The good ol' times...

I had been tagged by Sunrise a.k.a. O Anonymous Reader on my eight Happy and Sad Childhood Memories. So here I go albeit behind schedule. I am not tagging anyone, but whoever would like to take up this tag is welcome to do so!

The good ol’ times…

1. I loved being mischievous. I remember the time when I used to go to school in the winters, wearing a red button shirt sweater and red woolen pants over my uniform (I don’t quite remember the uniform color, though I loved my red sweater pair). I used to wreak havoc sitting on the inside of the desk and bench adjacent to the wall, three tiny children, anything but crammed on the bench. In the free periods, the teacher kept working on her register and minding the children from time to time, looking up from the big green book and asking us to keep our heads down. I would get my crayons and pencils out and boldly stand up on the desk, looking down on the curious heads timidly looking up at me, wanting to know what my antics were. So I would let the world know that I was there, sitting next to the wall, by making my own immature painting or mural or just a signature or full name with class and roll number under a nursery rhyme. And then, the teacher would have a hard time minding our lot because some other classmate would follow my example, making his own creation on the school wall.



2. I used to have many friends in the little building where I lived. A girl in particular, by the name of Deepa, elder to me, used to take care of me in a way that even sisters did not care for each other. She would call me to play, assure my mother that she would be responsible of my safety, so on and so forth… I just have a vague remembrance of the girl now; our friendship just faded away after my family shifted to a new place. Even Deepa’s brother, who disliked my presence for god knows what reason couldn’t break our companionship while I lived there. I think she was the first friend I made.

3. I loved birthdays-mine as well as other peoples’. I would do anything to get a piece of cake. It didn’t matter whether the person was my friend or not, but I would definitely ask him/her to invite me to his birthday party as soon as I came to know that there’s a birthday in the building! :P

4. I loved sleeping and lazing around. I had this favourite bed sheet that I used to snuggle into at any time of the day. A bottle of milk would be there at the side most of the times… My mom still says I sleep like a Kumbhakaran…I was quite sad the day I realised my bed sheet was missing. It was torn and mom had to give it away… :(



5. I remember a Quincy Miss in school…after my Kindergarten ended. She was the most beautiful teacher I had ever seen. I do not remember what subject she taught us, but she had a kind face, with blue eyes, fair skin, and a somewhat gaunt cheek with high cheekbones. I always tried to vie for her attention. She was with my class for a short time, but I can still see her face clearly. In those days, I had heard in stories that Cleopatra was very beautiful. For me, her face was Cleopatra’s face.

6. I loved my Barbie dolls. I had many dolls. All gifted by someone. I had a blonde Barbie once. With boy cut hair. Maybe the style of Marilyn Monroe… I can’t remember vividly. I loved the time I spent with my dolls. Once the Blondie’s yellow shoes got lost and I was quite sure that I had kept them in a jute bag hanging at the door. I couldn’t find them and gave up the quest only when I was thoroughly tired. I do not know if this qualifies for a happy memory, but the loss of the doll’s shoes is still etched on my minds notebook.



7. A. I did not particularly like going to doctors. But I remember tagging along with my dad when he was ill and the doc would give me some yummy tablet (that resembled Hajmola, but tasted sweet) to keep in my mouth. I used to eagerly wait, looking expectantly at the bottle of the candy and looking equally expectantly back at the doc as if saying, “See, what a nice little girl I am! Won’t you give me those candies now?” Once I was so was hungry for my candies that while dad and doc were talking, I promptly went and opened the bottle, popping one in my mouth and keeping a few in my hand to eat on the way back home, with greed occupying my mind.

B. Mom once took me to her friend’s house. Her friend had two teenage daughters, around 18 or so… I decided to explore the house on my own after sitting quietly for sometime being a quiet child. I went to the inner bedroom and by the study lamp found some soft, squishy, imported chocolate that was, as I later found out a gift to them by someone. Without a second thought, I unwrapped them and in went the three candies, one by one. Later while I was savouring the third candy, in come the sisters and announce to their mom that I ate the goodies. I wasn’t rebuked or anything, though mom tried to explain to me to ask before I touch anything! Had fun, man!

8. I love drawing, painting, singing & music and used to be quite uninhibited and self-expressed in my childhood. (But studies were a dampener). I used to thoroughly enjoy those occasions, when I would spring up from the sofa and sing along with the singer as my favourite songs used to come on television. I used to try to copy their dance steps. My Music Sir, Mr. Salvador, placed me in almost all school singing functions and I was his favourite. I loved reading Champak and Tinkle and I still remember the day when mom brought champak for me from the station stall. I still remember the very first story I read. Thanks to my mom, I am a voracious reader now…that also explains my thick glasses!

My favourite yellow chair.
This too was given away like my bed sheet! :(

How I sometimes long for those days to come, when the pressures of having responsibilities seems too much. I used to yearn to grow up quickly and now that I am grown-up, I have rare pangs of becoming small again! Life’s strange and funny!

My moral science book used to say:

When it’s cold,
Man wants it hot.
When it’s hot,
Man wants it cold.
What does man want, after all?

Thank you, people for bearing this long post (for those who have read it till here :P). I don’t know what got into my fingers as I sat typing this post. Sunrise will be happy to read this lengthy post! Sad memories to come in a later post…
So long!