Pinballs in my head

‘Two years!’ I thought lying on my bed. It had been two years since I passed engineering college.Since then I was doing a job in a company based in Chennai, away from my family and friends. Often when I got a holiday I would hop to Mumbai stay for some days and then hurry back. I would enjoy those days to the fullest. I had done some really wild things in those years. Those days were really exciting. I had everything what a young boy dreams of- fun, money and freedom. But lately things had changed. Slowly all this fun is starting to fade away. Life has been hectic there’s too much pressure and politics in the job. It’s as if these things are extracting the enthusiasm of my life. But for some time I am free from all that shit because I am back home and this time for a longer stay. Past 3-4 days had been really exhausting. I had virtually been to every corner of Mumbai with my friends, roaming around and spending my whole last month salary, but today I am too lazy to leave this bed. I missed this bed very much and I am going to sleep until my ass shouts in pain.


As I was about to go back to my dreamworld, my bedroom door bolted open and chinu my 10 year old brother came inside shouting, ”ESSELWORLD! ESSELWORLD! WE ARE GOING TO ESSELWORLD!”. The sleep deprived part of me was getting irritated watching him shout and dance bhangda style. He was waving his small index fingers in the air and jumping around my bed. My mom entered the room and i gave her an interrogating look. Somehow mom always understood my emotions and was always inclined to support me, but this time it seemed different. ”Daddy and me have decided that there should be a family outing since you are home after many days”, she said. “But mom esselworld? Really? Are you joking?” I argued. “No, I am serious, and what’s wrong in going to esselworld? The whole family will enjoy together ”, she said, surprised by my question maybe she was expecting me to agree at once . ” mom esselworld seems very childish and anyways I am very tired, in past 2-3 days I have travelled a lot with my friends ” I said. “Don’t give me excuses Girish. You have all the time in the world for your friends but none for us? ” .Whenever I came to Mumbai this ‘FAMILY VS FRIENDS’ argument was bound to happen, it had almost become some sort of ritual. ”but mom I don’...”I tried to explain but was interrupted. “I don’t know anything YOU ARE COMING WITH US” she declared and angrily left the room. This was the final decision, the bottom line; I had no other option but to leave this bed. I turned and looked at chinu who was still dancing.


We entered the gates of esselworld and the atmosphere was filled with joyous screams of children and adults. I was very uninvolved and frustrated because I was dragged into this amusement park like a goat. A goat which was feeling sleepy and which would have any day preferred reading a novel over this trip. But after few rides I tried to adjust and blend in the atmosphere. One of the reasons I did so because chinu was really enjoying it , and his careless laughter after every ride was leaking the frustration out of me .i slowly started enjoying with my family. Though there were some awkward incidents, in one of the thrilling rides I shouted “F***K” out of excitement only to see my dad sitting besides me, who chose to smile and ignore it. Even my mom caught me bird watching a few times but I managed to handle the situation.





We were walking on a wide road towards some place and all this time though I was having fun , my mind kept reminding me of the things which were waiting for me after these holidays, The pressure in job , that asshole boss, the constant 9 to 8 boring life. I tried not to think of all these, but these thoughts randomly kept striking the walls of my mind as if a ball striking in a pinball machine. I looked at chinu. My dad was pointing in a direction explaining something to him, I was not sure if chinu understood what dad said but he was happy. I bet he was the happiest person in the amusement park. He had a sparkling smile on his face, a smile which you have when you have nothing to worry about. For some reason I was getting jealous of him. I was surfing through my thoughts when suddenly I came back to present due to the loud drumbeat .Some music started playing, there was a band marching it was some sort of parade for which the whole crowd had gathered .From where we were I could see some cars but wasn’t sure about the whole thing. We walked a bit further and suddenly I saw something.


The sight of it made me shocked and overwhelmed. I had not seen it for many years. Turning to my parents I pointed towards it and almost childishly shrieked “you see that?”. Turning their heads in unison they looked in that direction but had no reaction. Watching there confused faces I ignored them and ran towards it. I reached a car which was surrounded by noisy people. They were gathered around it and rushing their hands in the air for a handshake. I squeezed through them rushed my hand up and shouted out in childish enthusiasm, “MICKEY…MICKEY MOUSE!!” . Yes it was Mickey Mouse standing on the car waving to people around him. He was wearing his yellow shoes, red pant with two white buttons on it and hands covered with white gloves. I shouted again, ”MICKEY!!” He turned, bent towards me and shook my hand with both his hands. For that moment after touching those white gloves my mind slipped back to past and got flooded with memories, I remembered those days when I used to watch Disney hour every morning, I remembered the funny voice of mickey, I remembered the amazing adventures of him, I remembered how creative and engrossing those cartoons were, I remembered those mickey toys which I had. For that moment I was very happy. He left my hand and greeted others. I stood there still wondering, while the car moved ahead and so did the noisy people around it. . I knew that there was a man inside the costume but somehow I felt happy that I could shake hands with mickey.


I came back to my family who was shocked watching the whole incident. I chose to ignore them and decided to give a thought over this weird incident. The more I thought of the incident the more childish it seemed. Yes it was childish, but sometimes all we need is a weird incident, a childish act, an act which throws out all the worries and all that is left is a sparkling smile on the face. I spent the rest of the day enjoying with my family with no pinballs in my head.