When I was a Kid, My father used to bring sweets the day he got his salary. It’s not that he didn’t bring sweets on other days of the month, but sweets on the first week became an implication of father getting the salary.
Mine was a normal middle-class family. The home was equipped with everything required for survival less for luxury. That’s how a middle-class family is. We do not buy a Sofa because we liked it, it’s because the previous one has torn out.
This happened when I was too little to have known what happened. I came back from school and declared I wanted a video game. I had no idea how to play, I haven’t seen video game ever before. A classmate bought a video game and he has been talking about it all day. I wanted it now.
My mom was a balance of father’s knowledge of our bank account and my little mind’s desires. She was aware of the fact that we can’t afford a video game right now however she also knew how much it meant to me. She knew the scooter needs to visit the mechanic as well. She told my father. It was the first week of the month. I was excited about the video game. Father said he’ll get me one.
Each day, I waited for my father to get back from work with a packet in his hands. Days went by, Father used to return home with the office files, not a big packet with the console in it. The moment father used to enter the house, I used to take a glance of what he’s carrying and run towards the bedroom and not talk to anyone. This went on for ten days. It was mid-month. I had lost all hopes of the video game by then. Of I knew about our family, nothing expensive was bought in the middle of the month.
The next morning my Rickshawala didn’t come to pick me up for school. My mother asked father to drop me to school. He started the scooter after facing a lot of trouble. It needed to be repaired. Somehow, father dropped me to school. I came back from school and saw the scooter in our lawn. It was open and the parts were lying here and there. I asked my mom what happened. She told me it broke down and needs a lot of money to be repaired. Father took the bus for office.
That night, my father returned with a packet of sweets in one hand and my video game on the other. I was surprised. I went and hugged my Dad, and immediately connected the video game. My mom came with the sweets.
In all the excitement, I forgot what the sweets were for. I thought those must be the ‘Hanuman Ji ka Prasad’, but I realized it wasn’t Tuesday. That’s when it struck me father didn’t bring the salary sweets this month. I went and asked my mom, She told me his salary was delayed due to some official reasons.The first thing he did after getting the salary was he bought the console!
I went and hugged my Dad. I said nothing, just stuck my face in his chest and laid there for the rest of the time.
Things are different now. I don’t get to see him much. I’m in a distant city while he’s back home, preserving the family, holding the castle. Of all that I am and I ought to be, I owe it to the man who did it all and said nothing.
Also, He went to the office in a bus for the remaining days that month.
