Rodrick’s father was a very strict man. He would run his
house on strict discipline. An inch of deviation and the deviating person would
have to face his ire. Now Rodrick was his darling son but Mathew (Rodrick’s
father) was stricter with him as Rodrick was a growing kid and he felt the
children who are growing up need more discipline and regularity in their work
and life.
The rules which Rodrick had to follow were:-
*Getting up at 5:00 am early in the morning.
*Doing exercises for about an hour.
*Then performing the Surya Namaskar.
*Before going to school revising what had been taught the
previous day.
*After coming home from school, an hour of sleep.
*Two hours continuous study and then playing in the evening
for an hour.
*Watching on T.V. for thirty minutes.
*Computer games for thirty minutes.
*Then again study for two hours.
*Have dinner.
*Read story books for thirty minutes.
*The go to bed at 10:30 pm.
This was Rodrick’s daily routine without a variation.
With that there were few other rules also. Rodrick couldn’t
have chocolates, ice creams in which chocolate was present and any chocolaty
food. This was his father’s rule.
On the other hand Rodrick loved having chocolates. His heart
would go out to the chocolates but he was helpless. In this matter of chocolates,
Rodrick’s mother was his best friend. She understood that he liked chocolates,
so she would take him on shopping trips and would buy him big chocolate bars
and Rodrick had to finish up the bar of chocolate before reaching home. She
would tell him-“Finish it up quickly, don’t take it home.” Rodrick would listen
to her like an obedient child.
Even at school whenever somebody would give him a toffee or
a chocolate, he would have it in the tiffin break.
It was a sad situation for him.
One day Rodrick was playing in the evening with a tennis
ball which he used to carry with him to school. His mother had bought him two
tennis balls. So he had kept one in the drawer and the other was the one with
which he was playing. That night he went to sleep without putting the ball back
into the bag. At nearly twelve when he woke up as he was feeling restless, he
remembered that he had forgotten to keep the ball back into the bag. When he
got up, he could hear television sounds. He knew that his father used to watch
late night movies, so he didn’t bother. When he was searching for the ball, he
came near the drawing room and heard the sound of something being unwrapped. He
took a peep from behind the curtains (he didn’t the have the courage to look
directly inside the drawing room where his father was watching the television)
and what did he see? He saw his father unwrapping a cadbury chocolate bar. He
couldn’t believe his eyes, so he took a closer look and he clearly saw his
highly strict father taking a big bite of the chocolate bar.
Rodrick immediately rushed to his mother, woke her up and
took her to the drawing room.
On seeing her husband amazingly eating chocolate, she
thought that she was dreaming, but when she saw him taking bites after bites
she realized that she was not dreaming.
She entered the room. Her husband, who upon noticing his
wife and son in the room, looked very startled. She asked him-“You are eating
chocolates? You always advise us not to eat chocolates and yet you are eating
chocolates like a school kid.”
Mathew-“I was hungry. So I was eating it. Today in my
office, a colleague gave us all a bar of chocolate each as his son had scored
well in the exams.”
His wife-“So? It’s your rule that chocolates are bad for
teeth, then how can you break it when we all follow it religiously.”
Mathew-“For eating chocolates, you need strong and mature
teeth, which only I have.”
His wife-“That’s plain hypocrisy. I know that when you were little you had lost two of your teeth to cavities due to eating chocolates, yet you deviate from your own law.”
Mathew-“See that’s the reason I strongly say no to
chocolates.”
His wife-“Yet at midnight you are eating it. From today
onwards there shall be no ban on chocolates. My son can have atleast half a bar
of chocolate everyday and I shall take care, that he doesn’t develop cavities.”
Mathew knew he was defeated, so he regained his role as the
head of the family and in a solemn and strict voice-“Do as you please, but
please let me watch the remaining part of the movie in peace.”
Rodrick hugged his mother, for he knew that from that day onwards, no one would stop him
from eating chocolates at his home and Rodrick’s mother was also very happy, as
she too liked chocolates and often thought of using them in her dessert dishes,
but refrained from doing so as her husband had banned it.
The whispers said that even Mathew was happy as he too liked
chocolates, but couldn’t eat them as he was afraid of his own built up rule.
After this Mathew became more of a friend to his son and their relationship was thousand times better and chocolaty.
Adios!
Before You Travel. 