Savings

So i love saving. I like it better in fact than splurging. It makes me so happy to see the big number when i get that piece of paper from the ATM. Also makes me nervous. But this actually is a childhood saving story which i half dreamed and half re remembered last night. Also since i seem to be hell bent on letting you people witness my sidey side,here goes.I  realised i have an amazing defense mechanism when it comes to childhood stories.I supress them really well! I had to sit down and think hard to get the details right.
so here goes.
It was sports day in Adarsh where i studied ( where boi also studied btw) Boi senior by 4/5 years,boi house captain ( My Amma's favorite joke too, He is apparently now the real house captain) ha.ha.we'll see about that.

Anyway,so sports day and i used to be funnily enough excited about sports back then,this must std 6th,since i left in 7th. Now,I used to be part of Kho-Kho team and i used to audition ( for lack of a better word) for relays and the 100mtrs.I barely survived the relay,but 100Mtrs i would come in 2 or 3 in the auditions and in the finals i never ever made it anywhere.
So this year i decided to give my own pity parties a miss and to just walk around and eat all the good things that the food stalls had put up. I am pretty sure now that this is 6th because none of my "gang" appeared that day, we were now in that stage where we could actually consider not going to school events without worrying about consequences. I decided to go anyway,mainly cos i would be lectured if i sat at home about the value of group events and maybe even a acharya devo bhava lines,resp from each parent.

Here comes the saving part. So the stalls sold cutlets,samoosa, pazham poris and paripu vadda. All extreme favorites,even now. These btw are the yummiest 4pm snacks in the malayalee household.
Also comes with it "cool" drinks. In hindsight these cool drinks tasted pretty bad,not pepsi or coke,colorful drinks in un named bottles,i wonder how the school dint check that one out.
So all these items comes at a price of about 4 to 5rupees per item. Since Yours Truly has always had an extremely healthy appetite the chances are that she would need about 50 Bucks to feel good at the end of sports day.
I wasnt given any pocket money,except on "pikniks" so i tried asking but i was told to take lunch which made me pretty mad cos not only were these parent people not giving me any cash there were also spoiling all the fun food gobbling images i had built almost a week in my head by offering me rice,sambhar and beans with scrambled eggs. I do beleive i was tempted but not so much.

So i knew this would happen,since i had tried all this in advance a week ago. So with a week to go i started raiding Acha's pockets. I would save up 5 rupee coins or even 2 rupee coins,i remember giving the 1 rupee one's a miss, and one day i became daring and flicked ten whole rupees.All this i saved inside and old powder dabba.
The two rupee coins would buy me many many "sip up's" and the rest you know. In my saving-raiding-flicking excitement i guess i got a little carried away and ended up with 100 rupees. I would look at it with great happiness and come thursday with great sadness,cos now i dint want to spend my precious money.

Anyway Friday saw me walk around the stalls with my sip up and 99 rupee rich. There was this girl who wanted to be part of our "gang",Neenu i think. She was quite the whiny child with a distended stomach and gaps in teeth. Our gang wouldnt take her cos our leader lady had vetoed it and i had asked why because i thought bigger gangs were cooler :/
Apparently she had some lice problems. Anyway,this child comes up to me and asks me some questions,I am sitting under this tree watching the race and generally in the process of discovering the concept of Alone time and am not so happy with her questioning. She says something and all about her dad having built some new building and how they were rich now!
Sigh.
I am just about to ignore her when she says "I am going to go buy some cutlets. Do you want some?"
My ears perk up. "sure!why not, err you are paying right"
she nods her lice head vigorously,making me think twice but then the idea of keeping my 99 bucks all holed up and safe and warm makes me go. I am clearly an excellent negotiatior because she asks me what it will take for our group to take her in. I shake my head vaguely sipping the last bits of the slush,hands greasy and oily and say " i dont know neenu,i mean am not sure they even like you." she looks very sad. i feel bad.
But am full now and no longer want to stand next to the lice head,also images of Amma,a very mad one grabbing my long hair and going through it thoroughly pops up. I quickly make my exit.
i look back to see neenu make very determined steps in my direction. I hurry away!
The remaining of the morning was spend trying to avoid her! But she is smart child. She corners me near the loo and starts to half cry,i could barely understand what she was saying. Of course from the grand hand gestures and tears and even some saliva that landed on my face i figured she wanted her money back and that we as a group would pay at allah's hands.
Very well then. i ask how much cos people are watching now and i just want to get away from this scene and pretend it never happened! Neenu,the intelligent intuitive child,says 50 rupees. I wonder if ate that much and also wondered if am in fact paying for what she gobbled too. But more wailing convinces me nothing is worth this.
I hand over many coins,a few not so crisp and even a torn ten rupee note over and say "You know neenu this isnt quite fair,i mean after all this was your idea" she just hmmpphhgged and left.

So much for saving.

Ps: Recently Amma asks me,hey remember that time when you raided acha's pockets. i grunt. (oh yes,i told her.eventually)
Amma: how much was the max you took at any point?
Me: i dont want to say...
Amma: oh.
Me: carefully concentrating on tv.
Amma: was it 50?
Me: Amma,please.let.it.be!
Amma: 20?
Me: yeah. sure.20. Lower it further.
Amma: hmmm. 100!! really?
Me: er.. yeah.
Amma: My god!
Me: stop being such a fakester,i know you were thinking in triples of hundred. Drama queen.
Amma: eh
Me: cmon, lets just hug and show me some louw now :0

PPS: A little exaggerated but what the hell,right.