Accidental thievery
This incident is quite old. In those days, I was only 14 years old and had passed high school. My father was a very honest and strict Government officer.
No freedom was given to any child in our family, and there was no question of getting any pardon for any mistake, the punishment was definitely given according to the type of mistake.
But in childhood, no one is afraid of punishment, at that time we used to be the insistence on doing that work for which we instructed not to do it.
My father was regularly transferred to another place in every 3 years. and our family used to get government accommodation at every place of posting.
Most of the officers' families lived together in all these government residences. In those days, the means of entertainment were very limited. so all the officers' children were used to playing together in the evening in groups.
This time, we did not get the facility of a government house at the place where my father's posting took place. Due to that my father took the house at such a place, which place was surrounded by dense gardens on all three sides. Only a few houses were built in the middle of the gardens.
apart from our family, 7-8 more families were living in these houses.
We all were new people there, there was a completely new atmosphere for everyone. Initially, we were not acquainted with the children there, and due to the strict behavior of our father, we did not make friends with anyone quickly.
Because if they come to know, then some new punishment will be given to us. I slowly befriended 3 boys who lived there who were the same age as me, and the four of us used to meet secretly and play around the garden after our fathers goes to duty.
The garden was surrounded by barbed wire and it was forbidden to enter it, as the garden contained fruit trees of various kinds and bore fruit in all seasons. To protect these trees and fruits, a group of gardeners and guards also lived in the garden.
The minds of all of us friends were tempted to enter the garden. But for fear of strict restrictions and strict behavior of my father, I never dared to entering garden .
One day, all four of us were playing cricket near the garden when our ball went into the garden.
Now the question arose how to bring the ball from inside? In the end, all of us desided my name and that I had to go inside and get the ball.
Being feared, I entered the garden under the barbed wire and started looking for the ball. I didn't get the ball, but I did find a ripe mango lying on the ground.
As soon as I picked it up, a watchman caught me and shouted loudly at me, telling me you steal mangoes.
I told him that I found this mango lying on the ground and did not steal it. But he did not listen to me and snatched the mango from me, insulted me, and firmly kicked me out of the garden.
My mind got spoiled by the humiliation, so I told my friends all that happened to me and I insisted them to take revenge for my insult. One of my friend asked me how can we take revenge.
We made a plan that tonight when everyone is asleep, we would steal mangoes from the garden.
The friends accepted my request because they also wanted to see the garden inside and to do something exciting.
According to the plan, we sneaked into the garden at night and plucked 40-50 raw and some ripe mangoes, and were on our way out of the garden when the watchmen caught us and took us to the owner of the garden.
We did not know earlier that there was a police check post inside the garden. The owner of the garden handed us over to the police.
The in-charge of that check post was not in a mood to book us in jail due to our age so he thought that he would give a lesson to our families to recover some money from our families in exchange for leaving us.
All of these things have commonly happened in those days. And because our crime was also childish.
The chek post in-charge sent his constable to our homes to inform our families so that they come and take us away.
The father of the other three boys took away their sons, but my father told the constable if he had committed the crime, then send him to jail.
Therefore, I was left alone at the check post.
I was sure that my father will not come to help me because of his strict behavior so now I do not know what would happen to me.
But my luck was with me that day and fortunately, the owner of the garden came to the police in-charge and said to him, "Let him go. I know his father, he will not come at all to get rid of him. Because his father is a very strict Government officer.
The police let me off with a stern warning, but after reaching home, I was given a very bad punishment by my father for this theft.
This incident becomes a bad dream for me. After that, I did not even look at the garden for a long time.
Picture https://pixabay.com/photos/mangoes-fruit-tree-indian-mango-6994290/
@galenkp Thank you very much, I am honored to participate in and support this community. I will come back soon.
It is normal to feel angry and humiliated when we are accused of something we have not done, the bad thing is that they got caught in the act.
It's a good story to tell that left a bad memory for you sorry. @fantom22
@soyunasantacruz This is a true childhood incident. And you know that anyone who made some mistake in childhood could not forget it. Thanks.