Offering The Other Cheek

Tongue in cheek!

No, it is something very different from the title.

This title is both deep and intense.

I had to go through the title twice to get into the skin of it.

The saying is steeped in history.

It has been laced with a bit of mystery too.

A subtle utterance that went on to become the most potent statement for 'Ahimsa' has been developed into full-fledged articles.

They are being taught in schools and colleges and prescribed as a part of the curriculum to date.

"Does the epithet-” Offering the other cheek” make sense in today's world?"

My doubting mind went on a mission, to examine the truth in it.

I ransacked my memory lanes to handpick episodes relating to it.

A speck of hope embraced my brooding state. I pinned my bet to them.

The gates of memory lane slowly opened.

I was in standard three perhaps. I was naughtiness personified and a prankster of repute.

I missed classes often, on some pretext or the other. My class teacher was very upset with me for my low attendance. A note from the school authorities was sent to my parents.

My dad was furious. 

He beat me up -slapped on one cheek and pulled my ears.

Those days, beating up was considered as a corrective measure and neither party opposed the practice.

After receiving the first instalment, I turned and showed him the other cheek-not for the reason that I had imbued Gandhian philosophy, but the slap receiving cheek was hurting and one more dose would have been unbearable. 

Mom intervened as a mother is always protective of her child.

She covered me up with her pallu like a farmer eagerly covers his produce in fields to avoid even a drop of water getting inside.

In vain, mom came to save me.

Dad, by then, was a changed person.

How and Why?

Let me redress one by one.

My quaint act of offering the other cheek was the game-changer.

My dad took it as -' complete surrender ', - mistook it rather.

Repentance for beating exercise was clearly visible in his eyes.

With much difficulty, he could utter this-"Son, I know you. I have now full faith that you will not go astray. Those were minor misgivings, erase them from your mind like you erase bad dreams."

I was once bitten twice shy. My attendance sheet post that incident took an upswing and rose to one hundred per cent.