My mom came to me and said "chinnu..huttidhabbake hosa batte yavaga togothyo?(When are you going to buy new clothes for your birthday)" As soon as I heard the word "huttidhabba(birthday)" my mind started rambling and all my past memories just flashed into me. My birthday is on 17th of January, and just 7 days of 'teen' life is left. Over the past 10 years, birthdays have not been a special occasion, as it used to be when I was a toddler.
I remember as a child, my birthday used to be a special ocassion with new set of clothes and
shoes to wear, mom's special delicacies to feed on and lots and lots of gifts. I used to get good amount of money as well to which used to make my piggy bank heavier. Coloured balloons decorating the hall, Mickey Mouse shaped(almost) cake, colourful candles, varities of food and my mom used to make "Vermicelli Kheer" which is my all time favorite. There used to be entire gang of
bachcha party singing the birthday jingle. When I close my eyes, I recall happiest days of my life as child. Those were the days of innocence, fun and frolic. I still remember, the whole gang of my friends used to form like a train and run all over the house, and I used to be the engine. 20 years ago, a baby boy was escorted into the world, crying loud enough for a deaf man to get a pair of earmuffs lest his eardrums go tattered. After all it’s the mom's job to tell me that unless I kept quiet
gumma barthe.
(from right, 2nd one)As months rolled, I grew up into a normal kid, who thought thumb is god given candy, so I
hogged on it. I used to toddle all around the drawing room, and finally end up sitting on the lap of my granny. It was one of the wierdest experience when my mom put a frock to me and took the snap. I guess at that time, I didn't know it was girl's clothes and I enjoyed wearing it. If you are wondering from where did frock come, it was my sister's. Even she helped my mom in dressing me. duh! As the days passed by a young toddler turned into a naughty lad who used to take pleasure in destructing any random object available. Any new item brought to me, never sustained for more than two days and that saga continues even today. My mom still scolds me, "
neenu haLmadakke huttirodu(you are born only for causing damage)" I spent next phase of my life in Bombay. My dad used to work in Kalyan, and there was a play ground next to my apartment. I can speak Hindi quite well, so I managed to get some good number of friends over there. The general timepass would be flying kites and playing high catches. I used to make Kite myself and with that I used to make it fly higher than any others. At that time, tennis ball wasn't a huge hit, but rubber ball was! Always I used to lose that rubber ball and ask my dad Rs.6 for buying a new one. One fine afternoon, when me and my friends were playing high catches, the ball fell into a huge sewage river which used to flow next to the ground. I made a brave attempt to get inside that and my whole body was covered with @#$%&*. Even after herculean effort, I couldn't take the ball out of it as my hand wasn't reaching it. That evening, it was just spankings from my mom. Getting into local trains in bombay is like getting gold medal in olympics. It was just pushing and pulling. Sometimes if you stand amidst the crowd, they automatically make you get into the train. I was very much fascinated by these acts and one day unknowingly I left my apartment and went to Railway Station alone which was at a walkable distance. At that time, I guess my age was 7yrs. Red colour train was more fascinating and I just went in and sat inside. Didn't even know what I was doing and where that train was going to. All thanks to almighty, my dad somehow guessed that I would be in railway station and after asking all the people and searching the whole platfrom, they found me. I still imagine what would be my position today if that train had left? what if my dad never found me? where would I be today? When I think this, it fears me even today. Well, its all past now and I thank the great almighty for staying with me always.
(from right, 2nd one)
After returning from Bombay, my life was just plain and simple. Used to go to trip yearly and spend most of the time slogging hard for getting good rank(never got though). Then two years of my college life went in vain studying for entrance exams. I couldn't clear any of those and finally ended somehow in BNMIT. Now I'm in pre-final year and next year I'm going to pass out and hopefully become more responsible. On 17th I turn 20, and I wish I could carry myself back to those fun filled days when having fun was more important than feeding the ego, grandfather's stories which was much more scarier than our assignments and exams, when dad’s shoulders were the highest place in the world, the annual visits to the circus/zoos. While I jotted these memories, I clutched my childhood close and left the chaotic present for a while only to realize that we cant get back what we have already passed.
