A MEMORABLE EVENT IN MY CHILDHOOD

Life is full of events of all types - some of routine nature, some of special interest or importance, some pleasant, some unpleasant, some serious, some humorous. Of these, some events fade off our memory while some leave their indelible imprints on our mind. When we recall them we experience the same feeling we did when these events occurred.

I distinctly remember one such event. At that time I was about seven years old. We lived in a small town wherein we had a small house of our own with a verandah and a compound. In summer it was the usual practice to sleep on beds in the compound under the open sky, for though days were very hot, nights were cool and pleasant.

On one such summer night I was fast asleep in my bed, with a sheet over me. In the middle of the night I had a faint feeling that someone had got into my bed and was lying beside me. In those days it was usual for my younger brother to share my bed, as he was very fond of me. Sometimes he used to creep into my bed at any time in the night. So that night I thought it was my younger brother wanting to sleep by my side. Unconsciously I stretched out my sheet and covered him.

I do not know for how many hours we lay there in the same bed in the mutual warmth of our bodies. Early in the morning loud barking of dogs in the street disturbed my sleep. But when I heard a bark in my bed, I was startled. As I sat up and opened my eyes, outlet a dog from the bed and rushed to the gate to join the barking dogs. A shiver ran through my body. But it was for a moment only. The next moment I realized the ridiculous nature of the situation and burst out laughing. So it was not my younger brother, but a dog with whom I was sleeping. He must have entered the compound when the gate was open and must have remained therein until night. At tea table the whole family joined me in my loud laughter as I recounted the night's incident. Even now I chuckle to myself when I remember that incident. Those who listen to my mid-summer night's adventure roar with laughter.