Accidental Exposure
My name is Rahul and I am studying in the final year of school in Chennai, India. During the summer season it is sweltering hot and sweaty inside the house as we don't have air conditioning. Hence I go up to the terrace to study under the light next to the stairwell. We live in a 4 storied apartment building and the terrace is shared by 36 other apartments. We have about 24 such apartments in our area. There are lots of young students in college and schools in our area and many come up to the terrace to study, workout or simply for fresh air, as we are all in the same income group and hence our living conditions are similar.
My Mom works in the Government and has a steady 9-5 job and hence will help me in my studies as she has a Master's degree. We have our own nook up in the terrace which is hidden from others and we have a concrete bench to sit under a light. There are some water tanks which hide us from the neighbouring apartments and hence we can study in peace.
As this is a very important year in school and I have to take the competitive exams for engineering admissions at the end of this academic year, my Mom and I take my studies seriously and she gets information from the internet and her other friends at work whose sons have scored well in competitive exams.
My Mom is 37 years old as she got married at 18(as is normal here in India) and I was born within a year. For me she was MOM and hence I thought she was like every other Mom's except that I noticed that grownup men would behave like imbeciles in front of her and would smile widely if she just looked in their direction. I guess she is pretty but for a young boy women are just women and Moms are just Moms. My older friends always talked about girls but I didn't see what the fuss is about.
My house always had visitors and my friend as well as the older boys in our area were all my friends and visited me often and let me hang out with them even though I was a few years younger. I had a lot of friends especially among the other teens of 18 or 19 who were in University doing Engineering and Medicine. My Mom also encouraged me to make friends with these boys and asked me to learn from them so that I will also get admission with a scholarship in some good Engineering college. My Dad was abroad in Dubai and my Mom stayed back because of her job and for my education. I am the only child hence my parents wanted the best for me.