Remains of childhood

It's a funny feeling...when memories of your childhood get recalled on seeing a visual, smelling a flower, tasting a candy, crushing a leaf or feeling the warm wind in your face. You so wanna live the moment and go back in time and all you know is that it's impossible. You can't even hold to it and can't even let go...

Mandy was wandering in a lane he had long forgotten; there was no cement pavement then - just the black soil and the foliage. He loved crushing the dry leaves under his feet. He was wearing small blue slippers which would start clapping if one walked fast. Mandy used to run fast and slow and create some type of rhythm out of the clapping sound.

The afternoon was a familiar one. A dry, idle summer afternoon, the loo warming up your eyes, whispering in your ears and filling up your nostrils. The air was warm and Mandy loved the feel of a random cool breeze on a sweaty afternoon. As usual all people around were sleeping except kids his age who hated idle afternoons and hence went out in the small gardens or played games. Some would go driving tyres with a stick - there was a competition out there - bicycle tyres, motorcycle tyres, scooter tyres - each tyre was different and hence each boy was special.

Mandy was ambling around. It was a time he liked because he could do things and no one could notice - going out in the heat and feeling the silence around, climbing trees, digging small holes and seeing the insects within, making a paste of green leaves and collecting their juice in old medicine bottles. Doing experiments on plants, injecting ink in a lemon on a tree, eating rose petals and basil leaves. It was a time when things had no meaning or definite purpose, everything was a matter of free will.

Sometimes, his mother would not let him out in the heat. Inside the house, it was all different - dark and cold as if it were a den. In summers, windows had panels covering them - the ones with a Bamboo framework and filled with Khus twigs. Mandy loved watering the panels to keep them moist; in turn when hot outside air would blow through these panels, it would come in cold and fragrant, it was so nice a feeling. The air-cooler ran in a continuous drone and kept the rooms cool. The cooler's fan was guarded by a metal grid and if one went near it and spoke in the fan, one's voice would reverberate and sound like a robot's voice. Mandy loved singing songs in the cooler fan.

When at home other pass-time were making Rasna, eating ice from the refrigerator, observing how people look when they sleep. And then there would be a blunder like ants gathering over stains of Rasna, glasses breaking, overdose of concentrated Rasna, breaking and disturbing the slowly setting ice-cream kept in the freezer (those days they rarely bought ice-cream - they made it at home).


Then they would take bath in the evenings on the terrace. This was to cool one down and also to let the heat out of the terrace floor. Even by the evening, the terrace floor was so hot that one could see vapours coming out of it when watered. Mandy liked playing with the water jet out of the pipe. They would make patterns in air - rings, spirals, zig-zag lines with the water jet.

Mangoes were a daily treat in summer. Children would practically smell of mangoes in summer. Mandy was fond of going shopping for fruits with his father or grandfather. He liked remembering what Mango variety comes from where, how they looked and tasted and even their latest rates.

During summers, ladies would come together and make papads, pickles and what not. All items were a treat. Children would fight to help making these items - this way they could eat the batter for papads or the pulp and pieces of raw mango for pickles - they also liked to hear the conversation the ladies had.

Then in the night the entire family would go for a walk. It slowly cooled down in the night. It was Mandy's favourite time. When small children complained of their legs paining, parents would carry them in their arms and children generally slept with their heads resting on their parents' shoulders. It was heaven. Then children would wake up early on the terrace with the sun already heating up and its brightness hurting the eyes.

Several summers have gone by and the summer season still haunts Mandy. It's a very fragile moment when small things you did in your childhood seem so near but so far too. You rarely can get that back.

So what life is - is a journey, full of experiences and moments. These moments and experiences have visuals, smells, sounds, tastes, touches, heat and cool breeze and rain and thunder showers. It is a thing to be cherished and remembered all life. We get to relive these moments in different roles.

Today one may get frustrated when he cannot get back the same settings as his childhood but in future when he/she becomes a parent, there's a different role in which we shall see the same moments repeat. There's this special quality of life which keeps you going on.

It's a funny feeling...when memories of your childhood get recalled on seeing a visual, smelling a flower, tasting a candy, crushing a leaf or feeling the warm wind in your face. You so wanna live the moment and go back in time and all you know is that it's impossible. You can't even hold to it and can't even let go...