Batmobil

Childhood is the time when

The sun has a smile , a hut is a perfect house

And a scenery is all about two mountains

with a river flowing in between  and birds flying in the blue sky.

It is simplicity at its very best .  

                                                                  BATMOBIL

It was just me and him left , it is always like this . We are the ones who are chosen in the end , and usually its him who is preferred over me .

“we ll take him “, announced the captain , pointing finger to the guy standing next to me ,

I felt insulted , I looked at the other captain , “fine” he said, “we don’t have a choice”, there was disappointment in his tone , I wondered if I was so bad that my presence in the team was so loathed over .

But I was used to being preferred over others . the guy they choose was younger to me , stammered like a steam engine , could barely communicate in his rickety Hindi , and he was new among us .

So many years of staying and playing together , and someone else , was preferred over me !! , insult was an understatement , I felt betrayed , my presence over the years was questioned .

The 2 hr game added more to it , I was mocked over for my bowling , I was considered the worst batsman , and they preferred me sitting on the bench , than fielding on the ground .

Sometimes while fielding , i would be lost in my own world , I would dream of hitting sixes , diving and taking a catch , hitting wickets with my throws , being applauded for my skills at the game and leading the team after the victory , I used to get so lost in the claps and applauds that the ball would sneak ,  pass and hit the boundary line ,  leaving me as the target to the wrath of my team members .I hated playing with them , but I had no choice .

Kids are often mean to other kids of their group , and they are more mean than adults can be , scars from childhood never heal ,they stay green all throughout your life .

Two hours of game , was more tiring for me than for anyone else , coz I had to run for the ball every time they hit a six .
The ‘ fat one ‘ of the team would boss over me , he would comment on everything , the way I ran , the way I would throw the ball , the way I batted , every single fucking thing . He was elder to me and elder to everyone else , for him I was just a kid who would never question his authority . He used to bully over me emotionally , and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it . The fact that I was youngest of all and wasn’t as physically capable  as he was , never occurred in his mind  . Not that he was great at the game either , he was ‘ popular ‘, coz he had a bagful of silly jokes and comments to throw on people .

After the game was over , I ran straight towards the house , but was called back , “pick these up “ said one of them , “ but … I am getting late “ I said in a whining tone .

“okie “, “then don’t come from tomorrow “ he declared on behalf of everyone else . Once again I was left without a choice . As I uprooted the stumps from the ground , I realized a couple of them had left  already . I took the stumps and started walking towards my home , hoping mum wouldn’t get angry on me for being late , but I knew it was no different there , I was used to being bullied over everywhere .

 “look at your clothes’’, it was my mum , angry and beaming as ever . I was tired , I just wanted t go and sleep , but that was a distant dream , it wasn’t possible till the dinner was served . “ you have no intentions of studying “ , “ your diary is full of remarks from the teachers ”, “ we work so hard to send you to good schools and you don’t even care to finish your homework “ . there was no aberration , all dialogues were the same , I was used to them , I didn’t stop to listen to them all , she didn’t have anything new to complain about .

I washed up , changed my clothes and sat on the study chair , just then I remembered , I had a batman comic book in my school bag , it belonged to one of my friends from school.

Bringing and dealing comic books in school is as good as smuggling gold . You just cant afford to get caught , coz , not just the gold gets confiscated but you have to face detention and punishment , there would be another remark from the teacher on your passport .

You loose another comic book from your collection , primarily given to the dealing party to keep the business going .

I hid the book under the biggest and heftiest course book that I had , and began reading it, cautious , yet hoping not to get caught . I flipped a couple of pages and got lost in the book completely .

I was ROBIN , Gowtham city  was facing another bomb threat from JOKER , BATMAN was instructing me on how I was supposed to evacuate the residents of the building , but I wanted to do something more adventurous and heroic , I wanted to use the high power laser weapons and wanted to drive the ‘BATMOBIL’ .

“Is this what they are teaching in school these days ? ?  “ in came the shrill voice , and before I could realize my ear was  already being twisted and turned , as if she was finding some radio channel for me to cry on !

Damn , I didn’t realize the amidst  the adventure with BATMAN , the comic book had exposed itself completely , and I was caught red-handed by my mother .

“ come and have dinner , daddy is waiting for you “ she informed in a less strict tone after she was done wit my ear .

“he was reading comic books again “ , she stared filling my dad’s ear even before I sat to dine , “ gawd knows what I ‘ll do with him “ she said , I wondered to whom it was addressed , was she talking to dad , me or herself !

I looked at my dad , he gave me a smile and winked , we are good friends , he doesn’t mind spoiling me .

I finished my dinner in a hurry so that I could finish the story , but , it wasn;t there , she had taken it already . The smuggled gold had been confiscated ! disappointed I turned off the lights of my room and pulled the quilt over my face and closed my eyes.

“ROBIN” , “get me outa  here “, it was batman and I was driving him out of Gowtham , I was driving his BATMOBIL..