Of Two Rupee coins, Feviqwik and Rosary beads...

My siblings and I had this common penchant for swallowing stuff when we were kids. By stuff I do not mean anything remotely edible. Rather coins, glues, stones and beads. And edible stuffs? We prefer to stuff them through other orifices. e.g.:- nostrils.

Let’s go back in time, rewind nearly two decades.

One fine morning Mom gives s me a plateful of mixture and a boxful of toys. Toys include an assortment of beads and chains, which used to be my favourite. Asking me to be a good girl she goes in to bath and I proceed to ‘play’. Minutes later, she came back to find the plate, half empty and the toys intact. Wait a minute…!
"Where is the big rosary???"
I show an "Um!" (Snap your mouth shut, you’ll know what I mean.)
Yep, I had swallowed it.
A metal rosary with three beads.

Epilogue: Neighbour aunty tells Mom, "Don’t worry; there is a problem only if she starts vomiting"
And I start half an hour later. My Dad and Mom were in anguish till the next day when the beads naturally came out. And I never got beads to play thereafter. sigh.

The next episode comes before or after this one, I don’t exactly remember. But the time period is pretty much the same. One fine morning, my mom once again gives me a plateful of mixture and toys (minus the bead versions) and goes into the kitchen.
A sniffling sound brings her back to me and lo!
There stands Jiyamol with a peanut stuffed deep in the nostril. (I honestly don’t remember this at all!)
Our neighbour, I used to fondly call him Ammavan, came to the rescue this time.
"Don’t worry; I’ll take it out" And he successfully stuffed the peanut deeper inside.

Epilogue: My regular ENT specialist (My! he must have made a fortune had I been a kid still) had to do a near surgery to take the stuffed peanut out. And the specimen had enlarged to the size of a lemon. Ok... Not that big; at least thrice the normal size. Cute, isn’t it?

I am proud to say I set the right example at the right time. These vivid, enchanting tales inspired my siblings to continue the legends.

My sister couldn’t exactly ‘swallow’; given the object concerned was a Feviqwik tube.
So she chewed it and got her mouth literally shut up. And it took us a joy ride to three hospitals to get her mouth opened, cleansed and then her stomach washed.

Epilogue: She never used Feviqwik thereafter.

My brother was more of my league.
One fine afternoon, mom was having a small nap. I was reading beside her. And my siblings were playing in the same room.
Suddenly my sis shouts, "Ayyo! He ate the coin! He ate the coin!"
Yup; my brother swallowed a coin.
Guess which one.
The largest possible one - A 2 rupee coin.

Epilogue: Thank god, we didn’t need much of an effort to get it out of his throat before it descended. But it did take considerable effort to calm down Mom.

As I said before, I don’t remember anything at all about my escapades and I’m sure nor would my siblings about theirs, but for my mom who recollects these ‘tales’ every now and then with much vigour.

After all these are memories that would never fade and would make us laugh for years to come. :)