Silhouette love.

I was little enough to realize that ghosts did not exist, and it was at the strike of the clock at 12, that I gathered a lot of courage to go upstairs for the first time and not to my amusement it was all dark as I pictured it to be. The fear for the night begun when I could not reach up for the switch to turn on the light.

A mix of anxiousness hit me for the first time, when the darkness was inviting, and I was dreaded enough to yawp, to call out for help. The thought of doing the latter scared me even more. I decided to walk towards the dark with my mind being fixed on asking my heart to hide its fear.

Maybe now, I can recall that how carefully I plodded towards the corner of the terrace where there was complete darkness that I hallucinated it as so many people were around me that the place was filled with no more space for anymore shadows, as a kid that’s how I designed a scene of a haunted place, “to be a murkier place filled with the shadows of people whom you cannot see”.

Who knows? Even as you’re reading this, there could be a couple of shadows next to you reading along with you.

Did you just look around? No? Oh, yes is it?

I stood there at the corner, being helpless looking around and still seeing nothing but the darkness and badly hoped for some magic to happen and the only reality that could happen was I ended up with wetting my pants, and a ray of hope struck in the form of an idea.

“Shakthiman”, was every Indian kid’s childhood hero and I was no different, and all that I could remember or recollect then was the show and images of him swirling around to rescue the innocent and all I could do was think of a way to call him. I was also struggling to keep my tears within, but as a kid that hardly happens, the easiest thing for me was to cry if I wanted something.

I gazed out through the little hole on the wall and felt more and more depressed by the minute. The imperial building of my road, next to my flat rose before me as a dismal reminder of what men could accomplish when they put their minds to it.

“What have I accomplished in my life?’ I wondered aloud crying.” Nothing, except wetting my pants and not being able  to call shakthiman for help”.

“So give up”, a man’s voice I heard from behind and I jumped in fear. For a moment I felt paralyzed.

“Did one of those shadows decide to let me hear its voice?” but I also wondered why was it such a familiar tone. There was serenity in the three words which came in that voice, pushing my mind from a gloomy desert into a blooming oasis with equanimity in it.

Wiping away my tears and looking up, I found nothing. I guess, now it is making me laugh as I’m typing it, but I really thought someone were looking to play hide and seek with me, and with that state of fear I was in, still I was ready to accept that invite.

Now, it was time when the dust particles in the air were seen clearly and that was really a ray of light that came in from the torch the man with the serene voice had bought. No, it wasn’t Shakthiman, All that i could see faintly was the Silhouette of my very own hero, my dad and I ran towards him to hug him while my mind worked on a reason to give him as to why I had been there.

That’s fairly the first instance I remember of my dad coming to my rescue and I’m going to be no different from calling my dad as my hero.

Daddy,

While those who know me really well, will definitely accept to the point that you are not like other fathers. You have been the best and it has taken me 23 long years to realize it. Not, quite bad I guess. If understanding you is like a diamond, I’m not going to complaint that it took so long to change from charcoal. Being responsible is all okay, I’ll do it. I really want to thank you for being such a good friend to me, coming in for help in almost all situations and timings.

One of the best conversations I’ve had is,

When we were finding the building on the day before my first day at work,

You: school, college, you’ve somehow gone past both!

Me: so? Everyone does that.

You: Ensure that, at least in office there is no scene where they ask you to bring your parents. :D

Been a great fan for your Tamil and English, you please be the same. No, that’s a wrong sentence. I promise, I’ll change for the better as how you want. You’ve created a space where I respect you and you have made me realize that is enough and there need not be a fear for a son to sit next to his father. :)