That’s when I heard a small knock on the room, typically I shout what now mom!? when this happens. But that day had already gone bad, I decided to avoid further confrontation and opened the door and asked, what? (so humble right?).
She stretched her hands and held in it a cover which said “Peter England”. I was dumbfounded for a second. She said, “Hurry up and take it, you don’t have the whole day, your dad got it for you yesterday when he came back from office”
For some time all I had was mixed emotions of regret, deep gratitude and eternal thankfulness. Gently tearing up(no not that much also now okay? :P ) I wore the classy blue shirt, black pant and belt and looked at myself in the mirror. Who was he staring at me? Did I open portal to some alt reality?
Peter England was always a brand I associated with my father because he trusted nothing else for an important occasion. Subsequently, I also associated courage, responsibility, trust and genial nature with it.
My confidence shot through the roof, all that was left was Tesla/Apple to come to college to recruit. The interview process went smooth, they were happy with the maturity I bought into my answers and conduct(must confess I did steal dad’s shoes though).
There were umpteen challenges I had to overcome to be at the stage I am today. I had a bad stammering problem, I remember dad waking up at 5 am and taking me along with mom to a relatively open ground where I would shout my heart out, This helped in increasing my lung capacity immensely and reduce the incidence of stammering due to shot-breaths to a large extent. I remember them forgoing tours/trips just so that I can continue to get a quality education. It was always a confidence game for me more than my abilities or my talents. As Ravi Shastri often quips, It’s a mental thing.
Through that lens, Peter England has bought with it a sense of calmness, responsibility and something which I could wear and transform into a man from the boy next door. I’ll be always indebted to it.
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