Merry Christmas?

Christmas Day, 2011: I stuffed my mouth with chocolates and burst into tears… all because Macaulay Culkin squealed, “Mummy!”

The Tossed Coin

“So, let’s toss the coin,” said the squiggly kid, digging his nose.

We drawled, “Yeah, alright.”

I was hoping for the Mighty Eagle to swoop in and take the kid away, but hell no, I couldn’t possibly wish for that because I was a “nice Catholic boy.” Jesus would not let me into the ice cream chamber, as my Nana had drilled into my brains.

The kid tossed his five-rupee coin in the air to decide whether he should use it to buy a vada pav or a dabheli. The coin came down rapidly, hit his head, and fell straight into the drain nearby. Whoa, that was his lunch money.

I snorted because this kid was so annoying that we could not stand him at all. We never snapped at him but we had other ways to mess with him.

That day we did not share our lunch with him. I was not being a “bad” boy; in fact, I was obeying my mum. It was she who wanted my dabba licked off clean. No one could be mad at me.

Anyway, since my dad was a little late, I hung around after school for some more time. Everyone had left by then. As I was about to head towards the playground, I heard some noise from LKG. Out of curiosity, I went to see what was up. I peeped in and saw the squiggly kid sniffling and being thrashed by Aaya Aunty, his mother. Aunty was yelling at him for losing his five-rupee coin. It was her “hard-earned” money, which he decided to waste, and now she didn’t have anything to give him to eat. Then, she hugged him and cried.

I was totally confused. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran away from there. But that day, I swore I would never be mean to the squiggly kid, and I would never toss a coin.