Torn Bermuda

After finishing school final exams during one summer of 90’s I went to my uncle’s house for holidays. I was also accompanied by my lovely cousins’ vatsa and sapna.

All was fine until one day when my aunt told lets go for an outing and took us to “Ramana Maharishi Ashram” near Mekri circle, Bangalore.

I was fully geared up for the outing (So called :)), dressed in New Bermuda (Chaddi), Shirt and full face powder.

My aunt hired an auto and stuffed all of us in it and we started towards our Final Destination. We reached the place after about ½ hr. of travel. Unlike today traffic was not heavy on the roads and travel used to be a jolly ride. The auto driver would be thinking to dump us anywhere on the road because we were making so much noise sitting inside. I still have fresh memories of how we used to laugh and make fun of each other by cracking practical jokes. Pity that auto driver. Jokes apart; finally we reached the place and started playing.

We played Hide and Seek, lots of Hopscotch etc. at last we saw a place where other kids were playing too. This new found place was actually a part of the building which was adjacent to the park we were playing. We all got attracted to the place because of its structure. It resembled a huge slide; the difference was the material it was made of, it was concrete.

No matter what, we wanted to play this big slide. So I and my other naughty cousins’ started to climb up the slope and down we came sliding. This went on for an hour or so.

All were tired and it was getting late in the evening so my aunt told we have to get back home. With lots of saddened face we had to start towards the main road to catch an auto back home. On the way back we were allowed to relish some roasted corn with masala.

We got back home and were about to change the dress and get back to normal attire. The day was memorable and it was coming to an graceful end. I got into the room to change my dress and noticed that my bottom back was actually backless :) My Chaddi was torn behind beyond recognition (After effects of concrete slide). I felt like the whole world has come to an end and this will be the last day of my life. Tears were just waiting to run down my cheeks as I had torn one of my favorite chaddi. Actually the issue was more than that and it was MY FATHER the Strict wise man. I was damn scared to get back my home after Happy Holidays with the torn thing alone with me. Somehow I managed to reveal and narrate the whole story to my father and convinced him. I got the damn thing darned and started to wear it again.

“Sometimes a small chaddi/bermuda can make u cry and shiver”