'BEWARE OF DOG'

Pic.: Uttam Ghosh

I must have been six or seven when this incident had happened. That’s some fifty years ago! But, I still remember it as though it had happened yesterday!

My dad had taken me along to attend a wedding function. It was at a place called Kuloor in Mangalore. The Gurupura River (also known as Phalguni or Kuloor River) flows along this place. Today, there is a bridge; we can cross the river to reach the other side in a matter of two minutes! But, when I was a little boy, there wasn’t’ a bridge there… The other side was cut off… The locals would ferry us by their boats… The bus would take us only till the dead-end… the river-bank.  So, going to Kuloor, those days, was like going to Kanyakumari… a big event!

That particular afternoon, after the wedding function, we were returning. We had crossed the river by the boat and come to this side… There was some time for the bus to come… And, my dad gently said to me, “Son, just wait here; I will be back in a while.” Thus, he went to the nearby shop to buy something. In the mean time, the bus came… Everyone got into the bus, and so did I… In a few minutes, the bus started… But, my dad hadn't come… I panicked and began to scream loudly… The bus stopped… Someone tried to console me, “Don’t cry beta… See, your dad is coming.”… The next minute, I was with my dad… I stopped crying!

In these fifty years, a million incidents –  happy, peppy, sad and frightening – have come and gone in my life. But, this one hasn’t gone from my mind… It keeps coming back to me, every now and then… I can touch it, feel it… The images are fresh as though the incident took place yesterday… I haven’t tried to reason it out. Yes, the child is still alive in me… The fear, too!

In the morning, yesterday, eight-year-old Jeet had come for his PD session. He wanted to use the washroom. Within a minute or so, I heard him scream from inside… “Mummy… sir,” he was banging the door from inside, frantically, “the door is not opening.”

I swung into action immediately. “Jeet beta, please don’t cry. The door will open… Just remain calm… Just listen to me, ok?”

The door-banging stopped… but, sobbing did not…

“Beta, can you see the black latch on the door?” I asked gently.

“Yes sir.”

“Can you slowly move it out… slowly, beta.”

The next thing I saw was the little-fellow coming out of the washroom.

In fact, when the screaming and banging happened, I was on a long-distance call… “Everything is okay there?” the gentleman on the other end had asked me…

“I will get back to you,” I had cut the phone to attend to the emergency called – ‘Jeet’!

So, when I went inside the classroom, I had a new lesson to teach for our little-ones: ‘How to handle our fears’. I shared with the kids the Jeet-episode… and, encouraged them to tell how such a situation should be handled. All had a plan of action to deal with an emergency like that… I prodded them to share if any of them had faced such a situation… Many hands went up. Invariably, all of them shared their experiences inside the lift… How they had panicked or not panicked… What their parents had taught them to do when stuck inside a lift… They seemed quite prepared to handle a situation like that…

“Sweethearts, the first thing you should do when you are stuck inside a lift is to remain calm… not to panic and scream. When you panic and scream, you cannot think clearly; you, also, confuse the persons outside… You make them panic, too,” I said to our little-ones, “ Lift starts after a while… Someone comes and opens the door for you… Just be brave and stay there for some time, ok?”

“Should you be scared of the tiger that is locked inside a cage?” I asked the little-ones.

“NO!!”

“What if the tiger is in the cage and its door is open?”

“YES!!”

Then I told them this favorite story of mine…

Once a Christian couple, Mr. and Mrs. Fernandes, came to live in a new housing society. Their flat was on the ground floor. Everyday Mr. Fernandes would leave for work early in the morning and come home late in the evening. His wife began to get bored being alone. There was another Christian family, D’Souza’s, who lived on the third floor, and, when Mr. Fernandes learnt about it, he suggested to his wife to meet them and be friends with them.

The next day, after, her husband left for the job, Mrs. Fernandes went to meet the D’Souza family. But, the moment she landed on the third floor, she was frozen with fear… ‘BEWARE OF DOG’, the board on the door warned!

The next moment, Mrs. Fernandes was inside her home!

In the night, Mrs. Fernandes described what had happened during the day… Her husband encouraged her to try the next day…

Mrs. Fernandes ventured for a couple of days… But, the moment she read the board, “BEWARE OF DOG’, she would get frozen and run back to her place!

Finally, fed up with his wife’s drama, one evening, Mr. Fernandes held his wife by her hand and took her up... to the D’Souza’s flat. But, the moment they landed on the third floor, the same panic struck the lady, once again… and, they were back to the ground floor, the very next moment!

The husband was simply frustrated!

Then, some days later, one Sunday morning, the two families bumped into each other in the church compound. After introducing his wife to the D’Souza’s, Mr. Fernandese narrated his wife’s adventures…

The D’Souza’s started laughing loudly…

“Why, what happened?” asked Mr. Fernandes, all puzzled.

“My dear friends, it is two years since our dog died,” explained Mr. D’Souza, “We only haven’t removed the board!”

“Sweethearts, should you be afraid of such dogs?” I asked my little-fellows…

“Mrs. Fernandes was simply getting scared,” our Jeet pointed, “There was no dog inside.”

“Brave boy!” I patted Jeet, “So, the next time, when you go inside the washroom, remember Mrs., Fernandes… How silly she was!, ok?

The little head nodded… as the new lesson just got concluded.

GERALD D’CUNHA