Dilip Kaku and the Boot Polish

DILIP KAKU AND THE BOOT POLISH 

© mulshankar13.

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If one thing that stands apart in a Convent or Anglo Indian Schools from the rest in India, it is “DISCILPLINE”.

Every morning when you enter the school gate, the dress, the hair cut and the boots are threateningly watched by the Prefects and the School Vice Captain and the Captain.

Having never been caught once for my shoes till then it was a goal for me to keep up those standards. Every morning I got up early and polished my boots quite to my satisfaction until one day when it was just 0545 hours in the morning and Dilip Kaku stepped out of his house for the morning shift.

He noticed me religiously polishing my boots sitting on my veranda while others of my age would still be on bed. Dilip Kaku (Dilip Basu) decided to give office a wait for five minutes and walked down to me.

“What are you doing son so early in the morning?”

“Kaku, I am polishing my boots to keep it well shining.”

“Hmm, let me see!” He bent down to minutely watch my shoes and turned his neck a bit to check if my efforts were not in vain. “Very good! But it’s not shining yet.”

“Well I have been polishing it for the last fifteen minutes”.
“Hmm, that’s a serious problem. Today’s brushes are not good. But you are not polishing it correct.

Your boots are only polished if you can see your face in it. It should be shining that bright that you can see your face in it’s reflection.”
With these words he marched speedily towards the Mill Field area.

Confused and disappointed, I decided to fight back. Immediately after coming back home that day I started polishing my boots. After a half an hour of rigorous ritual of boot polish I planned the exercise again for the next day early morning.

Dilip Kaku as usual again came out of his house at 0545 looked at me and waved and walked away.

I continued my rigorous ritual of boot polish as before. The idea of having one’s boots so well polished that one can see the face struck me deep enough and I started polishing my shoes twice a day. And as I sweated during those rigorous rituals I only hoped that I can see my face in my shining boots.

Meanwhile my father had already taken note of this and tried to convince me that “Boots if neat are as good as well polished and you can never see your face in it.” He met Dilip Kaku on the weekend at tea and told him that I argued “Dilip Kaku has told me that boots are well polished only if you can see your face in it.” He told him that I am getting up every day at 0500 hours in the morning to polish my boots.

The weekend passed and again on Monday morning I was polishing my boots. It was 0530 in the morning and Dilip Kaku had come out from his home for his morning shift fifteen minutes before than usual. He waved at me but this time after walking a few paces towards the Mill Field Area he walked back towards me.
“So how are the boots?”

“Well I am trying hard but I can’t see my face in it still!”

“Let me see.” He picked up one of the boots and told “Well they are shining! Can you ever see your face on a black surface?”And ruffled my hairs and marched speedily towards the Mill Field area again.