Phool, bat and the Donkey

Looking back in time, browsing through the memories of the golden period of life called as childhood.

Someone has rightly said, "Childhood is an unforgettable trip, why does God put the best of the life right at the begining?"

I was around the age of 8 that time..and Nandu my brother and partner in crime was about the age of 7.

I was playing phool-bat with Nandu. Now, I know that its called Badminton. But at that time the name of the game was 'phool-bat'. We ourselves named it so.
One person with a bat(Racket as its called in reality) should throw the phool(Shuttle as its called in reality) with the help of the bat to other person and the other person should do the same. Throw it back to the first person. And one should not let the phool fall on the ground. The person who will let the phool dropped on the ground is to be considered as Donkey.

The Donkey was such a unwanted designation at that time. I remember I always took the maximum care that I do not become donkey in any game. And when Nandu became a donkey I never let a single change to laugh and clap and tease him.
One day I remember, it so happened that my cousin had come to stay with us, and in the afternoon time we were playing as shouting at the top of our voices. As it was a Sunday afternoon, my mom could not take a nap because of the noise we were making. She finally got so irritated that she came and gave us a friendly warning 'Everyone shut your mouth, From Now.. The first person who will talk will be a Donkey' Me, my cousin and Nandu suddenly became so quiet. It was not a question of talking, it was a question of becoming a donkey. Till 4pm nobody spoke.

It was a pin-drop silence.
Suddenly a voice, 'What happened to you all?' Mom had just woken up and almost surprised to hear no voice. Then she remembered, we were looking straight to her only to burst in laughter. And she also shared a good laugh with us.

I suddenly had this flashback in my head and realized how embarrassing it is to become a donkey in front of others. I did not want to become a Donkey by dropping the phool on the ground.
Everything was same, the small lawn where we played was same. Nandu was same. and the phool-bat was same too. But today there was a spectator to our game although he did not seem to be bothered to even look at our game. He was our neighbor's guest. He looked like a grandfather. He was sitting on the chair in the lawn reading a newspaper. We started our game, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.. tick was played by me and tock was played by Nandu.
And Nandu dropped the phool, 'Yyyye , Donkey! Donkey! Donkey!!' I shouted. The old man suddenly looked up with a surprise. He looked here and there and with a comfortable smile set back his eyes in the newspaper.

Nandu became little cautious plotting a revenge against me to make me Donkey at least once. He shot the phool so high in air..and so near to him. I could see it in the air for sometime, suddenly realized that I have to shot it back otherwise it will drop in the ground and then I will get added in the Donkey family. I ran further and with all my energy shot the phool coming to the ground. It just went up in the air and oh no! it just hit on the head of the old man.
My heart shook but my face lit with laughter. This was more embarrassing than becoming a Donkey. Because we thought now the old man will get so angry that he will not only call me Donkey, but all the animals will be included in my family. The phool hit his head and trembled down from his head in the newspaper. He looked at us with a uncomfortable smile. We could not stop bursting into laughter but with all the control just stood there waiting for the grandfather to take some action.

He did not say anything, my brother went to him and took the phool from him and said 'sorry Aajoba' (sorry Grandfather)
I told my brother with a victory on face that 'lets stop now, its good to have one Donkey a day'. He immediately shouted 'no no, had grandfather not being there, you would become the second donkey, lets continue. we will play little away from him' We started playing again. tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.. and it went on and on, me not giving up and my brother not giving up to make me a Donkey sister.

And there the phool was, falling and hitting the head of grandfather again. same way..
and then..
we ran with a jet-speed inside the house as if some tiger has been chasing us,putting all our weapons down in the battle field only. the phool and the bat..
we went inside the house and all the laughter we had controlled so far burst. don't know how much time we kept laughing and then when we stopped..we looked at each other's faces and laughed again and again..till stomach ached.

We did not come out of the house that day.. and so did grandfather.