Avi’s bag, awkwardly perched on the couch in the living, finally fell to the carpet below, dislodging some of its inanimate occupants. One of them was a small, square, blue plastic package. It had, printed on it, an ancient Greek warrior helmet and the words in bold white “Trojan - Extra Pleasure”. Sampath, Avi’s doting father was witness to this entire scene and the dreadful blue package that emerged from among the books, knicknacks and the IPod that fell out Avi’s bag. The saliva in his mouth dried up. Million thoughts came rushing to him in the brief 5 seconds he must have taken to react. He quickly gathered up the contents of the bag and restored them to their rightful place, inside Avi’s backpack. Sampath, normally quite a cool customer found himself having a mild anxiety attack, right there in his living room. A condom had emerged from his 17 year old’s backpack and it was something he or anyone from his world had never experienced before.
His face turned white as he grit his teeth, half with rage and half with fear. One half of his mind told him to lash out and give the boy a hiding with a cane or some other implement, a thought which he quickly put out of his head as he could be arrested in this country for executing it. The other half of his mind told him to discuss this issue with Avi now and when Savitha would be home that evening, they could have the family meeting and perform a ‘root cause’ analysis of the entire situation. This seemed more appealing to Sampath Kannada Brahmin sensibilities. After all, the boy was 17 and any physical abuse would land Sampath straight in a correctional facility, something that he feared ever since he landed in the US 12 years ago.
Avi was still showering, freshning up before leaving for his carnatic violin lessons with Ganesh. It was Sampath’s turn to drive him to Ganesh’s house in Redwood City, California. The place was quite a distance, 23 miles from their their house in Cupertino, but Sampath felt good that he and Avi could have some “alone-time” to discuss this very troubling issue. Avi emerged from the room, hair neatly combed, wearing a neatly starched kurta-pyjama, violin box in hand, ready to leave for his lesson. As he admired his handsome son, Sampath quickly got up from the couch and said “Shall we leave?”, smiling ear-to-ear, clearly failing at concealing his bubbling anxiety about the mystical contraceptive.
They pulled out the driveway in the Honda Civic and drove towards Lawrence Expressway. Sampath was nervous about opening the topic. Kids had changed so much since he knew. He recollected that his friend Ramesh’s daughter had shooed away her father out of her room citing reasons of “privacy” as she spoke to her boyfriend on the mobile phone. Ramesh was crestfallen that his daughter had spoken to him that way and lamented at his decision to move to the US and deal with an “American” daughter and her tantrums. Sampath had made sure that Avi was as Indian as possible, carnatic violin, Bhagawad Geeta lessons, the works. But, as he recollected Ramesh’s sorrow, Sampath was half-sure that he didn't want to bring up this issue with Avi, lest he face the same consequences. But this was too much to ignore. After all there must be some explanation for such a vile object to land in hands of a 16 year old. He couldn’t hold it in any longer and as their car pulled into US-101 N Interstate, he enquired “Avi, how was school today?”. Avinash replied with a honed North California accent “Good Appa, the usual. There was a surprise pop quiz on History today. We were expecting it sometime next week”. “How did you do?” asked Sampath quickly. “I did well. Actually, I had finished studying this chapter last week, so I think I will ace it” Avi said matter-of-factly. Sampath felt a jolt of pride. His son was always an academic achiever. But he quickly got back to the point “Avi, there was one thing I wanted to discuss with you...” he trailed off as he slowed down with the increasing traffic. “Your backpack happened to fall down today and some of your things scattered around. Among those things, I happened to see.....a c-condom.” he said. He wanted desperately to see the look on Avi’s face, but an idiot in an SUV was honking behind him, signaling that he move. Avi’s response was not the delayed one he expected. “Oh that, Appa, I dont know why, but in the senior year of school, they have a Physical Education class and in that class they give us some sex education tips. My coach gave it to all the boys telling us to use a condom if we ever had intercourse” Sampath was not entirely convinced. After all, he was a financial auditor. He wanted to probe deeper, so he asked with a little more confidence “Avi, what are you trying to tell me? How can someone from school tell you to use a condom for intercourse, that too at this age? They should be telling you not to have intercourse in the first place.” Avinash quickly added “But, Appa I am telling you. Coach Gardner gave us these and a talk on safe sex. The prom is approaching no, appa? Obviously they will know guys and girls are likely to hook up at prom and the least they should have is a condom.” Sampath was a little angry now at this incredulity “Avinash, are you seriously trying to tell me that your school allows you to have sex? Safe or not is not the question. If your school is teaching you such nonsense, then I will come and talk to your teachers and tell them that this sort of immoral behaviour should not be taught to students” he said firmly and muttered “least of all Indian students” But Avinash was calm, “Appa, I understand your concern. I know you feel that I am at a vulnerable age right now. I know that a condom in my bag does not exactly give out an innocent vibe. But believe me Appa, I have done nothing wrong. You can check with my coach. But I know you will believe my word. This Sex-Ed stuff is standard procedure. It is given to every senior in high-school. I am no different. But I have been raised right. I know you know that too” Sampath could now see Avi’s face as they had stopped because of a traffic build-up. The boy was like an open book. Sampath looked into Avi’s eyes and remembered the first time he saw him in the maternity ward at the Mission Hospital in Mysore. His joy and pride knew no bounds at Avi’s statement. He was overcome with emotion as he said, “I am sorry, Avi. I dont know what I was thinking. I was so afraid seeing that...that thing in your bag. I was afraid that you had made a big mistake. I know we have done our best with you.” now smiling “I dont think I have told you this, but your great-grandfather was a Diwan in the Mysore Maharaja’s court.” Avi replied fondly, “No Appa, you have told me and I am proud of our heritage.” A few minutes later, they reached Ganesh’s house for the violin lesson. Avi got out of the car and Sampath said, “Bye, Mum will pick you up later. Call her” Avi said, “Yeah, I will. And Dad, I dont think you should tell Mum about this. She was unnecessarily get worried.” Sampath nodded and drove off.
Avi’s pocket rang as he dug into to retrieve an Nokia mobile phone that displayed “new text message.” He clicked to open the message and saw that it was from Debbie, it read “Avi, baby. Thanks for the wnderfl tym. It was amazin! Lve u.” Avi thought of texting her, but he decided to call her later that night. He had the most amazing experience of his life that afternoon and she had made it happen. Of course, he had forgotten all about the Trojan that coach Gardner had given him last week. He walked into class and sat down to learn the new keerthana that his tutor was teaching him.
No comments:
Post a Comment