Horns of a dilemma

We were in the second grade. Leslie Cornelius and Deepak, who sat side by side, accidentally bumped heads.

Deepak, a Bengali Hindu kid, wanted to bump heads a second time as he sincerely believed he would grow horns if a second bump did not cancel the first (probably a Bengali superstition at that time).

Leslie, an Anglo-Indian Catholic kid, from a westernized family, refused.

Deepak pleaded with him but Leslie would have none of it. Deepak began to cry, to the extent tears from his eyes and snot from his nose made a mess on his face, as he kept wiping it with his hands.

Our Anglo-Indian (non-Bengali) class teacher had to bring the two to the front of the class and request Leslie to allow Deepak to gently bump his head against Leslie’s. The whole class was riveted.

Leslie acquiesced. Deepak stopped crying.