Skip to main content

A prank gone wrong

I have been noticing that these days a wide range of external stimuli ellicit the same response in me. Any small thing reminds me of my childhood. It turns into a chain reaction, with one memory turning the key of another locked-up memory.

Our father being an electronic engineer terms like voltage, resistance, capacitor were commonly used at home. My brother and i used to sit and gaze at our dad while he used to work on some electronic equipment. Many a times he used to ask us to get a specific screw-driver or a line-tester and both of us used to run and get it. A soldering iron used to arouse a lot of curiosity and fright in me. Abbu used to keep it in a corner and gave us strict instructions to stay away from it. I observed that a silver coloured wire (solder) melts when brought in contact with it and emanates a burning smell. I used to love that smell. One day after abbu finished his work i went and touched the soldering iron. It was warm. I guessed it must have been a lot more hotter 15 mins back. After that day i was never scared of the soldering iron.

the weapon....

Of what use is any knowledge if its not applied anywhere?

So, i decided to scare one of my cousins who had come to our place during our summer vacation. Poor boy didnt know anything about the weird equipments lying all over our house. It was a dull sunday morning. My brother (i call him Cat), my cousin (Affy) and i were playing. I noticed my brother leaving the room. Now Affy and me were alone. I asked him to come to the corner of the room where the soldering iron was kept. Next, i asked him to hold it (of course from the non-insulated side). A few minutes back i had touched it to check whether it was at normal temperature. My purpose was both to scare and surprise him with my knowledge of such complicated gadgets. Affy was a little apprehensive and he declined to come near it. Somehow i managed to cajole him and finally he caught it.

What happened next was a shock for me. Affy screamed and ran out of the room crying. For a moment i thought he was trying to fool me. Then reluctantly i touched the soldering iron. It was HOT. I had not noticed my father switching it on for some work. I got so scared that i will get a good thrashing from my parents. I gathered the courage to go to the next room where all the elders were attending to Affy. He was hardly 4 yrs old (i was 6) , poor baby could not even complain that i asked him to hold the soldering iron. And i was not brave enough to own it. I told myself that i didnt do it purposely. I didnt want to hurt him. In my heart i said sorry to him and asked him to forgive me.

Hmmm. I m sorry Affy. I m sure you dont remember this incident now. Believe me it can be counted as one of the first traumatic incidents in your life.
Labels:

Comments

silent_rebel said…
chi chi chi shazia didi, kya kiya aapne...
18 November, 2008 00:33
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A poem from childhood...

"Long legged Italy, kicked poor Sicily In the middle of Mediterranean Sea. Austria was Hungary Took a bit of Turkey Fried it in Japan Dipped it in Greece...." I remember only this much. This poem was my first attempt at learning the names of these countries and locating them on the map of the world. And I thought Austria and Australia were same. :-) It's time to confirm that I was wrong at that point of time, some twenty years back...
12 comments
Read more

I like 'Blue'

After working on my thesis (and doing some time-pass) whole night, I happened to peep out of the window and look at the striking shade of blue in the sky. I immediately looked around for my camera. It took some 90 seconds before I could click this photo and in that span of time the coloour of the sky changed a bit. Nevertheless, it is still very near to (but not exactly) the 'blue' which I like. I am neither very fond of a particular colour (except mauve and lilac) or hate a particular colour. I remember that as a child I didn't like 'yellow' at all. As I grew up, in my mind I started associating colours with different things. E.g. I like 'yellow' when it is a flower which I am looking at (and not Tata Nano or any other car). I would never wear a bright-yellow dress, but that doesn't mean I don't like the colour. Similarly, I love certain shades of 'blue' which look best in a sky or in a water body. Looking at any of my favourite colours (or...
5 comments
Read more

The stranger

Like every Mumbaikar, I had been praying for the monsoons to hit the city and provide some respite from the heat that was on a mission to burn us all. Now that the clouds had finally decided to fly in for their annual visit, they seemed to be as angry as the sun. This has been happening every year, leaving us with only two choices, to either drown in our own sweat or to let the ruthless downpour do its job. As the metro approached Andheri station, people started lining up at the door. With the coach nearly empty, I shifted to the corner seat next to the door. I was just two stops and 4 min away from my destination but that didn't stop me from grabbing my favorite seat the minute it got empty. That's how we have become, always running after something better and not appreciating what we already have. It was almost 9 PM. I climbed down the stairs of D N Nagar metro station, clutching my umbrella and feeling tempted to use it to push away the crowd. It didn't take long for...
7 comments
Read more