The end of a yellow swing ...

In our old house, we had 2 swings in a single mango tree, in 2 branches. The smaller one with the yellow plastic ropes was the first swing in our house-hold. As soon as it was made, I self-proclaimed, its ownership to keep my cousin away from it. [“MY dad made it!”-was my reason ]. But the elders didn’t reckon my “gunda-ship” and soon made another one, for my cousin. Truly, it was far better than mine. It was much larger, and its seat was made of flat-wood, while mine was cylindrical.[oh!! That made my bum sore!! ]   To my utter shock and despair, she never got up from it. She ate, talked and spent more than 5 hrs a day in that. I waited like a “planning murderer” to get hold of it. I tried blackmailing her or luring her with some “goli” [colourful pebbles!!!] in exchange of the new swing’s ownership… naaah! She was not “that” type! She had the ability to think, u know…So, I waited and waited…   When she went to her dad’s house, I jumped with joy. I was in her swing 24 hrs a day. I sat in it… then when I got bored, I stood on it. Then I sat with my legs on either side… I swung lengthwise and even breadth wise… finally I had enough! Fine! Now that’s the fun you get, when you enjoy others things in their absence!!! Certainly I did enjoy!!!   When she came back, I wasn’t so desperate this time. I have “known” the fun, now. But still, there was this gnawing feeling inside me that she had a better and nice swing. Our playmates preferred to be with her. They took turns in using her swing. Because of my not-so-good behaviour when I “owned” the yellow swing, I was prevented from using the new swing! Amma told : “You didn’t share your old swing with her. So now you are not entitled to share her swing!”. Now you know why I considered her as my rival. Even my Amma supported her…**scowl**. See, I hated her for a valid reason, u know… I was 6 then, and I know I had relatively less bad behaviour for a 6 yr old!!!   Now, after 20 + years, my own yellow swing is gone... It suffered a natural death, when the parent branch went down on a heavy monsoon . And I wasn’t living there any more to mourn!! But the mango tree is still there and to my utter disbelief, my cousin’s swing is undamaged [that swing is 22 yrs old!!!! ]. It can carry even my current weight.[he…he..he] Whenever I go there, I will spend at least 2 hrs in that swing, to compensate for all those desperate years of “swing longing” LOL!!!