First born
Being the first born in a family is something special. I like to think that I was special, particularly to my maternal grandfather. I never knew my grandmother – she had passed away before my mother got married. In this part of our country, the daughter’s daughter is very special indeed. My parents might have been a bit disappointed because I was not a boy. But I was very plump and cuddly and won prizes at the baby show! So, I am sure they were happy with their first child. My father was a government official and he worked in rural areas for the first part of his career. When it was time for me to start school, my father took me to the village school. Being the top government officer in the village, the school authorities treated him with respect and I was welcomed to the school. My grandfather had come over just to be there when I started school. He had brought me literally a small sack full of school stuff. What I liked best was the pretty little umbrella with flowers printed on it. There were boxes and boxes of all sorts of slate pencils along with an unbreakable slate! On the big day my grandfather said a prayer and gave me his blessings. The peon took me to school, which was just down the road where we lived. Well, I took one look at the classroom – a long narrow room with a small window set high in the wall. I did not like it one bit. I suppose I did not like the idea of school and learning and doing lessons. I just picked up my umbrella, the little brass water jug and left! My parents and grandfather were surprised to see me walk into the house. My father looked at my grandfather, and with a twinkle in his eye commented, “I guess your prayers got lost on the way to heaven!” Nothing further was said. I merely told them that the class room was too hot and that was that. Each day the peon will dutifully take me to school and I will promptly turn around and head home! This happened for about a week or so. One day my father saw me coming home from school. He noticed a herd of buffalos were coming along the road towards me. He knew I was deathly scared of buffalos. The quick thinker that he was, he shut the gate and stood guard. When I tried to get in, her told me that I had two options – to turn back and head towards the school or face the herd of buffalos. Well, you guessed it – I got my education! I am always amused thinking back on that day – to be grateful to buffalos for my education….?!
