“Hey Chiku, what’s up?” asked Ajay as Chiku alighted from his bicycle. Chiku badly wanted to reply “my curiosity” but he thought the better of it as he saw Ajay’s father standing at the till of his restaurant. He was attending to a customer. Ajay’s father could very well turn around and ask what Chiku was so curious about that he had cycled early in the morning to meet his son.
And Chiku certainly did not fancy that situation.
It was the weekend and at that breakfast hour there were many customers who had come over to savour the various delicacies served at the restaurant. In fact, he could see a customer enjoying a paper dosa which was as long as Chiku’s arm.
Chiku quickly parked his bicycle near the entrance and beckoned Ajay to come out.
Ajay was one of the Fantastic Four group of Chiku’s friends. The other 2 members of the group were Venky and Ricky. All 4 of them were not only in the same class but in the same section as well – VIII B, in a leading co-educational school of the city.
Ajay’s family originally belonged to Lucknow and his father ran a restaurant in the busy area of Sriya Talkies Lane in Bhubaneswar. It was named Ambar Restaurant. It was true to its name as they had a menu as widespread as the sky, serving a wide variety of dishes with a multi cuisine flavour.
Ajay’s father was a culinary expert himself and had served as a chef in one of the leading hotel chains in the country before the entrepreneur bug bit him. He resigned from his job and set up a restaurant in Bhubaneswar as not only he liked the place and its people, but also Odisha was the home State of his wife.
On weekends sometimes, Ajay would take a break from his studies and come over to the restaurant to help his father out.
“Hey Ajay, need to talk something private to you.”
“Sure dost. Ask straight away.”
Chiku then proceeded to tell his friend the events of the morning without going too much into the specifics. All he said was that he had seen a random dream that had aroused his senses in a never-before manner.
Ajay smiled and explained to him that it was called ejaculation and proceeded to tell him in detail what that meant. At the end of it, Chiku was a bit relieved to understand it was a normal function in boys hitting adolescence and henceforth if he wanted, he could himself initiate an erection and then ejaculate – an act called masturbation.
“You have done it?” asked a still hesitant Chiku.
“What?” countered his friend.
“Err…that act you said…with your own thing.”
“Yes, few times already” replied Ajay laughing.
That was a lot of information to process at once for Chiku. However, he had been right in his decision to meet his friend and seek some of the answers to the questions which had been troubling him since morning.
For you see though Ajay was never a school topper, yet he was worldly wise. Though only a few months elder to Chiku, he was more aware of the surroundings around him. Ajay seemed to have answers ready for different situations. He had one elder sister who was also studying in the same school as them.
“It is awesome. You should try it too” suggested Ajay with a wink, obviously enjoying the unbridled curiosity of his friend.
“I am not too sure if I am going to try it anytime soon!” replied a blushing Chiku. In his mind he was still trying to fathom this new development in his life.
“Anyways friend welcome to the growing up boys club!” Ajay concluded by saying and giving a friendly punch to Chiku’s round puffed-up cheeks.
“Ajay!” bellowed his father’s voice at that instant from within the restaurant. “Come and calculate this customer’s bill and collect the cash.” That was a signal for their brief yet enlightening meeting to end and for Chiku to leave.
“Chiku…just wait a moment,” said Ajay as he rushed inside to attend to the customer.
Chiku noticed after the customer had paid the bill, Ajay quickly scribbled something on its reverse side and came and handed it over to him.
“Look it up in the dictionary.”
Intrigued Chiku opened it to read the paper. In it was written only a single word and of course it was something he had never heard of before.
That Odia Boy 
The journey of turbulent teenage years begin for Chiku. The phase in life where he has lots of questions and curiosity up his mind that leave him confused, but fortunately has a friend to share his experiences and discuss to get some answers. I guess, the present generation parents should be more broad-minded to discuss about this ‘sexual awakening’ in the teens and be more as a friend to them to handle these difficult years where the children undergo rapid developments physically as well as psychologically. This is educative for the parents who have teenage boys at home. Keep your thoughts flowing with equal fluidity each time!
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Hello Sunanda!,
Thank you. Yes indeed these days other than more ‘broad-minded’ parents as you mention there is the power of Internet too. So kids these days may be more aware than what our generation was.
Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughts on this chapter. Look forward to your comments in future chapters too!
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