Genetics is an amazing science. It is all credit to the genomic sequences that one may grow up like a giraffe but the sibling might refuse to expand vertically. Attention from society is guaranteed in these situations. There is a difference though. The tall ones get 'awes' that are mixed with exciting gasps whereas the shorter ones mostly get sympathetic sighs.
The realization of 'my' height problem didn't take many years to descend on my family. My sister and I have an age difference of a year. As we moved into teenage, she became taller than me very soon. This influenced the entropy of my life in a way that is hard to describe. It was soon publicly acknowledged in my family that I have a height problem. And every body was keen to resolve it.
My maternal grandpa was one of the most concerned. We lived in the same town and met frequently. Every time I visited him, he would advice me to do stretches on a metal bar that he had at his home. As popular believes go, this is a very good exercise for height issues. So I often found myself hanging on to it like a monkey does to a tree branch, wishing that this would work its way into my body. But when months turned into years and grandpa didn't see much improvement, his concern incremented. It got to a point where each and every time we met, he would ask "What's your height now? Has it increased or not?". This often happened even if we met only after a day. And then he would shake his head in disappointment when I answered in negative. I started avoiding him. The moment I saw him approaching our home, I would run away and take refugee at a friend's place, roof, playground etc etc. Sometimes I would pretend sleeping. He would then involve my mother into his worries. "It will be very tough to find a groom for her", he would say. And then his face would be shadowed by some recollection of his social experience.
I had my share of contributions to this drama. My mother was quite religious. Influenced by her and our bollywood cinema, my first attempt was in form of prayers. I scribbled tiny notes with appeal of help. I hid those among several idols and frames of God that my mother had in her temple room. Sometimes when I went to pray in the morning, I sat with my hands clasped in front of the idols and waited for a flower-drop. Now for those who pretend ignorance to this bollywood theme, here is a recap. A troubled unfortunate human. A big Idol of God. Eye-wetting cry for help in form of a song or emotional dialogues. And then it happens. A flower-drop. A flower adorned on the idol falls on the stretched out hands of the human. It signifies blessing and all the troubles go away one after another. Now I'm pretty sure a flower or two dropped on me over years. Logically thinking now it was mostly gravity working with frictional forces. It might have been the breezes working their way from the window in the temple room. But back then it was 'Hope'. And I believed that my prayers play a role in all the inches I score.
Where did schooling fit into all this? Hmm...With so many kids to manage, height was usually the common criteria that resolved many decision makings for teachers. Need to take a class of crazy students to playground, have a line formed by height. Have to show them some informative movie or video, have them seated by height. So, be it boarding a bus, standing in assembly line, parades, almost everywhere, I was there in the front few. I should have taken it as a privilege. It was like a front-of-line pass for the entire school life. But the happy and satisfied vibes that back-benchers gave, always superseded my rational judgment. I mean how can one not envy their eating lunch boxes in the back rows while we had to sit in the front rows and look straight into the teacher's eyes and nod in understanding after every few minutes!
Graduation...Profession...Continents...Marriage...Motherhood. That's life summarized for me over the past few years. It's hard to even recall when I stopped praying for my height increase. Perhaps it was the time when I started focusing prayers on good secondary school results or competitive exams or even affections. But I still get social attention for my 'tiny stature' or my 'so small' outlook and like-wise. My grandpa's worries about finding a groom are now replaced with the concerns about my ability to carry around my growing baby. But I think that I already made peace with my height long ago. Verbs will change. Nouns will remain. On the brighter side, there is a life to be lived.
