I asked my mother, "Where do babies come from?"
She answered " From mommy's stomach".
"How did they get in there at all? And how do they come out?"
She tried to explain but I couldn't quite get it.
" You'll know it after you grow old, it's difficult to understand now."
I wasn't satisfied. I was determined to find out more.
But I didn't know that the answers were imminent with my brother's help.
My brother was an adorable child! He had the cutest of smiles, naughtiest of eyes,and pinkest of cheeks ! He was smart and imaginative! He had great ability to quickly familiarize himself and work with new tools. and was way too fast for a seven year old!
Despite the virtues we possessed, my brother and I frequently got into trouble, from totally unexpected quarters, and as result, got spanked by our mother who was freaked out by our deeds.
On a warm Sunday morning, when I was eight, an adventure of ours ended up as an unfortunate happening- for everyone except me.
We finished our breakfast early and my mom sent us out to play so that she could do her chores peacefully and have a leisure chat with my aunt.
It was always my brother to get a great idea first...
It was our sub-tenant's room! And he was away! We peeped in, to find that the lone occupants of his room were a cot, a recline chair and a really cool cassette player ( popularly called a tape-recorder)
The black singer-the brand new Sony tape recorder- set our eyes sparkling with glee!
Now, the location of the tape-recorder was particularly interesting- right beside the open window! That was enough to feed our fantasies.My brother had a plan. He'd go inside,right through the gaps in the grills attached to the window and turn it on! Then he'd come outside, using the same route and we'd both dance to the music! Perfect!
He went inside and turned the music on!
But then, when he tried to get himself out, THIS HAPPENED!!
His head got stuck between the grills , while his body dangled outside the window!
I screamed and ran inside for mom. She was shell shocked to see my brother wriggling and writhing in pain ! She tried to gently move his head this way and that but it was stuck! Came to rescue, my aunt who was a gynaecologist. She flipped his body, around his neck and pulled him out, like unscrewing something.
She successfully performed something that was like her first case of a complicated child birth ("baby in up side up position", perhaps!) while I witnessed it with awe!
That was an epiphany! I got my answers.
I now knew how the baby boy went inside and came out of mommy's stomach.
