A Tale of Three Dads - update Page 12 - Page 4

@Padmavar and Kholita

Part 2: Ansh's Musings Related to Prashant: Mumma please come soon

Mumma I am scared – I am sorry I did not wait for Yash papa and got into friend uncle's car. Mumma why could Yash papa not leave his meeting? Is he angry with me mumma?

Mumma I do not like this friend uncle and I do not want to be with him. I told him so - but he reminded me about my promise. Remember mumma when we played that game with papa and were going by bus. You fell sick and I stopped friend uncle's car? That time I told him that if he helped me take care of you then I would be his friend forever and gave him a friendship band. Today mumma he showed me the friendship band and like that Kaki he said he was my papa and took me away. This friend uncle whom I looked up to and trusted is making me feel scared. Palak warned me that he was creepy and to stay away from him. But mumma he was nice to me in Lalitpur – remember when I stayed in Badi Mummy's house – that time too he was nice to me. But now mumma he looks at me so angry – I am scared. In fact mumma when I told him you love Yash papa a lot and love him not even a teeny-weeny bit he looked at me with so much evil that I wetted my pants a little. Mumma I am terrified by his looks and shudder at his touch. I can tell mumma he does not like Yash papa and is angry with you too.

Mumma this uncle makes me do only what he wants – he does not understand what I say. He is not like Yash papa who in tune with my thinking and respects me, talks with me and does masti with me. Mumma that day at the mandir, this uncle told me to hit that boy with the stone. He said I was a good boy to do so but mumma I hurt you and Yash papa na? I am sorry mumma – please come and take me away from this uncle. My foot hurts so – but uncle keeps making me walk!!

Mumma I do not know how to tell this to uncle but I was nice to him na? Remember you and I took him to hospital when he fainted that day and I took all those painful injections to make him better – then why mumma is he not taking me to you today? I do not want the ice cream, gift or chocolates but I am afraid I will make uncle angry. Mumma he keeps calling me beta – is he really my papa? My friend in school told me he was my papa and that he left you. How can that be true mumma? I have never seen him or even seen a photo of him with you and badi mummy. Yash papa is my real papa na? I am scared mumma will this uncle take me away from you, Yash papa and PayPal? Why is it that this uncle who once I looked up to and trusted is hurting me and making me feel so scary right now? I thought I was safe with him and played with him when he came by my school – but now I do not feel safe anymore. I want to be myself mumma and be loved by you and Yash papa. This uncle is confusing and making me feel lost. I do not know how to say all that I feel mumma. All I know is I am scared, so scared of friend uncle…… Mumma please come soon!

Oh, Meena!

anonee- The letter from Ansh is so touching. I enjoyed reading it. It also captures what's probably going through the little boy's head pretty perfectly. Great job!

It was a touching letter from a son. Great writing skills

Xiao Hei

It appears that the creative muse has blessed you this weekend. Ansh's thought patterns are very nicely written. One can clearly see the confusion and discomfort from the standpoint of a 6 year old child. Your post spurred me to share these thoughts:

Yes, Ansh had given his trust to Ashant in the form of the band and the promise that they will always be friends. It was a promise spontaneously and freely given, like his love for his friend-uncle. That is how children generally are, unless they have been subject to ill-treatment, neglect, or abuse. The most important thing here is the chain of events that led to wanting to rescind his promise, covertly, if not overtly:

1. Being made to "help out" his dost uncle by undergoing the painful bone marrow donation not once but twice. Here Ansh was clearly told that he had to help his friend uncle who had helped his mother and now needed his help.

2. Rescuing the aforementioned "friend uncle" (I do not like to call him that at all now, even in quotes) from collapsing in a pool of his own bloody cough, by phoning his papa and being part of taking him to the hospital.

3. Being sworn to secrecy by spineless Sattu, who tells Ansh not to reveal to Yash anything about the friend uncle.

4. Being witness to a scary game being played by the elders including his own mother, badi mummy and bade papa, who pretended not to know Prashant on diwali day.

5. Becoming gradually aware that the so-called friend uncle stresses out his mumma, makes her sick, and brings out the worst in her.

6. Discovering that his papa was being kept in the dark, but not knowing exactly about what.

7. Becoming an unwilling but helpless participant in this strange game of deceipt, lies, and cover up.

8. Being told by stranger Kaki that Ashant was his father.

9. Being wrongly guided by Ashant to retaliate with vengeance.

This is not an exhaustive list, by far, but it makes a few things abundantly clear:

1. Although it is not his duty to do so at all, Ansh has more than "repaid" the debt owed by his mother to Ashant. If nothing else, he has given this nalayak a new lease of life, with his own body, his marrow.

2. With the sixth sense of a child, Ansh has sensed that there is something dangerous here. He may not be able to articulate his reasoning, but he definitely senses that this friend uncle is up to no good, because the gap between his own father, who does everything in the open, and this Ashant is wider than the grand canyon. Even if he does not understand anything, the fact that his parents do not at all seem to approve of the presence of this so called uncle is enough to make a child like Ansh deeply uncomfortable.

3. Ansh also, like PayPal, has equated the presence of Ashant and the scary Kaki to his mother being punished by dada and dadiji, the grandparents, and to their subsequent banishment to the store-room devoid of the comfort of their home, and the happy company of grandpa, grandma, aunts, and uncles.

For these reasons, it is very clever of Ansh to have mentally reevaluated his relationship with Ashant, and extremely lowly and manipulative of Prashant to keep reminding Ansh of his his so called promise. OM Shantih

Originally posted by: MelodiousDreams

Oh, Meena!

If Part 1 made me feel even more revulsion towards Prashant than I had felt from watching the episodes, Part 2 has only made that feeling stronger! If Ansh's heart is crying out to call his beloved Yash papa and mumma to take him away from the clutches of this "dost" uncle, then my heart is crying for that little boy and his frantic parents, too.

Love these insightful posts of yours!

Originally posted by: doratalk

anonee- The letter from Ansh is so touching. I enjoyed reading it. It also captures what's probably going through the little boy's head pretty perfectly. Great job!

meena, i am so astonished by your writting...i just put myself in Ansh shoes while reading your post...well done dear...keep on giving like this more... 😉

Meena, apologies for the late comments! 🤗 Thanks for the PM! 😳