I passed out of school and entered the portals of college life. It was a completely
different life. There was freedom in the air. There were no rules or
regulations of wearing a uniform. There was freedom from the school bag. Here I
experienced a greater freedom of expression.
College life brought me in contact with other teenagers of my age. Their
thought process was different and more independent. Unlike school life where I
followed a set schedule and timetable and used the school bus, going to college
was completely a different affair. Here
a free period meant we could go to the library, canteen or an outside café
something quite unthinkable during school days.
The freedom of college like does strange things to different
people as we begin to experiment with the boundaries of freedom as we embark on our journey of college life. One
day I got an invite for a birthday party from a girl who was my college batch
mate. We were all very excited about attending a party. The excitement of my
batch mates grew many folds when they came to know that the party had been organized at a farm house that was outside the city. What this meant for me was
that I would perhaps never get the permission to attend this party. As the date
of the party got close the exuberance of my friends grew at the prospects of a farm
house party. As for me it would surely be out of bounds as my father would not
agree in letting me go so far without him and then returning alone at night.
Some of my college friends even teased
me saying that till when will I remain and act like a little girl. Some others
were sympathetic to my situation saying that perhaps they could go up to my
father and request him that he should let me go for the party.Yet another set
of friends were of the opinion that since this party would be a great learning
experience about the world outside then why don’t you tell your father that
it’s a college educational tour that you are going to . The logic they
presented was that since the entire college class is going so it can be labelled
as a college tour and you are bound to learn something from the experience so
what is the harm in calling it an educational tour. At times when we are
supposed to make difficult choices our mind sometimes plays tricks and tends to
present facts in slightly altered way or by omission or deletion of certain
facts presents the facts in a different light to suit our needs. Call it the
spur of the moment or peer pressure I decided to go to this party. Reasoning
with my mind my heart settled for the college educational trip theory. I
presented it to my parents. With some convincing as to how important it would
be for my academic progress and there would be marks awarded towards the final project I persuaded them to let me go. When the day of the trip arrived I reached
college with my backpack which had my party dress, all set to attend the party.
The cars had been arranged by the birthday girl to pick and
drop us . We started our journey singing songs and telling jokes. It was a
unique experience. Then my thoughts drifted to my parents and home.
Subconsciously I was all the time thinking as to how my parents would react to
my attending such a party and also how they would react on finding that I had
told them a lie. Slowly this fear of getting caught was overtaken by the
feeling of falsehood. My parents had always done the utmost to do the best for
me in life. At times they had sacrificed their own happiness to get me things
that would bring me happiness and joy. Till now my relationship with my parents
had been very transparent where I never hid anything from them. It was a
relationship of trust. These thoughts made me very uneasy. Whenever I used to
be in any dilemma or emotional situation I used to discuss it with my parents
who had always stood like a sheath anchor for me . Instinctively I reached out
for the phone and dialled my home
telephone number. From the other side I heard my father’s voice that was ever
so comforting. By now the feeling of guilt had been overcome by my resolve to
tell the truth and I told my father everything. He was quiet for a moment that seemed
like eternity and then he spoke in a calm voice “Then why are you telling me
now?” I said “Papa I could no longer bear the thought of not telling you the
truth”
He said “Relax beta, Enjoy the evening”
I felt a burden come off my chest. I had discovered the
peace that comes with the telling of truth.
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