"What are you doing?", Kittunni asked, looking down, incredulously, at his feet, where his father Mohan was busy.
Mohan, who was fiddling with Kittunni's shoes, looked up. "Can't you see what I am doing?", he asked in an irritated tone.
"Duh! I can. Hence the question", Kittunni replied.
It was the school annual day. Grade 1 students were presenting a theatre show and Kittunni was taking part in it. Mohan and Kittunni were inside the dressing room at the backstage where Mohan was trying to get Kittunni ready with his costume and makeup. They could hear the chaos outside the room with teachers and students running and orders being passed around to make sure the show goes smooth. The Annual Day programs had already started and their show was going to start in the next 10 minutes.
"I am just making sure the shoes and costumes are all right", Mohan said.
"You are making it more worse. You realise I am the hero of the movie, right? I can't compromise on my looks", Kittunni replied, looking at the mirror to make sure he is looking his part for the show.
"Hero? What hero? You are just an unmoving tree stuck at one place the whole time in the whole show!! Not even a stupid dialogue to speak"
"Exactly. I will be on the stage the entire time. That's the definition of hero, in case you don't know. The entire team is depending on me to make this show a success. Don't screw it up"
Mohan shook his head and went back to his work.
"Where is Manju", Kittunni asked.
"Hey, she was not named on your lap. Give her respect", Mohan snapped
"Alright. Oh respected father where is my respected mother"
"Yeah good question, where is she?"
Mohan opened his mobile. "Where the hell are you", he typed in.
In a theatre nearby someone received a message. She read it, gave a smirk, put the mobile back into the purse and continued watching the movie.
"Oh no!!!". A look of dread came over Kittunni's face.
"What?", Mohan asked
"I hope she is not taking revenge", Kittunni said, his face filled with tension.
"What revenge?", Mohan asked.
"Try to remember your dialogue this morning Oh respectful father", Kittunni replied angrily.
"I would have said many things - 'Oh my lovely wife', 'Oh beautiful one' - which one are you referring to"
"I definitely didn't hear any of those. But I did hear one - 'You big fat lazybones!!! Just sitting and doing timepass the whole day?"
Mohan's face went red.
"If I am guilty, then so are you. What did you do when I said that? Laughed so hard that you were rolling on the floor. What was there to laugh so much?"
"Hey, I was just giving you some moral support. That's what bros do. Be grateful", Kittunni snapped back.
Both looked at each other for a few seconds. Mohan was the first to break the awkward silence.
"Ok so let's think this through. Manju is not going to come. Which means both of us are royally screwed. What to do now?"
"This is your thinking through?", Kittunni asked angrily.
"Not helping man. C'mon work with me here". He thought for a while. "Ok, let me finish up with the shoes first"
Mohan got back at Kittunni's shoes. He has been trying for last half an hour to get the shoes tied up properly.
Kittunni looked up, helplessness written all over his face.
"Why me God? Why are you punishing this innocent child for the crimes of his parents? Now I am stuck with a person who can't even tie a shoe lace", he muttered under his breath
"Did you say something?", Mohan asked, looking up towards Kittunni.
"Nothing"
After few moments, which felt like hours to Kittunni, Mohan got up.
"There, all set!!!", Mohan said, with a sense of great accomplishment.
Kittunni looked down at his shoes and then looked back at Mohan. Kittunni looked as if someone banged his head into a pile of cow dung. Mohan got irritated.
"What?", he asked
"You have tied the shoe lace of one shoe with lace of the second. How the hell will I walk with this?"
"Oh". Mohan looked down and realised his mistake. "No worries. I will fix it in a jiffy"
"No thanks. You have done more than enough for one day. I will go without any shoes". He removed the shoes and tossed them to the corner.
Suddenly someone knocked on the door. It was his teacher.
"Kittu, the show is going to start in 2 mins. Hurry up!"
"Come let's go", Mohan said, dragging Kittunni to the door. "You are looking like a perfect tree"
"Perfect tree??? I am still in my underwear! For God's sake give me something to cover my chu-chu!". Kittunni cried out. He was getting tensed by the minute.
"Yeah sorry. Got it right here". Mohan put his hands inside the bag and pulled out a piece of cloth.
Kittunni got the shock of his life. "What is this?", he asked in disbelief.
Mohan turned and looked at what he was holding.
"Err...a Dhoti?", Mohan replied.
"In which universe does a tree wear a Dhoti???", he cried his lungs out. Kittunni was losing it.
