"Graha is dancing over your head...Soon it will be taken care of" , Loose translation of hindi line ," Tumhare Sar par grah naach raha hai.....Jaldi hi utar jaayega " . This sweet little warning from mom/dad reverberates in my ear drums when i think of word "graha" from yesteryears when they were angry due to my idiosyncrasies. The meaning of the warning was very much implicit , " Behave yourself or you know the consequences" . Those were the days when one was learning the good/bad of the world . family values were being injected which were to define me in the future to come i.e when i was to take decisions based on those values. But there is small price one had to pay while being typecasted as good/bad. What about being in the other territory? Can i know , always , what is bad without getting a feel from other side. In short , difficulty of being good can not be ignored for ever. Without much effort one used to venture into other side just for sake of curiosity and sometimes out of power of rebel inside . What were some of the joys of being on wrong side ? Here it goes....
1: I remember i took out rupee 20 from dad's pocket bypassing chain of command . I had breached my discretionary powers only to be caught while availing the gains of misappropriated hot money. The amount of money, in class two days , was enough to raise alarm among the self proclaimed security agents ( Seniors ) . The money was confiscated immediately and rest is another small story i.e After returning home i was handed unceremoniously to mom for further action. This was first memorable instance from being on wrong side moment.
2: The child grew , he reported honestly all his movements to concerned authorities e.g. mom , dad , brother , sister etc . However on some occasions he used to trespass to mango/Guava/palm orchids . Sugarcane field was another noted attraction . Being chased by the Garden watchman was experience worth having ; James bond type feeling!!
3: Watching movies in Cinema hall was a no no in our family . Entertainment expenses were minimized for financial reasons . Later on i did get chance to watch late night shows . It feels strangely good when you walk home at 1 am in night on deserted road. Specially when you have crazy friends with you who try to scare each other with ghost noises. We used to warn each other that police will catch us for walking at this time on road . Somehow that never happened.
4: We knew that 11 pm is the time for college campus main gate to close . Most of us had not been on other side of the gate after 11 pm . We had heart stories of daredevilry and caught-by-patrolling-guards stories of more accomplished college friends who were regularly on wrong side of the gate on most nights. The moment came in later half of stay in college . When gate keepers don't allow you to enter from main gate and one has to take forbidden route through jungle , you can't help but appreciates the joy of being on wrong side.
5: Quite a few train journeys i did take when i had no reserved tickets . With over crowded general compartment , the attraction was to get into sleeper class . At least i will get space to stand . Sight of TTE was scary moment , but the ready made answer was , " Sir student!!! " . Sometimes they used to smile and move and on other times was asked to move to general compartment . Times change, the joy of being on wrong side become part of sweet memories .
Bottom line remains , there is no harm in crossing the line to be on other side to know the pros and cons . May be you will realize that it's not wrong by any standards . Life is about looking at various shades of grey. At the same time one should not hurt someone in the process . Retract to your territory in time . Enjoy the dance of graha over your head until it is "taken care of" :)
p.s : Graha is associated to Astrology.
p.p.s : There are other memories of Being-on-wrong side. Hopefully words will be found in due course.
1: I remember i took out rupee 20 from dad's pocket bypassing chain of command . I had breached my discretionary powers only to be caught while availing the gains of misappropriated hot money. The amount of money, in class two days , was enough to raise alarm among the self proclaimed security agents ( Seniors ) . The money was confiscated immediately and rest is another small story i.e After returning home i was handed unceremoniously to mom for further action. This was first memorable instance from being on wrong side moment.
2: The child grew , he reported honestly all his movements to concerned authorities e.g. mom , dad , brother , sister etc . However on some occasions he used to trespass to mango/Guava/palm orchids . Sugarcane field was another noted attraction . Being chased by the Garden watchman was experience worth having ; James bond type feeling!!
3: Watching movies in Cinema hall was a no no in our family . Entertainment expenses were minimized for financial reasons . Later on i did get chance to watch late night shows . It feels strangely good when you walk home at 1 am in night on deserted road. Specially when you have crazy friends with you who try to scare each other with ghost noises. We used to warn each other that police will catch us for walking at this time on road . Somehow that never happened.
4: We knew that 11 pm is the time for college campus main gate to close . Most of us had not been on other side of the gate after 11 pm . We had heart stories of daredevilry and caught-by-patrolling-guards stories of more accomplished college friends who were regularly on wrong side of the gate on most nights. The moment came in later half of stay in college . When gate keepers don't allow you to enter from main gate and one has to take forbidden route through jungle , you can't help but appreciates the joy of being on wrong side.
5: Quite a few train journeys i did take when i had no reserved tickets . With over crowded general compartment , the attraction was to get into sleeper class . At least i will get space to stand . Sight of TTE was scary moment , but the ready made answer was , " Sir student!!! " . Sometimes they used to smile and move and on other times was asked to move to general compartment . Times change, the joy of being on wrong side become part of sweet memories .
Bottom line remains , there is no harm in crossing the line to be on other side to know the pros and cons . May be you will realize that it's not wrong by any standards . Life is about looking at various shades of grey. At the same time one should not hurt someone in the process . Retract to your territory in time . Enjoy the dance of graha over your head until it is "taken care of" :)
p.s : Graha is associated to Astrology.
p.p.s : There are other memories of Being-on-wrong side. Hopefully words will be found in due course.
