365 DAYS 365 TALES

'Mom! Can you ride a horse?'

'Mom! Can you ride a horse?' the question came from my seven year old daughter when we were crossing the traffic jammed road, on the way to her school. And to be honest, with the honking cars and buses, I did not pay any attention to the question. I was more worried about getting to the other side of the road before the glorious green light turned red sending the mad rush vehicles to trample on us again.

We reached the other side without any problems as I sighed in relief and that was when the question of my daughter finally made its way to my head. I looked around the road to see the equine animal in question and saw nothing which had four legs anywhere on the road. The animals were smart because they knew not be out in this mad rush.

I glanced at my daughter wondering what had prompted the question for my daughter. But then experience had taught me that if I did not answer these type of seemingly 'innocent questions' immediately, they led to eventual embarrassing moments which could best be avoided.

'No! I can't!' I told my daughter truthfully. 'Why?'

'I think you should learn how to ride it!' was all my daughter said as she continued skipping towards school, completely ignoring the fact that I was actually scared.

I do not want to go into the details, but the truth was that a horse was the most scariest thing that I can think of. I have not made research into the area, but I am sure that all my nightmares features at least one horse galloping towards me. 

And it all started when I was five when my father against my wishes got me on a horse. I do not remember that occasion, but I do remember that I am never forgiving my father for that...Until the age of sixteen, I was repeatedly reminded of exactly how much I cried while sitting on the horse...Anyway, as I said, details are quiet unnecessary....

And I had a bigger problem. I had to know why my daughter wanted me to go near the one animal, I swore that I would never even look at.

'Why should I ride a horse?' I asked my daughter after I started feeling slightly brave.

'I think we will need it to go to grandfather's house!' was the only cryptic answer she gave me. In case you are wondering, both her grandparents live about a three hundred kilometers away from our home.

Ok...Now I had a new nightmare material. Me galloping on a horse to the house of the grandparents...

I shook my head sighing. 'Why can't we go by train? Like we always go?' I asked my daughter.

'Do you know there is something called petrol mom?' my daughter asked.

I said nothing because my daughter was not really expecting an answer.

'Our teacher told us, that we need petrol to drive our vehicles and even our trains! Do you know that this petrol is not available easily!' My daughter continued, her eyes rolling in interest. 'Petrol is formed when trees and animals which died many many years ago are buried under the earth for thousand years!' I am guessing that thousand is a very big number for my daughter.

'Ok!' I said nodding. 'So?' We still had not got to the point of me galloping on a horse.....

'How will we have petrol mom?' My daughter asked looking at me puzzled. 'You people seem to be using up all of it! In that traffic signal, none of those uncles in the car even stopped the vehicle at the signal! They were wasting the petrol! So I am guessing, we will not have any, when we grow up! That is why I wanted to know how to ride a horse!' My daughter said looking very serene as she watched me. 'Horses don't need petrol to run!' she finished with her usual cute smile.

I was completely shocked for the whole of two seconds, because frankly I did not know what to say. I watched the mad rush of the traffic behind and before me and for the first time in my life, I was glad that we always walk to my daughter's school which was just two lanes away from our home.

I watched my daughter as I saw the traffic around me...

She was right...Probably it was time for me to chuck my fear and learn how to drive the damned animal...The way we were going, we were probably going to need it....

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(21/02)

Author - SAKrishnan