Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Congress (I) and Me

My dad has always been a pure Congress I fan. The first time I found out that was when I was in school and it was summer vacation time, so I was at home. In those days there was not a breakout of bees called as News channels with “Breaking news”.

My mom was expecting my brother that time and she was also asleep and dad was getting ready for office as his office bus used to come at 7 AM.

So when our door bell rang I rushed to get milk from outside and the milk man told me “Hey little girl did you hear the news, Rajiv Gandhi has been killed”. I was too young to react to that; all that I could do that time was pick up the newspaper and went back into the house with the milk packets. And while I handed the news paper to my dad, I told him the breaking news.

My dad was shocked and absolutely still. He was such an ardent fan of him that he had named me after Rajiv Gandhi's daughter (So you can imagine). And hearing this news he just stopped all his routine and sat with a thud on the sofa. He switched on TV and picked news paper simultaneously. The news had not been published in the paper. So with an optimistic streak he told me it must be a rumor, after all what does a milkman know of all this. But I could see his eyes were wet already.
The TV channel broke the news and he was so moved that he did not talk to us at all. He got ready and left for office.

All I remember of that day is seeing my dad’s eyes wet and his sad face upon hearing the news. And thats how I am related to Congress I :)