Sunday Tales –Reminisces- Famed Temper-15
It’s another Sunday! After a refreshing morning walk across the green tinged walk way in the serene city of Bangalore, my mind was set on dwelling on some interesting real time memories from my yesteryears. After a very tough & gritty subject last week, I hope to provide a topic in lighter vein and at the same time hope the content resonates with all of you.
One of the distinct memories from my childhood is the anger or the hot temper generally associated with my dad; for that matter many family elders of that generation, even a few in the neighborhood as well. To be honest, we siblings had never borne the brunt of my dad’s anger, but as all of you know “Seeing is believing”, so we knew how to keep our distance from him when he was in those fiery moods. So let me price out some truly interesting episodes of his famed temper.
Generally, dad was a kind hearted gentle soul, but the problem was no one knew when he would fly off his handle with his fiery temper; in that way he was totally unpredictable. One such incident happened in our schooling days in Coimbatore, my younger brother probably in his 4Th standard and me in 6TH standard. Both of us got enrolled in a play for the school day celebrations and after some strenuous daily practice with our mates, we were ready for the show. The big day arrived and dad took both of us to the school in our classic Fiat car, both dressed to the occasion, ready to play the part with neatly attired costumes. Those were the days when you go dressed from home unlike the elaborate arrangements done by most schools these days.
We were the first ones to reach the school, my father parked our car in the school grounds guided by some volunteers designated to manage that day. As we walked away towards the auditorium, our school captain Ranjit came running towards us agitated saying that “Sir, your car needs to be moved away from that parking spot as that spot is designated to some important dignitaries attending the function”. Well, the tone and abrupt words uttered by the young man was not to the liking of my father who simply proceeded to berate Ranjit and the volunteers in a loud voice and arguing with them as he had parked the car only on their instructions minutes earlier. Soon a small crowd gathered seeing the commotion and this further enraged my father even more as he moved into his unthinking rage mode!
My dad, his face in a mask of fury, turned towards us & shouted to get inside the car “damn your bloody drama” (in his Malayali-accented Tamil he admonished “Dramavum vendam mannangatium vendam”) even as the school volunteer’s pleaded with him to stay. Both of us, meek as lambs, got inside the car knowing when to keep quiet as our furious father drove us back home. Dropping his fully decked children, he left the home in a huff. Believe me, that was the first and the last time we were included in any school extra-curricular activity –both of us were strictly off-limits!
Phew! That was one hell of a scene; sometimes his temper was much required & important. In the late seventies and early eighties, beating school children and rough punishments were acceptable norm, no parent would complain as they also believed that a bit of discipline was fine. Our school was no exception with some teachers beating us with a scale on the knuckles for doing mischief in the class or for not doing the homework. Once I remember the school had given a general instruction to be strictly in uniform after Diwali holidays, but few of us turned up in our diwali costume. The punishment was very severe; three lashes with a whip to the back (in reality on the butts!) inside principal’s cabin by the attender Charlie. It was a real painful punishment.
Generally we do not inform of any such acts to our parents; unfortunately my brother had received severe bruising and was unable to sit and was in tears so he narrated the incident to my mom. She inspected the wound and was shocked by the severity of the blow on the young child. Even the next day he felt so much discomfort that he stayed home and soon my dad came to know about the incident. Dad too inspected the wound and become extra quiet so unlike him.
Well, that’s what we thought, but it was the calm before the storm! In those days my dad used to be a forwarding agent for Brooke Bond tea & we had a godown in front of our house. There were always some manual labourers for loading & unloading the tea boxes. So my dad took two hefty ones among them, reached the school and barged into the Principal’s room. He threatened to beat the attender, as he was more enraged with the principal for using a third person to beat up the children. Principal Madam understanding the predicament apologized profusely and assured that no such punishments will be done in future. In fact she had to call all the teachers to her cabin to give assurance to my father.
I was attending the school that day & understood the disturbance; very soon the entire school came to know about the incident. All those severe punishments ceased immediately with circular issued to immediate effect. Actually, for a few days we siblings were the toast of the school!! But our marks took a severe beating as the teachers reacted in the only way possible. Again in this case, my dad and his mercurial temper worked positively.
One of the interesting things my mom will vouch a lot was our family trips; we never had to plan, as it mostly ended as abruptly as it started. Most times when we attend family functions or a trip to a relative’s place, on some absolute trivial reasons the trips used to end as my temperamental dad would take his family & walk away. I still remember one incident vividly. We were staying in a hotel in Guruvayoor and near the temple premises we used to get these nice wooden toy buses, resembling the Kerala state transport buses I was playing with the bus in the polished corridor of the hotel. The manager of the establishment objected to this act; soon it ensured a slug fest between my father and the hotel employees and in minutes we abruptly changed the hotel ensuring his child can play.
Well, for all his quick silver temper, I don’t remember him shouting at his children or raising his hand. Only one such incident I could recollect; my dad used to drop us to school in the morning whenever he was free, probably to make us recite the slog “Sri Suktam-Hiranya varnam harinim Suvarna rajatasrajam..” One day we were on the way to school chanting the slogam with him, I just happened to see my class mate on the road and waved to him cheerfully. My dad got furious with this awful behavior. He stopped the car & ordered me to walk along with my friend to school rest of the way. Hmm that was probably the only time he lost his temper with me; other than that he was a model dad to us.
Truly I had most fun in remembering my dad’s pyrotechnics’. I do feel this was a generational thing as in most families we had someone with this kind of mercurial temperament; my own father in law was another example. But actually if you look at it deeply, it was a simple personality trait; they were straight talking guys living their life in their own terms.
Let me end this week with a memorable quote to ponder
“There are only two people who can tell you truth about yourself — an enemy who lost his temper and a friend who loves you dearly”