"I thought you said you had to wear Dhoti for the Traditional Day", Mohan defended himself.
"That's next week!!!Today is Annual Day. And Trees don't wear Dhotis. Oh God what am I going to do now", Kittunni was getting desperate, putting both his hands on his head.
"Nothing we can do now. Wear it and go. Show is about to begin. People only look at acting, not costumes". Mohan quickly wound the Dhoti around Kittunni. He then went and opened the door where Kittunni's teacher was waiting for him. As soon as she saw Kittunni, her jaws dropped.
"Don't ask", Kittunni sighed, with a sense of resignation.
Sensing the teacher's bewilderment, Mohan offered an explanation
"Kittu is a Malayalee Tree. I thought since we already had a Kannadiga Tree wearing jeans and shoes, a Malayalee Tree - barefoot and wearing Dhoti - would provide a nice touch to the show. It goes well with the theme I guess - how humans have destroyed the environment and nature. So having Trees from Kerala and Karnataka goes a long way to show that Trees everywhere in the country are under threat from humans".
The teacher stared at Mohan for a while, not knowing how to respond. Kittunni gritted his teeth and glared at Mohan. "Please stop embarrassing me", he pleaded in his mind. Unaware, Mohan smiled at Kittunni with a "Don't-Worry-I-Have-Your-Back" look.
"Poor Kittu, what will he do without me", he thought.
The teacher felt helpless. There was no more time left to do any last minute adjustments. She took Kittunni's hands and walked over to the stage.
The show started. The moment the stage curtains were drawn back the audience started roaring with laughter. After all no one had seen a Tree wearing a Dhoti in their entire life.
"Wow!!! The show is already a hit. Everyone here seems intellectually enjoying the significance of the Dhoti", Mohan thought. He started laughing along with others.
Kittunni could do nothing else other than keep smiling.
After the initial laughter died down, the show started progressing without any furthur hiccups. Halfway through the show wood cutters entered the scene. They started talking with each other to decide on which tree to cut down.
Kittunni suddenly started getting a tickling feeling. Something was not right.
"Madhava, which tree do you think we should cut today", asked one wood cutter to the other. They were standing in front of the Kannadiga Tree.
"Sahadeva, I think this tree is not good enough. Let's go to the next one"
Meanwhile a realisation soon dawned on Kittunni. The damn Dhoti was coming loose!!!
The woodcutters now stood in front of the Malayalee Tree.
"Aha this is a very good tree Madhava. What do you think?"
Kittunni was now totally unaware of what was happening on the stage. All he cared was to make sure the Dhoti stayed in its place till the show was over. With both his hands occupied holding up the branches of his Tree costume, all he could do was to look down and start shaking his head as if pleading to his Dhoti to stay put.
Meanwhile, among the audience, Mohan was in awe. "Wow my Kittunni is a born actor. What authentic expressions he is bringing to his face when the Tree realises that it is in danger", he thought.
"Sahadeva you are right. This is indeed a good tree. Let's cut it"
Meanwhile Kittunni realised his prayers were not getting answered. One strap of the Dhoti had already come out. He knew he had to do something. He let go of one hand holding up the branches and caught the Dhoti just in time.
Mohan was astonished at Kittunni's acting prowess.
"The shaking of his head, the drooping of branches to a side, the expression on his face begging to the wood cutter to leave him alone, the strategic placement of his hand on his waist to indicate to the wood cutters to spare its life...". It was too much for Mohan to take in.
"How could a 5 year old have such maturity?", he thought. The closest he could remember an actor bringing in so much authenticity and passion to acting was Al Pacino in Godfather. He shed a tear of happiness.
On stage, things were unravelling at a rapid pace. Sahadeva was getting ready to cut the tree. He raised his axe high above his head.
Almost immediately the second strap of the Dhoti too came undone. Kittunni did what any 5 year old would have done in his place. He dropped the tree branches altogether, held the Dhoti by both his hands and then without waiting for the axe to fall on him, turned and fled through the backstage.
Once again the audience burst into laughter. Kittunni's teacher who was watching all this from the side felt her head spinning. With Kittunni's Dhoti coming down she had no other option but to bring down the curtains as well.
Mohan stood up in his place. "Bravo Kittu Bravo!!!Well Done", he cried. His eyes were filled with tears of joy and excitement. His chest puffed up feeling proud. A new talent was born that day - a Dark Knight had risen.
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