When my mother decided to learn cycling....
So, the day my mom was supposed to start learning to ride a cycle.. she changed into a salwar (for the first time after marriage).. Manjunath mama(my mothers brother) accompanied her.. The whole family came out to the front porch and eagerly looked on.
After rushing through the various controls and having seen MM give her a live demo ..my mom finally felt confident enough to ride. Everything went on smoothly till she mounted on the cycle....then came a barrade of excuses...the seat was always too high or too low , the emergency stand was missing,...and a lot of 'what if's' followed. No wonder, my dad had never attempted to teach my mother how to ride...smart man..i thought!!
MM was in no mood to listen to any of her excuses ..he was very determined to teach her... coz he was the first one to instigate her into this. Fortunately for him, my mom suddenly realised that the whole family was watching her and became very conscious.... After that,It did'nt take much of a convincing for her to give it another try.
This time my mom perched up on the cycle. From my angle it looked as if she was glued to it .Manju mam was still supporting the cycle and was telling her to pedal....But it seemed like mom was too scared of loosing control...she now started screaming like a kid..and was threatening to get out of the cycle. It was not until MM agreed to push her around , till she gets a knack of balancing it, that she calmed down.....I guess for the next 10 mins at least MM was still pushing her around. She was no where near pedalling and was merely enjoying the ride at the expense of MM...Now MM was on the verge of exploding...but try what may...he just couldnt Coz ..one word from him and my mom would never touch a cycle again.
After sometime MM realised he didnt have the energy to push his Di around. So he just left my mom on her own without a warning.
What followed next was a spectacle to watch.. my mom was probably enjoying the the scenery, the sun set, the breeze, .....maybe even all that attention she was getting from the porch....and felt like a queen .. amidst all the enjoyment it didn't strike her that she was riding the cycle on her own. so what happened next was that as soon as she realised, she rode straight into the compound wall of our house. She got up , managed a laugh and blamed the dupatta for having blocked her view.
MM was now convinced that she could ride ... he comforted her.. encouraged her to try again.. this time round my MM saw to it that nothing would distract her and asked my mom to secure her dupatta with a dozen pins.
All this time, my 8 year old cousin, being the shortest of the lot had chosen the gate, to watch my mom learn cycling....and it so happened that my mom had missed running straight into him by a few inches. He did not want to end up as a target ....he gave a quick warning look at my mom and ran to the porch where rest of the family was still watching bemused.
Again, as they were doing their rounds in the street, a Motorbike came from the opposite side.. Now that was totally unexpected. My grandmas house was in a secluded place and the only vehicle to be ever spotted there was a scooter that MM owned.Mom panicked...MM had just left her on her own, thinking she would make it. MM yelled..."HIT THE BRAKE".Mom, manged to hit the brake but forgot to stop pedalling ...as a result she did a topsy-turvy.
Mom got up and dusted herself.....A big silence followed..until my 8 year old cousin bursted out laughing and everyone joined him, including my mother.
The motor cyclist turned out to be our milk man...Guess what... it was his new bike!... and he thought he was the reason my mom got panicky...and no matter how hard we tried to convince him ...he was bent on supplying us the whole days milk for free .Mom, however got presents for his children to level it up.
That was the first and last time my mother tried to learn cycling and till date, the milk man walks to my grannys house to supply milk, everytime my mother pays her a visit.
After rushing through the various controls and having seen MM give her a live demo ..my mom finally felt confident enough to ride. Everything went on smoothly till she mounted on the cycle....then came a barrade of excuses...the seat was always too high or too low , the emergency stand was missing,...and a lot of 'what if's' followed. No wonder, my dad had never attempted to teach my mother how to ride...smart man..i thought!!
MM was in no mood to listen to any of her excuses ..he was very determined to teach her... coz he was the first one to instigate her into this. Fortunately for him, my mom suddenly realised that the whole family was watching her and became very conscious.... After that,It did'nt take much of a convincing for her to give it another try.
This time my mom perched up on the cycle. From my angle it looked as if she was glued to it .Manju mam was still supporting the cycle and was telling her to pedal....But it seemed like mom was too scared of loosing control...she now started screaming like a kid..and was threatening to get out of the cycle. It was not until MM agreed to push her around , till she gets a knack of balancing it, that she calmed down.....I guess for the next 10 mins at least MM was still pushing her around. She was no where near pedalling and was merely enjoying the ride at the expense of MM...Now MM was on the verge of exploding...but try what may...he just couldnt Coz ..one word from him and my mom would never touch a cycle again.
After sometime MM realised he didnt have the energy to push his Di around. So he just left my mom on her own without a warning.
What followed next was a spectacle to watch.. my mom was probably enjoying the the scenery, the sun set, the breeze, .....maybe even all that attention she was getting from the porch....and felt like a queen .. amidst all the enjoyment it didn't strike her that she was riding the cycle on her own. so what happened next was that as soon as she realised, she rode straight into the compound wall of our house. She got up , managed a laugh and blamed the dupatta for having blocked her view.
MM was now convinced that she could ride ... he comforted her.. encouraged her to try again.. this time round my MM saw to it that nothing would distract her and asked my mom to secure her dupatta with a dozen pins.
All this time, my 8 year old cousin, being the shortest of the lot had chosen the gate, to watch my mom learn cycling....and it so happened that my mom had missed running straight into him by a few inches. He did not want to end up as a target ....he gave a quick warning look at my mom and ran to the porch where rest of the family was still watching bemused.
Again, as they were doing their rounds in the street, a Motorbike came from the opposite side.. Now that was totally unexpected. My grandmas house was in a secluded place and the only vehicle to be ever spotted there was a scooter that MM owned.Mom panicked...MM had just left her on her own, thinking she would make it. MM yelled..."HIT THE BRAKE".Mom, manged to hit the brake but forgot to stop pedalling ...as a result she did a topsy-turvy.
Mom got up and dusted herself.....A big silence followed..until my 8 year old cousin bursted out laughing and everyone joined him, including my mother.
The motor cyclist turned out to be our milk man...Guess what... it was his new bike!... and he thought he was the reason my mom got panicky...and no matter how hard we tried to convince him ...he was bent on supplying us the whole days milk for free .Mom, however got presents for his children to level it up.
That was the first and last time my mother tried to learn cycling and till date, the milk man walks to my grannys house to supply milk, everytime my mother pays her a visit.
posted by curious | 8:32 AM
4 Comments:
I do hav the same experience as u.I savour each and every moment i spent with my parents.Indeed everyone of us owe a lot to our parents.Reading ur article makes me nostalgic as even i miss my parents a lot.
with regds
krithi
:)ooh i am glad u felt that way...thanks Kirti.
very funny episode. I am sure your mom did not allow you to learn cycling
hi anonymous,
thanks:-)
hmmm...i am sure you will be happy to know that my mother got me my first cycle (not sure if u have heard this... it was called ladybird )with her salary, which i used to commute to school.She then coaxed my dad to get me a "bajaj spirit", my first scooter..and just when i was doing my PG sent me to car driving classes...In fact now that u mentioned this.. I must say this - she made me learn all i could and ever wanted to learn.
would definetely want to hear from you again.
cheers!
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