The Watch That Stopped Time
One of the most memorable days of my childhood, etched deeply in my memory, is when my dad gifted me my first watch. It was a basic digital watch, but given his frugal nature, I assumed it must have cost a fortune.
I was so thrilled that I wore a half-sleeve uniform for school in winter for several days just so my schoolmates could catch a glimpse of my brand-new digital watch! The excitement, however, took a nosedive when one day, the watch suddenly stopped working. The display went blank, and my heart sank.
“Dad, look! It stopped working. It’s not even a week, and the display is gone!”
“Take it to Goyal Electronics and ask them to replace it with a new one.”
“Okay. And where is the bill? I’m sure they would ask for it.”
This is when my dad took a pause. I guess he had just realized something.
“Tell them it’s the free gift with the Kelvinator fridge we bought from them,” he said.
I was stunned at the revelation.
Say what you will about my dad’s love for money, but when it came to education, I never heard a no from him whenever I needed a book, stationery, or even exam forms. It was as if he had a secret stash of cash just for academics, but everything else was a battlefield of frugality.
