Wrestling In The Real World

I was traveling by train recently. There was a family of 6.5 (husband and wife in their 30's, 2 teenage daughters, five year old son and parents of the husband in their 60's) sitting next to me. The younger of the girls was exceedingly fair and pretty. They were a handsome family.

The person that this story is about is the little boy who was too young to have a seat for himself (children up to the age of 5 travel free). He and I got close and we started playing. I asked him whether he knew how to do "panja" (hand wrestle). He didn't know, so I explained the intricacies of the game to him.

It was a little tricky since his arm was shorter than mine and when our fingers were entwined together our elbows could not be together, his elbow was hanging somewhere midair, if you know what I mean. He brushed the issue aside and challenged me to a bout.

People around us were watching this war between a tough north Indian and an equally tough south Indian. I lost 3 quick games in succession each in about 5 seconds.

The victorious man then looked around and pointed to a 20 year old guy (who was a student and who was from Bihar) and told him menacingly "You next". The student was knocked out in a few brief sessions.

The boy couldn't hide his thrill. He looked around and asked each of his siblings and parents. Each one shook their head, none was willing to challenge him.

The only person who was man enough to tackle him was his grandmother. The grandson and the grandmother started hand wrestling. 

I have to go into the psyche of the boy now to do justice to what happened next. Here was the Hitler who had overrun eastern Europe (me) with ease and then conquered the low countries (the student) to the west and north with equal ease. And now looking at his grandmother to lay her arms and beg for mercy. Little did he expect that history would be repeated, that his grandmother would be a Winston Churchill who proclaimed loudly that she will fight on the seats, on the berths, on the beaches, on the aisles etc.

After beating me and the guy from Bihar hands down, he thought beating his grandmother would be a piece of cake. Even at such a young age, children know who would be a stronger opponent and who wouldn't be. And for the life of him, he couldn't accept the stiff fight that his grandma put up.

His entire family family burst out laughing seeing his perplexed face as he tried to pin his grandma's palm down.

It reminded me of a friend who recounted what a doctor said to her "Children (in India) these days are so pampered by their family that when they become adults they are hardly able to face the harsh realities of the real world".

I hope this boy learns to wrestle well.