a childhood memory lost in time...

It was the day before diwali. I was in second grade and was hardly 3 feet tall. But emotions and ambitions ran high in my family back then. So me and my best bud decided that it was time to climb the guava tree. Ater returning from school, we met under the tree and carefully sketched out the plan!! "Abey tu pehle chadh, phir tere piche main aaatum". That was my grand idea, after hours of silent tree gazing until both of our necks began to hurt. He went first and quickly climbed up onto a branch quite easily and gave me the stupid smart-ass smirk that pissed me off. Under 10, but with an ego appropriate for a 20+, I shrugged myself and started the 12ft "ascent". The next thing I remember is hanging from the collar of my pal's new shirt. It gave way and I fell on my delicate little fore-arm brushing aside some dust and leaves. I thought that was the end of it, until that idiot came down and kicked me in the nuts for damaging his school attire...understandable. It was the first time in my life that I had experienced real pain. I did not move for 5 mins or so until he turned me around to notice that my arm was dangling. This was my first fracture !!

Casting at the hospital was routine and they called it a "minor surgery" since they had to sedate me. The first thing I recall after regaining my senses was asking my mom whether I could still
play with the fireworks. I did burn a few and was delighted with the fact that I could still do it better than my sister. I did not advertise this too much for I was scared of the little monkey because of my short term vulnerability. Mom did all my homework for the next two months... I never complained! They banned me from school since they had trees all around ... more than what I had asked for! As the cast came off, the first thing I did was to go back to the same tree. My pal came along and we both started staring at it again. He was wise enough not to smile. There was silence for about half an hour until I broke the ice. "You know, I did climb the tree !"...'But I did it first!'..."Fair enough  ..Do it again?" ... 'Hell Yeah !'.. "Go ahead". As he turned around, he felt the same bloody blow in his cup that would almost make him impotent. I ran as fast as I could !