Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Avi

Avi is in his sixth standard. I am not sure how old Avi is. His younger brother is also in sixth standard and he is about 11 years old. Avi is a smart kid - the first time I saw him, he got John lennon right in the 6th question (of the twenty questions game). When I was in my 6th standard, the only john I knew was .... I actually didn't know any John! He also had this book "The dancing Wuli masters" in his hand that he said he was reading, a book someone described 'is over his head'.

Like every other saturday, I met up with Avi, Senthil, Neel and Ashish to catch up with the week's events. We decided after much deliberation to play a game of Ludo and considering our number, I paired up with Avi. He was the strategist, the ruse while I was the words. He would decide which coin to move, whom to hit, whom to pardon while I just had to make sure I roll the dice and get the number he wants. Everytime, we got a coin home, I would do my favorite samba step (which is too intricate to put in words) and he would laugh and clap.

In between, we shared a biscuit within ourselves. Just moments after he had a part of the biscuit, his face became red and he looked on the verge of a convulsion. I freaked out, got him a glass of water and asked him whether he was ok - he managed to nod and after sometime smiled, and acted as if nothing ever happened. Half an hour later, the game got over. We won. I raised my hands towards him for a fiver and immediately realized my blunder. Stuck in his sides, were his hands like broken wings extending not farther than the hand-rest of his wheel chair. Just as I was about to apologise, he laughed without guile, told me how stupid i am to have asked him to give him a fiver and asked me to join him in another game. I was his winning charm. He was much more to me.

I am not sure how old Avi is. But he's much much more elder than me.

7 Comments:

Blogger Avinash said...

I was shocked da... really !!! but then, i realised it was not "This Avi".. whom u know ;-)... but, i convinced myself simply coz, neither i remember i ever played the game ludo nor i ever had this "The dancing Wuli masters" book in my hand.. hehe....

Guess, the Avi u were talking was some smart & Sound-minded Avi.... ;-)

1:06 PM  
Blogger Rathish said...

machan .. this is another kid, I met in the spastics society. Shall write about you one day too :) but that will be a very happy account! :)

1:25 PM  
Blogger Avinash said...

hey machi.... happy moments..Seriously da.. Those were really happy days we had spent together....

"Andha Naalum Vandhidatho......"

1:32 PM  
Blogger Sachin Dev T said...

Very touching.I see the HUMANE side of u coming out rathish..all the previous post talks about fellow beings the Have-Nots denied smthing or the other in life.Happened to meet Mr.John Devaraj last weekend, who's a famous sculptor,painter and musician, also known as the street Messiah of Bangalore. Very nice chap. has done lots for the street children. there's an exhibition of his photographs and also a music concert by his band in cubbon park on 26th and 27th. check him out at http://olal.net.He's travelled all over the world and come up with new words like "childrenize,childom.." Fun chap. u shud def meet him if u wanna do somethign about those street children !!

2:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

rat,
that was really touching...
btw....one more post on a similar note(where u met a lady who was taking care of deprived kids) and LCCS havent been followed up with the promised updates..
do it da!!
kp

4:32 PM  
Blogger Rathish said...

kp, guess what - I took a print out of both the posts today after lunch just to make a list of points that I missed. That's coming up at least by the end of this week! Surely!

5:15 PM  
Blogger Rathish said...

Hey Sachin,

Thanks a lot for the link da! tried it and definitely sounds interesting. Shall get in touch with him soon.

9:14 AM  

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