Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Once upon a time..

It is one of those days when I am feeling very nostalgic. I don’t know how normal “smelling” the past is, but I smell it quite often these days. I don’t have any other word to describe that longing for the past. Everything looks and feels, suddenly, like the good old days. Even the air smells exactly as it used to then. But then there is no one around. The sudden realization that time has flown by and that there is nothing remotely close to my past today makes my heart ache.

How good it was when the biggest worry I used to have was to clear an examination. How simple life was when the greatest pleasure was to talk to my best friend over phone. How easy life was when the only expenditure was on petrol (which used to cost Rs 22/- per liter), greeting cards and cassettes and the pocket money (Rs 50 /- per month) I used to get was sufficient for all my needs. I think I now agree that school days were one of the best and brightest days of my life.

I felt like a bird then driving my red TVS Champ. I would always take the longest route possible to go practically anywhere. I would gladly go out to buy household stuff to the market close by because mom would allow me to keep the change. Even inside the house, I would never walk. I would run and then jump and try to touch the upper rim of the door. I never realized how soon the “jumping” was not required because I was now tall enough to touch it and how soon I forgot this activity. I still remember how I would wait for Sunday evenings to watch Spiderman and later Mowgli with my brother every Sunday morning. The Sunday afternoons were devoted for Mahabharat and mom would make us sit and watch it. I distinctly remember those days when I would wait for dad to return in the evening. I would know the sound of dad’s scooter so well. And then he would drive me around our locality, a daily activity which we used to call “round lagana”.

The magical summer vacations would comprise of Rasana, Mayur Park, ganne ka ras every night and nani ka ghar. I would stay there and play and fight with my cousins. It was so wonderful to stay awake and talk till my grandfather would grumble about the new age kids! I still remember going to parties (usually wedding receptions of some uncle / aunty or their distant relative) with mom dad and have a good time eating pani puris and ice-creams and in the more lavish receptions we could have “baraf ka gola” as well.

The school teachers were wonderful human being (agreed some of them were nasty). The punishments and penalties for talking would range from kneeling down to cane beating. Or the class monitors would write the names on the board. In my case, my name used to be beautifully underlined with some stars around it – a penalty for talking twice, thrice or non-stop. The teacher’s day celebrations, the practices for annual function or sports day were the most awaited events of the year! It was all so great and wonderful then.


I don’t say that the present is bad. Probably, 10 years down the line, the present would also be a part of a glorious past. But sometimes, past is all that matters. Sudarshan Faakir has penned it beautifully in the following lines:

Yeh daulat bhi lelo,
yeh shoharat bhi lelo,
Bhale cheen lo, mujhse meri jawani
Magar mujhko lautado bachpan ka saawan
Woh kagaz ki kashti,woh baarish ka paani

I think it is just one of those days.

11 comments:

Devashish said...

good old days..........nothing like those good old days.........

Unknown said...

Nostalgia does this and more...
But you were bang on in the end....present too will be a part of the glorious past someday!

Anonymous said...

Ekdum bachpan ki yaad aa gayi yeh padh kar.. Mujhe bhi meri nani ka ghar yaad aa gaya aur na jane kitne aise incidences.. Its good to do what others do at times..

Keep writing!!!

Anonymous said...

kya yar anusha....aap to sentiya diye......word to word....i can relate to dear....your brain has come back to you from the UFO:-).........keep writing......soon you will read mine

Anonymous said...

Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun
Along the long road and on down the causeway
Do they still meet there by the cut
There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps
Running before time took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
With friends surrounded
The nights of wonder

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide
At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

****

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
go down this road we've been so many times

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river

Forever and ever

~Pink Floyd

Well the grass certainly was greener, the air was fresher, the mind was keener, every day came with new possibilities.
Now, reality continues to ruin my life...

Anusha said...

@Deva
Yes nothing like those good old days...my college days were a close match though with some great people like you around.. :-)

@Shobhit
The present is very good and I am grateful..m enjoying it..

@Varsha
Nani ka ghar is the most special place in this world..

@Amit ji
Sentiya diye kya hum? arey re..gadbad ho gayi..sorry sorry..

will wait for your blog to come up..

@UFO
Hey that was good..:-)

Thank you all for coming..

Ambar said...

when the things comes rucshing in, and u realize that there is nothing else to do except to watch the things going on, u feel like missing ur sanity, its d same i felt abt u...

i dnt knw what it is, bt evrythng that comes on and goes by, leaves its traces, nd thats wat our childhood do to us...

regarding school, i always believe, those were the celebration days.... everything else seems crap.... u have been exact on this point....hopw to see more outta u....

Unknown said...

Really. Amazing post that makes every reader as nostalgic as you are, anusha. I too miss my old days when I was so carefree and naughty. Missing those days as hell.

Good blog by the way. Nice to read it. reminded my IBM and pune days as well.

distress_damsel said...

Anusha I relived my childhood reading it.. Those days were great.. But what u said i completely agree with it that 10 years from now present will also be a part of wonderful past.. every day brings more responsibilites and every day brings a new role.. Its rightly said that we are all Actors of a big drama called Life.. Life just goes on leaving behind golden memories

Anusha said...

@Amruta

Yes you are right..i know quite a lot about dramas..I put up one every now and then in office.. ;-)

Keep coming here!

Cheers!
Anusha

Sumit said...

this 1 is the best blog......

I don knw hw shud i express my feeling that i experienced after reading this blog.

it reminds me many of my golden days of life.. i like to thank u for this.


i mean it realy....these are the words which u need to reminds often in ur life...

i forgot all those days but when i read this all of the sudden i was in my past..

Thanks a lot for this i really Njoyed reading this.
Keep posting like this....