Chamcha of my kids !

There is a song beautifully rendered by Mohammad Rafi from the Bollywood film “Jaali Note “:

“ Chhuri ban kaanta ban o my son,

Sab kuchh ban kisi ka chamcha nahin ban “

I must say that the song is contrary to the present day practical wisdom ,with chamchas and chamchagiri ruling the roost. For good or for bad – most probably the latter , I have distanced myself from adopting this practical wisdom . At the fag end of my public life , recently I had a surprise- not a pleasant one- waiting for me when my wife, always eager to corner me on one pretext or the other ‘accused ‘ me of and charged me with being and acting like a chamcha of who else but my teenaged son . Now kids are kids and ever remain so for their parents . With nothing much to do while at home , I do some small chores for my teenager son, like ironing his clothes, seeing to it that he does not forget to take necessary paraphernalia along when he goes to attend his training and ensuring that he is not late on any account and also giving some money for bus fare etc . Not surprisingly my daughter, a bit older, joins her mother in this diatribe against me and virtually a daily chorus is dinned into my ears. All this does not mean that my wife cares for him any less. While I look after the practical side, the emotional ,sentimental inputs are invariably from her . Thanks to cell phones, she frequently calls him asking chal pada ?, bus mili ? kahan pahuncha ? – much to his annoyance the expression of which sometimes gives me some pleasure .

Anyways, I am enjoying my new avatar as a chamcha as like all parents I expect nothing in return !