But all through my childhood and teenage years, any time my mother said ” you know what will happen” I used to panic.
I think it started with the kunjadu (little lamb/goat)story amma used to tell us before leaving us alone at home while she did errands.
The story goes like this, mama goat has to go out to do the shopping and can’t take the baby goats with her. Before she leaves, she tells the baby goats not to open the door if someone knocks..and wolf sees mama goat leaving for the mall and knock at the door.. The baby goats remember their mother’s advice and did not open the door.. Eventually over the weeks the wolf gets smarter and talk to the baby goats using mama goat’s voice and they open the door.. So you know what will happen !!
But as we grew up..any time Amma wanted to be in control..all she had to say was ” you know what will happen” and my sisters and I would stop doing whatever that bothered amma..for that simple sentence suggested endless doom !
If Amma caught me climbing the mango tree she would simply say ” you know what will happen”
and I imagined the rest of the sentence with worst possible outcomes..you know what will happen if you climb the mango tree… You could fall down and die!!including death..
If she didn’t want me to go to the Jethro Tull’s concert, all she had to do was to say ” you know what will happen” . I was 21, working as a doctor, yet I ended up feeling so miserable and didn’t go for the concert.. ( and not to forget that I stood in a queue for 8 hours to get the ticket!!)
I was working in my garden yesterday trying to build a pond.. It has been a dream to grow lotus..My mother always had lotus growing in our house..and I was thinking about her a lot yesterday.
While I was busy digging, my son came out eating a piece of cheese and asked me if I needed a hand..
I saw the cheese and asked ” Can I have a bite?”
( Not because I wanted the cheese. My son has OCD and find it very difficult to share food..especially things like cheese that you can’t break, but have to bite to get a piece.. I am just trying to wear him down)
My son looked at the cheese in his hand and then looked at my hopeful face and replied
“No”
and I told him without really thinking much
“You know what will happen to little boys who won’t share cheese with their loving and kind mother?”
He looked at me for a second, grinned and replied
“They grow up to be great men”
I laughed so much..and I wish so much that for once I could have said the same to my mother..instead of feeling miserable all through my childhood for no real reason.