Monday, March 12, 2012

A Walk Down Memory Lane...

Childhood memories… Aren’t they some of the most precious and priceless ones that we possess? Yet, we can barely recall anything significant from our childhood days. All we remember is probably playing lagori and cricket with our friends, attending school and sometimes bunking it by feigning stomachache, fighting with our siblings and cousins, etc. Why?

Because time has a curious way of blurring out what has passed. Time causes these memories to gather multiple layers of dust and they are usually forgotten as they get pushed down, lower and lower, in the dark and deep far away unused recesses of our complex brain. Most of these memories are lost forever but a very minuscule percentage of these remain etched in our mind, as fresh, as though they were an occurrence of yesterday…

One such childhood memory which, I think of quite often is the family night walk that we used to go on every Saturday - My parents, me and my younger sister. We had this routine for many years; wherein, we used to go for a long and slow walk after dinner. We would walk as slowly as we could, lazily covering about 3 kilometers on each of those walks. What a nice little 'Family Time' it used to be, a few hours of some real and pure fun and entertainment! Before embarking on the walk, my mom would caution me – Beta, gudiya ka khyal rakhna aur hamare saath saath rehna. Though I would have barely been around 10 yrs or something, still these words would always wake up the responsible brother in me. Holding my cute little sisters smallest finger of her left hand tight, together we would step out in a new world, the real world. One of our favorite stroll highlights was the visit to the local garden. Mom and Dad would occupy a park bench leaving us both, all by ourselves to have the time of our lives. The entire garden is ours, we are completely free! We would amuse and giggle and then roll down on those soft green grassy slopes!


(image courtesy: snapshotpics.com)

We’d watch the flowers available in all shapes, sizes and colors blooming all over the garden, or stand on that wooden bridge above the small pond gaping at the milky white ducks or try to spot some fish in the water or just run around racing, trying to outdo each other in who touches that light pole first. I reached first! No, no, it was me! Hehe, how we would bicker kiddishly!


Ah!!! JOYJOY was such a cheap commodity then!!! In those times, kids derived extreme joy and unadulterated happiness playing with an empty Cardboard Box... For the kids of today's generation, the novelty of playing with an X-Box fades away in a couple of weeks!!! Those halogen filled gas balloons, the occasional chocolate ice creams, the ferry-wheel car rides by the pavements, the multicolored icy golas with the extra juice, the fluffy pinky candy floss… I still recall, how merry it was for us, complete bliss… how we used to take pleasure in the simple sweet moments of life, unmindful of the traffic of people swarming around us, unmindful of any word – worry – ever existing in the dictionaries of life, unmindful that... time… those precious minutes, hours and seconds were fast slipping by… taking with itself all these small joyful, real moments, somewhere… far far far away from me…

(image courtesy: thewallpapers.org)

I am often left wondering - When, Oh when did we stop going for those much loved and enjoyable walks and why? Perhaps when color and cable TV infiltrated our modest home? Perhaps when tuition's assumed more importance and ate away our time? Perhaps when Dad was transferred out of Mumbai for a year?

Perhaps it was time that snatched it all away from me and perhaps it will be time that will provide me an answer someday, I don’t really know... but I think what I do know, is that I should be extending a sincere vote of thanks to the sincere souls out there for giving me an opportunity to at least relive a real childhood experience through this post! Thank You IndiBlogger and Kissan! :)

PS: If you liked reading my 100% Real Experience, Please do Vote It Up Here! Thank You :)

11 comments:

Dee........ said...

Joy was a cheap product then..
loved that line :)
good luck DS for the contest.
i loved the title pretty much...

N.S.Kirti said...

this was so beautiful DS. it struck a chord with me cuz i could relate... you brought my own childhood memories flooding back.. reminded me of my brother...
and its true. we have lost all those tiny happiness are lost in the past now and memories... only memories are left :)
heartfelt post.
goodluck with the competition!

Sangrywords said...

DS - I agree with Deepak Joy was a cheap commodity actually it still is just that we forgot how simple life was then ...

Loved the walk down the memory lane !!

All the best with the contest

Someone is Special said...

'Ah!!! JOY… JOY was such a cheap commodity then!!! In those times, kids derived extreme joy and unadulterated happiness playing with an empty Cardboard Box... For the kids of today's generation, the novelty of playing with an X-Box fades away in a couple of weeks!!!' ~ True lines.. Beautifully written DS.. Glad I stopped by.. Happy..!

Someone is Special

Arti said...

Wonderful DS! This was touching in a sweet way. Like NS said, even I could relate with the post. Those simple sweet memories of my childhood with my brother, those laughters, those bickerings... they all came rushing onto me as I read through the post...

Thanks for this walk down the lane and All the very best with the contest :)

umashankar said...

Ah, for the easy joys of the childhood! Its a pity you had to request for a vote for such a delightful post!

ra said...

i guess one can have joy in life even today, it's just that one must free himself to enjoy those happy moments of life which we used to have when we were young...

all the best for the contest buddy !

rahul

T F Carthick said...

So true. Well penned, DS.

Rukhsana Badar said...

Reads like a chapter from my life...brought back a flood of memories. Good post!

Antara said...

I have always yearned for a sibling. My childhood memories mostly consist of novels and imaginary friends :P But then again, that had its own charm.

Ghumakkar Punit said...

Such a cute story :)
I recalled my memories of cardboard-pin hole camera that we built to view solar eclipse :) Surely, joy was so cheap then...