Love expects greater responsibility

I've covered how light Mum's punishment was in Hitting without hurting and I'm not going to go into Dad's means of punishment (which involved physical pain, and was well-deserved). However, I must mention a character trait of Dad that's proved very benefitting in many ways. Dad has this sense of extra caution when it comes to his own kids. If other folk need to cross a line by a mile to get reprimanded by him, his kids need to cross the line by just half that distance to be reprimanded. When that reprimand comes, mind you, it can be quite unnerving. I remember times of metaphorical trembling and withdrawing into a shell, much like a tortoise. I used to completely dislike my Dad at those specific times. For what I thought was public humiliation. Until Kiran Pio happened. Yes - September 2001, the first Volunteers' Training Camp away from the SU camp site (at the Coramandel Country Club), an incident occurred that changed the way I perceived this side of my Dad forever. I don't remember exact details other than my Dad sternly reminding me that I should be with my books, and I should not be out chatting and fooling around (which I was). Stunned into silence, I went away to find my books and comfort in my solitude. Years later, Kiran Pio (who was near me during that incident), informs me that this incident had a profound influence on him. Apparently, he was shocked that someone could so meekly take a Father's reprimand. God apparently used this incident to help him out. I just sat open-mouthed in awe at what miniscule things and hurts our God uses to help the folk around us. I never again felt hurt or bitter or even sad when Dad reprimanded me for mistakes made; I knew there was a purpose behind each reprimand, and God was thick in the midst of these reprimands. Thanks Dad, for all those reprimands. They've brought me here today.

Hitting without hurting

A little known fact about Mum. She hates "conditioning" or "scolding" little kids. So when Sam (my bro) and I were kids, and we did something "bad" (which happened quite often, if my memory serves me right) my Mum would try hard to discipline us. I say try because her strongest form of discipline (short of complaining to Dad!) would be to use an inverted comb (a thin, long one) to whack our outstretched palms. Really. At times, it did sting quite a bit; but mostly, this punishment wasn't sufficient for crimes committed. People who've worked with Mum and worked for Mum can tell you simply - Mum is very strict. She would discipline her college students who bunked college for Ministry, though her heart was for Ministry. That being the extent of her disciplining, having her mete out "punishment" to us in the most mildest form possible was something that proved beyond doubt that her disciplining was not without love. I never understood this as a kid - that she provides mild physical punishments because of love; but looking back now, it's pretty clear that her tender heart and immense love is what made us escape multitudes of possible punishments, as kids. Thanks, Mum.

My First Gadget-love

Since 1995, my mum had been going to the UK every year for her Ph. D. in theology. Sam (my bro) and I used to joke around saying that mum had to be told exactly what to buy, but when Dad had gone to the UK in 1988 and Holland in 1992, he just bought stuff - which we both liked straight away. This being the case, my first gadget love was a device Mum bought from the UK. True, Sam helped me scour several pages and pages of the Sony UK website (remember, these were the days of dial-up and www.yahoo.com and VSNL Shell (text-only) Internet connections) and find the exact product I liked - a Sony Walkman WM EX674. It was the costliest walkman at the Sony UK website, retailing for 40 GBP at that time. My mum had to visit plenty of shops before she could find one - apparently, they were discontinued in the UK brick-and-mortar retail stores. She finally did get one - it cost her 78 GBP or something - a whopping expense, considering our family finances. This walkman became my love - I actually took it to school to show it off to a couple friends (Ajay and Santosh). During an intense session of self-examination before our Lord, I was deliberating if I should pick my walkman or my bible as the one thing to pull out of my home in the event of a fire (Hey - bibles can be replaced easily!). This walkman brought sheer awesomeness into my life - at a time when people around me had clunky, bulky walkmans with push buttons, mine was sleek, slim, had electronic buttons, could rewind/forward/skip/repeat songs (on a tape!), had a rectangular rechargeable battery, an external battery pack for a AA battery and was bathed with a metallic blue colour in a matte finish. It provided me hours and hours and hours of company during my days and nights in school and college. It provided hours and hours of entertainment to my friends and my room-mates in college as well. Sadly, when a computer came into my hostel room, the walkman lost its importance. It started being relegated to journeys and travels. I was still using it when I first came to Bangalore in 2006. It lost out soon to the sheer volume of MP3s that a PC can hold. I still have this Walkman. Haven't got the heart to sell it or give it away. It's the most emotion-attached gadget I've owned. Thanks, Mum.

Interested folk can check out the below links for few photos of this lovely device.
http://cdn.kalaydo.de/mmo/9/225/027/59_-142415234.jpg
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/7469/dsc07076n.jpg
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/35/dsc07074c.jpg/
http://n2.vatera.hu/photos/f2/3d/cb75_2_big.jpg