Today as I sit to post and am doing this during the working hours as I am in no mood to work. More so got lot many calls and mail replies from my school days friends and my college mates as the New Year dawned. Even to the extent that one called while partying and said even though he had seen a fair bit of world and had interacted with so many people at work and in social life, there was a different spark with those with whom he had spent his school and college days. So I feel in this 32 years of my existence, these few moments make me nostalgic and give a kick in the normal so called city life with dosages of modernism and fast paced life. Since this post is for all my schoolmates and for my home town “Udaipur”, the lake city in the western part of India.
When we were back from school in the noons, it used to be so dull especially home work after lunch. The city is well planned and is divided into galis and mohallas and the streets were pretty broad to showcase the children's cricketing skills. We always had friends to play aais-paais (I Spy) anytime. We desperately waited for 'Yeh jo hai Zindagi', 'Chitrahaar','Vikram-Betaal', 'Spiderman', 'Street Hawk' and my favourite was “Malgudi Days”. Even today I don’t miss the episodes in POGO, they are so fulfilling. I was in my twelveth standard, when with great difficulty and in absence of my parents or when there was none in the neighbour’s house we used to see “Bold and Beautiful” and feel we belonged to the western world.
My father being a thorough and fundu teacher was true to his class of ethics. So one can imagine how those moments would have been. Stealth was a part of life.
Christmas meant mostly hand-made cakes and sweets and my mother and neighbourhood aunties sought each other’s help while preparing them. My teachers were not worried of my mummy and pappa, (although being colleagues in the same school) while slapping/beating me, but for your information I was never naughty. We were exchanging comics and stamps and Chacha Chaudaris and Billus were our heroes. I had a stock of “Hardy Boys”,"Enid Blyton” and even to this day I have preserved them in my house in my room’s rack. We had one movie every Sunday evening on television. When we had ten rupees in our pockets we used to become the talk of the school when we marched towards the school canteen. When the books used by me were passed on to others as CBSE board never changed the syllabus drastically to go for new ones. When “Chelpark” and “Natraj” were encouraged against “Reynolds” as parents used to say using ink pen improves handwriting.
The first rain meant getting drenched and playing in water and mud and making 'kaagaj ki kashtis' and the best part was declaration of leave from school as “Rainy Day”. Even though, there were no mobiles (we all remained connected), friends used to reach at the playground at sharp 5PM to play football in the rain.
The list is endless. I have seen a fair bit of the world by now and to me those were and will remain “The Best Days of my Life”.
On a serious note, I would like to summarise it as we were using our hearts more than our brains, even for scientifically brainy activities like 'thinking' and 'deciding'. But became a bit serious when we reached standard twelve and wanted to make to the best of schools in engineering/medical/commerce. I have fulfilled a part of it till now and as they say the thirst continues so is mine and want to do something else now.
We were crying and laughing more often, more openly and more sincerely. We were enjoying our present more than worrying about our future. We being emotional were not synonymous to being weak as it is today, males do cry and cry loud and what if they don’t display it. Life was a passenger's sleeper giving enough time and opportunity to enjoy the sceneries from its open and transparent glass windows instead of some crowded shopping mall with loads of people each taking pride in worldly pleasures and enjoying the “Moh and Maya” the world throws for each swipe of a card or a cheque.
I really miss you all.
No comments:
Post a Comment