A toothless tale!!

    Hello readers! 

    College started and I m full time occupied with volumes of journals to complete, surprise test attacks ( horrible things!!!) and cultural events happening in college. Due to my over activity at college the blog has been feeling neglected.. Here I m today (sneezing and coughing) on a leave from college and found the best way to rewind! 

    Taking a break from adult complexities and teenage confusions, here is a tale of innocence.. Do you all remember the first time your milk tooth fell?? Here's taking to back to that time!    

             "Sona, get up.." Mother gently tried waking her up.

            "Mammma... let me sleep for 5 more minutes." she put out her tiny hands out of the sheets to show her five fingers to her Mother.

             "From tomorrow you have to get up early for school.. Make it a habit from today itself."

             "Yes, from tomorrow I have to wake up anyway, so let me sleep all I want today." she murmured in her sleep.

              It was impossible to win against the reasoning of a child.

             "Ok then.. I m going to the market. Wake up before I return."

It was well past 11 when Sona was hungry and woke up. What a stress free time childhood is, where you can wake up only when you are hungry and food is already taken care of.. Where you are not responsible for anything.. any blemish on your part is answerable by the parent. 

She sleepily picked up her toothbrush and applied paste. She didn't like this ritual and the toothpaste always tasted bad.. Why couldn't they make sweet and sour tasting pastes? 

When she opened her mouth to put in the toothbrush a sharp pain shooted in her upper gums. She spit out the toothpaste and along with that came out a solid structure. She stared at the basin, at the flat tooth shaped substance.. her eyes opened out in horror..

She rushed to the large almirah that had an oval mirror. The sight made her cry. Her front tooth was no more there. 

She dashed back to the bathroom and picked up her precious teeth from the basin. 

All hunger was now forgotten and the worry of a toothless, grim future now gripped her.

She remembered asking her Grandma once,

"Nani.. why don't you have teeth like me?"

Her grandma had replied, "Sona, when I was young I used to eat lot of sweets and never brushed my teeth twice a day. If you want white pearl-like teeth you should brush once in morning and once at night and not eat too much sweet."

Sona had numerous times given a slip to the night ritual of brushing teeth.. She simply took in water and spit out to make sounds as if she were brushing teeth. When mother slept early she would stealthily go into the kitchen and eat the chocolates kept in the fridge. Funny how when you grow up , many chocolates eaten without restriction don't give the satisfaction that comes out of eating that forbidden chocolate stolen from fridge when you are a kid.

Sona regretted not listening to her grandma. If she had brushed regularly she would not have been toothless.

Another horror struck her. School would be starting tomorrow. All the kids would laugh and tease her. She would be called "grandma" by everyone now.. No one would want to play with her.

Her tongue reached upto that vacant space where her tooth once was. She had a feeling that the neighboring teeth were shaky too. Just like a card house falls one after the other when a single card is removed.

She again rushed to the bathroom and religiously brushed the remaining teeth, careful not to shake any of them..

  

She had to do something about the broken tooth. She searched in the kitchen drawer. Somewhere mother kept fevi stick. 

She took out the fevi stick and stood in front of the mirror. She applied the fevi stick on her gums like one would apply lipstick. She had seen mother apply lipstick many times. Mother made sure her lips were not wet when she applied lipstick by wiping her lips with tissue.. Then applying lipstick. 

Then she applied fevi stick to the upper side of the tooth and tried attaching the tooth back. The tooth fit perfectly. The moment she removed her hand it fell back into her mouth, leaving an unpleasant taste of the glue. 

She gargled her mouth several times. Fevi stick wouldn't work. She would need something else.

Father once stuck the broken scissor handle with M-seal. M-seal was even waterproof!!

She ransacked her father's toolbox. It was neatly hidden under the shoe rack. When you are a kid, you are like a rat that can search all the hidden places in the house without raising suspicion.

She took the M seal. She craftily mixed the black and the white that she had seen her father blend into a single grey color.

The M-seal had a very bad odor. If she stuck it into her upper gum she would have a bad breathe life long ! She considered spraying some mouth freshner to the M seal before putting it into her mouth. The ideas and activities of the young minds are boundless!

As she brought the Mseal closer to her mouth, she was overwhelmed by the smell of it and dropped the idea. Helpless, she lied down on the bed with her precious tooth and cried...

She wondered if the tooth could be tied.. or sewn.. a rather painful option..

Now she wouldn't be able to eat her favorite chocolates or biscuits.. Her nani even had to wet the chaklis in tea before eating.. Yuckk! what a tasteless it would be.. 

Her mother often read her fairytales in which the princess was always beautiful and with bright pearl teeth.. How she envied these princesses who never brushed their teeth and yet had such beautiful teeth...  

Mother found her crying on the bed..

"Sona, you haven't yet brushed your teeth?" 

Hearing this Sona burst out crying. She hid in her mother's lap. 

" What happened sona?" Mother was filled with worry.

"Mammma!!! I didn't brush my teeth yesterday night and look my tooth fell.. Now I will be ugly..no one would play with me.." she cried out.

"Oh.. Sona.. my innocent child.. budhuram everybody's teeth falls at this age. They are your milk teeth.. soon you would get your permanent teeth .. Everyone in your class will be having broken tooth by now.. Today I met your friend Ruta in market.. Her 4 teeth have fallen down."

Hearing the name of Ruta, Sona's face brightened up. She was Sona's friend. Her four teeth have fallen!!!! How you instantly feel better when someone you know is struck with same misery or sometimes a leeeetle more than you! 

"Now come, let's throw this tooth on the rooftop.."

The next day at school, Sona didn't open her mouth.. She didn't want to give away her secret yet. When Ruta came to sit next to her , Sona looked at her attentively. 

Then Ruta said, "Hi.." 

Oh my ! Four of her front teeth were broken. A complete window open!! 

Instantly Sona broke into a smile revealing the toothless tale!