Chewing Gum and Mumps

I think we all remember the first time we did / learnt something.  Remember the first step you took? - umm... okay not that... That is saved in our parent's memories.  So the first time I rode the cycle all on my own,  the first time I forged my mum's signature (this was also my last time, its a story I will post  some other day), the first time I had soda (yep, even before I had cola), making Rasna on my own, my first camping trip... There are soo many firsts.

When you are child you have your own perception of the world and how it works.  You tend to make your own inferences based on what you see or have heard someone talk.  When I was six there was a fete held at school and they had this one section where a couple of girls were playing a guitar and singing.  They had dressed up funny - wearing a chain of tomatoes around the neck, green chillies as earring, a straw hat and bright red lipstick.  You must know from my previous posts how short I was and to me this giant woman in this description was very scary.  I had heard stories about witches, their crooked noses and pointy hats.  So when I came to this particular stall saw the girls singing...  One of girls came very close to me and smiled (she was being nice) but what I saw was a giant witch from the stories coming alive and smiling the wicked smile at me (like I'm gonna take you away!).  I even thought her face looked green (given my imaginative mind)! I let out a scream and ran from the stall.  That was the first time I had encountered a witch (so I thought then). When I reached home I told mum the story between sobbing and sniffing and she explained to me that witches exist but only in stories and the girl was only trying to be nice.

The reason I mentioned the above incident was to give an example how I interpreted things from what I had heard and imagined.  The real story for the post is about chewing gum and what I thought happens when you munch on too much of it.  (I think you're guessing what must have happened).  I remember the first time I had chewing gum, before that I only had candy that is chewed and swallowed.  My Mum had got this packet of Chiclets (remember those?) and she instructed me - Only chew it DON'T swallow.  When I put it in my mouth the minty taste was almost bitter and I had that whats-this-I'm-eating expression but I soon got the hang of it. I think I did swallow it the first time (bet everyone does that).

Mum would always only give me one gum at a time and I wanted to have more.  One evening when  she was out I flicked the packet of gum from her bag and put five pieces in my mouth all at a time. I hopped out of the house and into the nearby garden and coolly sat chewing on the now-big piece of gum feeling glad about successfully achieving my target. I munched on the piece for a long time.  I returned home after couple of hours of chewing was complete, by now my jaws were starting to hurt.  At night I came down with a fever and next morning woke up with sore jaws.  My cheeks had swollen and I could not open or move my mouth., not even to speak. Mum took me to the doctor who diagnosed Mumps (An acute, inflammatory, contagious disease characterized by swelling of the salivary glands. This disease, mainly affects children)

I assumed I had contracted it because of the stunt I had pulled off the previous evening.  Thought it was God's way of punishing me for the crime I had committed - not listening to your mother. I did not dare say a word of it to my Mum.  After that day for about six years I stopped chewing gum altogether because I had imbibed this strong idea that chewing gum causes mumps. It was a case of co-incidence and naïveté coming together.  Years later my Mum talked about the time I had the mumps and it was at that time I mentioned about the flicking act and why I had stopped chewing gum.

When people talk about the things that leave an impressions on kids and what huge impact it can make I remember this incident and think - Indeed!