A memory

Even though he is my mother's cousin brother, he was more of an elder brother to me than an uncle. I say, was, because I am not allowed to communicate with him anymore. My mother and his father, her uncle, have had a fight. So nobody from our family talks to anybody from their family. And neither is willing to make up.

I had almost forgotten about them actually. I only remembered because of that gate with the chessboard pattern. I passed by it yesterday, and I remembered.

I was around 6 or 7 years old. We had asked a family friend who knew a good tailor to stitch me a frock and we just had to go pick it up. My elder brotherly uncle volunteered to take me to the family friend's house. He hadn't ever been there before, he didn't even know who they were. I claimed to know how to get there. And off we went.

Of course we lost the way. I knew we were on the right street, but I couldn't see their house anywhere on it. We drove past the gate with the chessboard pattern a hundred times. We even stopped and asked for directions. But the amount of confidence he had in me was made obvious when he didn't even bother to note down our family friend's phone number. So we couldn't call them and ask for the proper directions / address. As it turned out, their house was on the same street, just a little further ahead, a few houses after the chessboard patterned gate but we just didn't drive up till there.

On our way back home, we knew we'd be asked why we got so late. He said to me quietly, " Just tell everyone we stopped off at my friend's place. If they ask you his name, say, 'Vijay'." I nodded without really understanding that he was protecting me, masking my stupidity.

What am I to do with this shame now?