This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 39; the thirty-ninth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is "Break"I do not know if there are very many words in the English language that have evoked so many different emotions in me in comparison to this word 'Break'. From childhood to no, it has been the source of a great many emotions - not all of them pleasant to recollect.
The earliest emotion that this word has evoked in me is fear. "Did you break this?" was a question that has often caused me to break out (there you go again, the word is simply too ubiquitous) into a cold sweat - not least because the answer, if true, had to be 'yes'. My earliest attempts at fiction were made then - "No Mom! It was the wind!" or "No Mom! It was my sister!" It was either the fact that I was too young to realize that fiction had to be believable or that it was an age when fantasy had not gained a strong enough foothold in the world. My Mom simply refused to contemplate the idea of a black wind from Mordor having swept that china jar of pickles off the larder or that my toddler sister had looked at it cross-eyed and caused it to fall by telekinesis. This lamentable lack of belief in fantasy is responsible for many a beating that I could have avoided in the days after Tolkien and Rowling. (And, by the way, I did not even look pregnant then but I loved pickles - don't ask me why)
When school started, that same word was a cause of immense joy. Imagine sitting around in class in a fugue with someone droning about some distant country and suddenly ask you to name its damned capital (I have a sneaking suspicion that countries have capitals merely to make life hell for school children. Very mean of them). Failure to answer could mean having to stand on a bench or kneel in front of the class - neither posture being conducive to getting that lovely nap which is so necessary for a good complexion. So, it is no wonder that the word 'lunch break' or any other such break evoked a sense of freedom and joy almost akin to ecstasy. (I am taking a bit of a liberty here. In my days, they used the word 'Interval' not break)
The entry to the workaday world was also preceded by this same word. "Please give me a break", was a plea to get a job. Now, the problem was that the answer used to be, "Are you a car or something?" thanks to the fact that 'break' and 'brake' sounded almost the same not to mention the fact that this Americanism had not yet caught on. That is the problem with being among the first few to be afflicted by the disease. People are unable to recognize the fact that you are infected by "Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever" or, in this case, "Virulent Americanization". Now, of course, you can hardly think of an alternative phrase to use under similar circumstances.
Where this usage of 'giving a break' was one of pathos for me, it was one of simmering anger for my friend. Blessed with a surname of "Kallingal" and a typist with a reverence for Word's powers to auto-correct, he invariably ended up signing letters as "Killingly", which was Word's auto-correct option for "Kallingal". People have accustomed themselves to 'faithfully', 'sincerely' and all that at the close of a letter but they seemed to draw a line at Killingly. This unnatural antipathy of the recipients of his letters caused him to get wild enough to take his typist to task and, when he had just about started to whistle before really letting off steam, someone intervened and said, "Give the poor guy a break". In his words, he was like a pressure cooker full of steam and about to let go when someone sat heavily on his head and refused the outlet.
I could probably go on and on and on about Break. I mean you break out in song, break out into dance, break out of melancholy and on and on. Why, people even wish you to break a leg when you get on stage. Now that you have had a lecture on 'Break', go take a break before someone else breaks the silence.
The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Introduced By: The Fool, Participation Count: 11
