When we were studying in high school we used to hear some stories about school boys running away from homes. They usually went to big cities like Bombay, Madras and were traced back after a few days. This type of adventure impressed some of us and I along with two other friends ran away from home to Calcutta hardly 3 weeks before my final Board exam of Matriculation. To our good fortune we had left a clue and were traced back. I reached just three days before the exam started and did fairly well to pass but was not eligible to join the college as the marks were low in one subject. However, I could join a technical school which I accomplished. Although my father did not agree to this he made no objection.
In case I had continued in high school for one more year I may have passed with merit, joined the college and would probably have become a lawyer or a liar and towed a different line from Engineering. This is how destiny plays its part in one's life.
Dear Akbar, I want to tell you the truth that even to this day I have not understood as to what made me run away from the home where I had nothing but love. Love particularly from my mother and two sisters. One sister is your Nani and the other was chhoti Ma, my cousin who unfortunately died a few months after her marriage. Three of us were very close to each other and in fact we had established our own mini kitchen in a separate room where the two sisters used to cook for the three of us by smuggling mutton and other needs from the main kitchen. My mother overlooked this as this was a training for the sisters. We used to eat together after I returned from school.
Life seemed so enjoyable in the joint family with our uncle and aunt (late Nisar Ahmed's parents).
I was told when I returned after 2-3 weeks that the two sisters wept for one full day the day after I had left thinking that I had gone never to come back.
My father I believe was so angry that he refused to try to trace me and insisted that I should learn a lesson and come back on my own. My mother, however, prevailed on him to get me back and let him not rest in peace until he promised.
Later I thought this is what mothers are for. Some how all three of us returned when the father of our friend came to Calcutta and arranged for our return journey. Our misadventure ended on a happy note. Thank God.