On my way to office, there is a primary school in Jharsuguda. Every time I see kids playing outside the school, I remember my childhood days. Of course, it would be the golden age of everyone’s life. Someone said somewhere as, “Broken knees are much better than broken heart. “ It sounds true to me, at least for now. Those days are not filled only with happiness. Those are the days I cried a lot, feared a lot. But when I look back, I can do nothing but smiling even on the dumbest things I have done. This is just a retrospection of my early life.
The reminiscence starts from the age of 2 years. We were in Rameshwaram. It was a TNHB quarters. All I could remember are flash pictures of shallow sea, fried fish, colony kids I played with, my sister’s smile with missing teeth and my black shoe which I thought will make me fly. I used to wave my hands to IPKF choppers innocently expecting them to throw some chocolates. My everyday routine includes spreading all my toys over the floor, drawing on wall using chalk and pencil and most importantly spoiling mom’s afternoon nap:-).
My dad got transferred to Tirupatur. Even I too was ready to be enrolled in school.
"T.E.L.C. Primary School”
Where I spent the longest span of my schooling.
Where I spent the longest span of my schooling.
On the first day the head master asked me to touch my left ear with right hand. Alas! I was through the test and officially I was a 1st std student :-). It was not a convent. No rhymes cramming and English blah blahs. It was fun learning in mother tongue. The only thing I hated was hand writing classes and its assignments. Other than that there were no pressures from school. I have cheated on almost every class home works. Nobody cared as long as I was the 1st rank holder :-). I was the class leader. I was the favourite student of all teachers.
My mom is the most wonderful woman I have ever met. Though she never completed her schooling, she played an irreplaceable role in my studies. She is the one I feared a lot once. My dad never cared much about my marks. Mom is the one I could never lie to. Oh man! I am not that honest, she is that much clever. I never shared things with her, but she reads my mind accurately. No matter how hard I tried to conceal my broken knee or torn shirt in wrestling, she straight away found it out. Still I wonder how she does it. She is the best critic I have. She had never ever been satisfied with my performance. Till date, If I had achieved something it’s because of her care and prayers.
Kitty pull, police-thief, hide and seek and many more games of non-translatable Tamil names were favourite games of that age. No cricket, No video games. Doordharsan was the only channel available. Whether Its MGR movie or Rajini movie, Its always Lux super hit film co sponsored by finolex pipes and bajaj M80. That was a time where duet songs were boring and climax fights were fascinating.
Now the whole thing got changed. I have been chained up in mechanical life. Those days will remain as evergreen memories. I hope as a whole it is worth to be shared and preserved as sweet memories. I wish I were a kid forever!!!:-)
