The Adventures of Nattu - 1

I was 13 years old. A year back I had read “Adventures of Tom Sawyer” as apart of the school curriculum. Usually school work came last in my list of things to do. With Tom Sawyer, though, I was fascinated. I realised that my life was a dull drag, and I longed for something that would justify a book called “Adventures of Nattu”. I decided that something needed to be done. I planned, discarded the plan then re-planned. Nothing that could qualify as “adventurous” materialised. I re-read the book. Could I plagiarise something of Tom’s adventures. Then it came to me. I could run away from home. Anyways my exam results were due and it was a good time to do it. But merely running away from home didn’t satisfy me, I had to do something more.

I drew up a plan, worked on it till I was satisfied. I was going to do it. I went to school by the day and thought about it all the time. At home I worked on the details. I being me couldn’t hold on to the secret for long. I was dying to tell someone about the brave thing I was doing. Who else could I confide in but my partner in numerous crimes, Samit! Samit was excited, he too wasn’t expecting great things from the exam results (how could he, he had studied with me). He said he would join me. We worked every evening on it.

Finally the D-Day arrived. Precisely at 4:30 in morning we slipped out of our houses (we had synchronised our watches the previous evening). We reach the designated rendezvous point. Few agonising minutes were spent trying to find Samit. I quietly whispered his name as I negotiated thorny bushes (This was in the pre-mobile days). We found each other and made our way to the sea shore. We quickly uncovered the product of our labour of the past 2 weeks. The raft looked ready to take the sea. We hefted it, huffing and puffing we made it to the sea. We had to work fast. The plan was to leave at first light. Samit looked at me and asked “Do you think it is good idea?” I didn’t reply. I got on the raft and looked at him. With a resigned sigh he got on it. We were away.

The target was a small island on the other side of the bay some 8 miles off. We took turns in rowing and steering. We had made some ground but had a long way to go. We took a break. With a practiced flourish I took out a packet of cigarettes and matchbox carefully wrapped in water proof plastic. I had planned well. Samit asked “Do you think it is good idea? What if mom and dad some to know?”. That sissy, I regretted having got him along. I mean what’s the point in running away from home if a mom-substitute accompanies you. We quickly completed the cigarette and got back to work.

We were now about 3 miles from where we started. The waves were starting to buffet the raft. Suddenly with a loud creak the raft broke, I fell into the sea. I didn’t know how to swim. I thrashed around till my hands grabbed one log of the raft. I hoped it would hold. I heard “Mummy, mummy, help” somewhere in the distance. I couldn’t care less. That bloody mama’s boy. I was going to die. But at least I had my adventure. I remembered how Tom Sawyer got a memorial service when people thought he was dead. I hoped my parents would so something similar.

Two strong hands grabbed me. I had drifted off dreaming of Becky. I saw Samit next to me looking miserable. We had been rescued by some fishermen who were going out for their day’s work. They dropped us at a nearby jetty. We made out way back home. My mom was all over me. I didn’t tell her the whole story. After a couple of days my results came out. I was ranked between a retard who liked to pull out his nose hair and contemplate over it for hours and Samit the sissy. If my dad was upset he didn’t show it. My mom even made some sweets t celebrate my passing. My sister sulked a little bit as she wondered whether 59th in the class was better than first. I had my adventure, my results were forgotten and Samit got his mummy back.