!

So glad to see you, again!

~Shaye

sujata sengupta said...

@Ramesh morrocan lady so you give a soft verdict hmm??

@@Meira brilliant idea, but on second thoughts lets just be kind to her unborn children and let them remain out of her rfeach!

@Nikita thanks dear.

@ZB yeah i used to do all sorts of spooky things as well, and imagination was just too powerful even then, I was known as the story teller in the family, its definitely a part of growing up!

@Aparna inspite of his reaction to that monkey at elephanta you think of bond as plucky!! whats wrong with you? When are we going to sing filmy songs..on our france/italy trip? Tum mile type of mush we need to do that you know..

@Aparna Thanks for dropping by Aparna, and thanks for leaving your comment on the post.

@Bala he was very scared that day, but now again he goes down to play, gets chased by the lady, one dayu with a stick another day with a broom, the kids are getting used to her presence in the neighbourhood, they keep escape routes open, signal each other when they see her coming, so I guess he is ok.

@Kavi come to think of iot we had eccentric people in our days as well, we laughed at some, and pitied others, but the characters were there..so I guess things are ok..

@RGB yah bond di freak out that day, I had to see it to believe it that he was so scared..but thanks god he is a kid and that too with a very short memory span, he got over it quickly!!

@Shaye wow!!!! congrats..but please tell me how will you manage? I am at my wits end with two. How are you feeling otherwise? all well and healthy I hope!! would love to read the reaction of your kids..

Sumandebray said...

Very well written post. By the way Oman police is one of the best that I have ever seen.. usually very friendly and helpful. For me who moved to Muscat straight from Delhi, it was quite a pleasant surprise. Coming from a place where the popular mantra was "chor se bach nahi paya to Police se bacho!"
anyways... its better to have all the emotions for a kid. Al Ez well! Let the bond get stirred or shaken once in a while

Kavita Saharia said...

Sujata...it happens everywhere only that in India we don't call police.Our neighbor ,the one with a very large compound always chase away the kids at the time of siesta(and i don't blame them...heeee).I am sure Bond is back with a bang to his 'guy time'.I completely understand his fear and truly appreciate your assuring him that he can never do any such thing to be a cause of harm to his mom.See,how much he loves you and you love him.Awwwww !!
Nice post Sujata .

deeps said...

hilarious! :D
it does take a lot to be a good mom ha? you know best ...

i m sure you are sharing the fun as well ...

been a while since i came around... oops...

R. Ramesh said...

suuuuuuuuuuu..thanksssssssssssss yaaaaaa..

R. Ramesh said...

u r sweet yar..thanks again..hahah i am still laughing at yr moroccan lady soft verdict comment... heheh..ya who knows u may be right!!! hey buddy..the coffee offer stands always...welcome 2 dubai with fmly...cheers

Arun Meethale Chirakkal said...

Sujataji here's the link:
http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/exploding-breasts/

Anonymous said...

WOW! Thats quite an experience. Never had one similar to this one. Though once I did call in the security guards to look for my kids who had gone to play downstairs, and were given strict orders not to wander too far away from home. For which I had to apologize again and again to the kids!!!

These phoren people na...they can't stand noise. We used to get complains and told to lower down the music volume..even on New Years Eve!!!!!!

Pesto Sauce said...

That was so cute and innocent, hope the Police did not trouble

I will be relocating to Muscat soon. Can u tell me how to locate a place for myself in and around Ruwi for RO 200-250?

deeps said...

even police valas arent let alone .. :-)

happy easter ...

joshua said...

suja,
nifty narrative skills you got there girl!
you reveal the inter-personal bonding between mother and children and among siblings, under the umbrella of their common mother's love!
liked the part, where a smile creeps up to your lips,albeit amidst the chaos, when seeing your daughter comforting her kid bro.! that moment froze in my mind like a pretty picture post card! with just that visual, you deservedly portray yourself as the personification of the essence of being a mother!

R. Ramesh said...

suuu...thanks 4 passing by..a pat again for yr gr8 sense of humour...cheers buddy

sujata sengupta said...

@SDR yeah the police here are very respectful. They leave up to the royal name.

@Kavita Bond is cute and i guess all boys that age are just like that!!

@Deeps Its good to see you here whenever you drop in. marriage date fixed?

@Arun Meethale Chirakkal that was horrifying to say the least!

@Jyothi i know, and we revel in noise, i like quiet too, but at times noise is unavoidable na? they have problems even with the whistling of the cooker!!

@Pesto Sauce welcome to Muscat!

@deeps happy easter to you as well.

@Ramesh you are welcome, what are we without our sense of humour!!

Haddock said...

At a particular age the thin line between fantasy and reality is very thin.

Santanu Sinha Chaudhuri said...

An absolutely touching story, Sujata. Life stories can be as good as the finest of fiction and your story is a testimony to that. Congrats! I'll be waiting for more.

Sonu K said...

Like the first comment(of my sister) says its a nice post...loved it..
:)
i'm new to ur blog...posts r really interesting..

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