Offering The Other Cheek
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.