2 Pitre

Pitre was a young and active boy, always fooling around. It was Monday and he had just finished his afternoon meal. He and Nurma were walking slowly towards a bush to take a piss.

Suddenly they hear screams and shouts, they turn around and find a Donkey honking and running with tied up legs. Someone had tied its back legs so that it wouldn`t run away from grazing fields.

Someone also had tied up a big empty steel tin to its tail, it looked as if it`s a 15-liter oil tin. The sound of Donkey and the tin excited both Nurma and Pitre.

"Hey, let's sit on the can it will drag us…." said Nurma.

"Let's go...eeeeehaayyy" said Pitre.

They started running as fast as they can to catch up with the speed of Donkey...Nurma was running faster than Pitre...Pitre was trying to run as hard as he can…..

Nurma stumbles and falls flat, hurting his lips and chin...….Pitre runs as hard as he can...he catches up with Donkey...….he tries to sit on the can.....this suddenly jolts the donkey.....it lifts both its tied up back legs and kicks hard...…A big thud...Pitre falls flat on the ground...…People run towards him.

By the time Pitre was conscious again, his face was covered by bandages...he couldn't open his mouth as it had swollen like a potato. He couldn't even feel his teeth.....The damage was that he had lost 5 frontal teeth and a swollen tongue.

Nurma bled slightly but it was normal for such kids to injure themselves every now and then.

This Donkey incident permanently changed the life of Pitre.

it took two months to recover for Pitre, he was dropped from school. He joined a local government school...…Everyone started taunting him as mad and immature rather than funny and active...…..

Things had changed, people would call him Donkey, Can, No Teeth etc....His father too started thinking as his son was mad...…..he thought, he should give no more independence to his son, and started a very strict environment in his home.

Pitre failed to score any marks in his studies, this led to even more angriness of his father. His father was quite respected in the locality, so he pressurized his son to be like him, by punishing him to study hard and not letting him talk to any of his friends.

Pitre had to wake up every morning, bring fodder for their cows, fetch water from the nearby well and then go to school. Once he came back, he had to milk the cows, fetch water and grass for the cows again.

Later he would go to farms to water plants and come back home for dinner.

Pitre`s father was so angry that he had an inferior son and he felt he should punish him more to make him smarter.

One day, Pitre forgot to milk the cows as he spent time playing cricket with his friends, by the time he came back his sister had milked the cow, but his father was angry and furious. He beat Pitre as much as he can, removed all his clothes and threw his naked son outside his house...he cried "Even every gram of meat in your body is my effort and care.....and you want to defy me, get out of my sight...…this dress is also mine....get out and never show your face"

It was an unpleasant scene as Nurma was looking from the road, he ran to his home and informed his father. They took Pitre in and gave him some clothes.

Nurma had settled in Bangalore now, running his own business of groceries. His father convinced Pitre to go along Nurma and work with him from that day on...…..

Pitre was amazed to see the city of Bangalore.....the tall buildings, Beautiful people, a load of groceries in Nurma`s shop...he was satisfied.

He slowly started to blend in with his co-workers, and the city....for the first six months he didn`t talk much, later he slowly found himself as an energetic and funny individual.

All his crying, Sadness and Hard work had perished.....he was in successful companionship of his friends.....he never realized the time going so fast.

4 years later, Pitre was one of the smartest men in the grocery shop.....he was confident, brave and energetic...…..the city of Bangalore had shown him so much to make him a smart man.

He never left the grocery shop in all the 4 years; he became a household name in the locality as he was supplying groceries to everyone, Very talkative and funny.

It was Diwali, and Nurma insisted Pitre to go to the village to see his parents. Pitre agreed this time, of all the money he had earned till then in the shop, he purchased a bike and went to his village.

His father was awaiting for him near the bus stop...…Slowly all the memories were coming back to Pitre, he wanted to turn back, but memories of his sister and mother did not turn him back...…As he saw his father waiting at the bus stand...he was frightened initially, but as his father smiled with tears in his eyes....he stopped his bike to stare at his father.....

Pitre realized that even though his father tormented him; it was all to make him better.

His mom and sister too hugged him and took him inside his home.

In all these four years Pitre's parents were happy that their son was in Nurma`s grocery shop and was becoming smart.....

It was his money which helped his sister`s marriage and the family was united again and Pitre`s father was a proud man.