Uncle

We have an uncle who is a very different person. He is smart and intelligent, but also a little foolish at times. His name is Ramesh. This is his story.

It was a Saturday morning in the 1970s. Ramesh’s mother, Revathi, woke him up and asked him to go to the shop to buy some things. Their neighbour, Geetha aunty, had also asked for coconut oil.

Ramesh replied lazily, “Let me sleep, mother. It’s Saturday, there’s no school.”

His mother warned him, “Okay, sleep. I will call your father.”

Hearing that, he quickly got up and went to the shop. After buying the items, he noticed the coconut oil smelled very good. Suddenly, he got an idea.

“I will replace some of the coconut oil with water, sell the oil in another shop, and keep as my pocket money. Then I can buy chocolates,” he thought.

He went to another shop, sold the fresh oil, and got money. He hid the money in his secret place and returned home as if nothing had happened. When he gave the items to his mother, she gave him five rupees as pocket money. He was doubly happy—he had earned money twice.

Later, his mother gave the oil to Geetha aunty. After a few hours, Geetha aunty returned and said, “Revathi, some quantity of oil has been replaced with water.”

Revathi immediately understood who the culprit was. She gave proper oil as a replacement, and later Ramesh was beaten by his parents. That became one of the miserable incidents of his life.

As he grew older, he reached his 10th class. He didn’t like mathematics. During his board exams, a popular devotional song about Lord Krishna was trending in a movie. And he was interested to see that movie and he wrote in his exam paper “Lord Krishna, I know you will save me after watching the movie”. He waited until the bell rang that much disciplined he was.

But Krishna did not save him. He failed miserably. My uncle was in deep love with zeros at his time of studies always getting zeros in his exams so he repeated that.

After the results came his parents were scolding him. His father said, “You failed in maths, you must rewrite the exam.”

But Ramesh replied, “Dad, I don’t want to study. I want to work. I want to make money.”

His father told that education was important for a good future, but Ramesh was not at all convinced. Finally, his father allowed him to do what he wanted.

Ramesh was a carefree person. He bought a bike, travelled with friends, and spent his time gambling and drinking. He was regularly scolded by his parents. He also had a habit of chasing girls, which gave him a bad reputation.

Once, a friend’s mother came to our house, saw Ramesh, and asked, “Who is this?”

I replied, “He is our uncle.”

She took me aside and said, “My dear boy, you are a good child. Don’t follow your uncle. Your life will be ruined. He has bad habits. He even stalked me once. I will not allow my son to come here anymore.”

That was the kind of ‘fame’ my uncle had.

Despite all this, he was also a hardworking man who earned for his family. Like many people, he dreamed of becoming rich. He started buying lottery tickets—first weekly, then daily.

Even the lottery seller mocked him, “Ramesh, will you win the lottery this decade?”

Ramesh never replied. But one day, everything changed.

He won the lottery.

He proudly told the lottery seller, “You asked if I would win this decade. Now see who has won.”

He won 3000 rupees lottery his friends heared about this incident. One of his friend Sreenivasan told “Ramesh, we should celebrate this let’s go to a hotel and you give us a small treat” group of 6 people were there including him. He was very anxious after hearing this he knew it will be a massive bill so he told “Let me give treat for another day”.

Sreenivasan uncle told “I know you Ramesh, if we let you go we won’t be able to see you in a decade, you will vanish to thin air”.

Another uncle Santhosh added “Hey guys take him 5 people are here now catch him and lock him Sreenivasan before he escapes from us take your car we can go to a hotel”.

They stopped in a five star hotel, my uncle bathed in sweat. They started to eat they ordered too much food my uncle is worried he can’t able to speak a word because he is frightened my uncle is that person who don't like to spend but the one who like to eat on other's money.

He is that one cunning guy in a group who always tells that I am very poor and don't have any money. So, he won't give treat or spend things with his friends so his friends hoped to take revenge on him by spending money. Like this he saved money for his bike but he was always telling that he has no money. But his friends found out from his mother that Ramesh saved money for bike and bought bike but he told his friends the bike is bought on loan. So this was my uncle’s friends revenge against him.

One of his friend asked “Ramesh, order something” he replied “It’s fine I will drink water”. He knew if he order too it will be a big amount.

He even tried to escape by going to the restroom, but his friends didn’t allow it.

Finally, the bill came—it was 6000 rupees. Ramesh had only 4000 rupees. When the bill came, my uncle looked at it like it was his exam result. In the end, his friends helped him pay the remaining amount.

That was my uncle—clever at times, foolish at others, and always unforgettable. Years later, I understood something.

Everyone laughed at my uncle…
but no one really lived as freely as he did.

He made mistakes, he got punished, he failed many times…
yet he never stopped living life on his own terms.

Maybe he wasn’t a perfect man.

But he was the most real one I have ever seen.