Bachpan - Relive Childhood

Life now has changed a bit, in fact, a lot. Never thought life would be this busy. I'm 24 years old now and I miss my childhood extremely bad. Now, you know this phase of life is gone never comes back. You can only live this in your dreams and memories. 

I still remember it's almost been two decades when I was around four years old when I first realized that there's a life inside me. I started to notice nature and tried to understand it. I noticed the long green trees around me giving shades down the ground. I wondered how the birds are flying in the sky without falling. I heard the chirping of the birds and also saw how they hunted down the worms deep inside the ground. It was wonderful waking to the chirping sound of the birds and sleeping back to the beautiful blinking lights of the fireflies around us. I notice the sun rising the morning and bringing the beginning of the day the same sun setting down in the evening as it was announcing the end of the day. Just when I thought the day is over, I could see the brightest moon surrounded by millions of twinkle stars welcoming the night.

I could see how the beautiful butterflies flying around the colorful flowers looked so pleasant. I noticed small ponds filled with water had a lot of fish making wonderful sounds of water and finally did I understand the beauty of nature. I saw the moon moving along with me in the night and later realized it was just me. I saw a newborn baby and learned a new life can arrive anytime in this world so can it end at any time, the brightest and the darkest part of life.

So when I look back in my childhood I could recall a lot of happiness with every small little thing. Life without technologies were much easier and happier back then. Walking long distances never felt long at all, watching black and white TV also felt so fortunate, and also there was a different level of pleasure in getting TV connections fixes just by shaking or moving the antenna in different directions.

Listening to music in audiotape and radio was lavishing and rewinding the cassette with a pen or pencil was just fun. Traveling in cycle-rickshaw and Horse chariot (Tamtam) were more luxurious than any expensive cars.

Playing games were real fun without any electronic gadgets. Games such as Kite flying which we flew high in the sky just looked so beautiful almost like flying snake and the friends tried to cut down each other's kite hoping to win the battle lasting long.

I remember playing cricket in mostly school grounds betting Parle-G biscuits boosted not players but also the audience watching it. Also playing hide and seek through the same walls of the school was some happiness. Then there was also this trend of changing games seasonally with football, cricket, and volleyball so we got to play each game with the same spirit and meanwhile, we also entertained ourselves with marbles (Goli) and Gilli danda. 

I remember how we studied in the lights of a lantern which didn't quite give us the brightest of the light and it was almost impossible to study when insects came flying to the lantern covering the books.

TV shows like Shaktimaan, Junior-G, Aryamaan, Shaka-Laka-boom-boom made our childhood awesome, at some point, we all wished to have Sanju's magical pencil which presented things for real through drawing on paper. All thanks to that one single channel Doordarshan.  

Different seasons showed us different kinds of the beauty of nature as there was a change of grains in the field all over. At some point everywhere was brown with wheat farming, then green with the corn farm, and at some point yellow with the mustard farming.

My heart was always so close to the mustard farm( sarso ka khet) because of the combination of color it posses. Green at the bottom, yellow flowers on top because it was grown in winter, the fog's drop on the top of the flower with the sunlight just looked like shining gold. Now for those of you who do not know the mustard farm, you can see it in an iconic song of an iconic movie named Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge (DDLJ) where Shahrukh Khan extends his arm for Kajol in a mustard farm. 

I remember how I found my happiness in just 25 paise chocolate and stopped crying. Now when I talk about the cost it was quite shocking those days where I got my books and pen for Rs.2 to Rs.5 based on quality, where I could get a bag full of vegetables just for Rs.30, where I got charts (Masala puri) for Rs.3, samosa for Rs.1.5, and Golgappa (Panipuri) 4 pieces for Rs.1.

      

I remember the grand festival of Dasara which lasted for ten days mainly celebrated from the seventh to the tenth day where a huge idol of Maa Durga was situated along with Lord Ganesh, Laxmi, Saraswati, and Lord Kartik. The Fair was organized and there was happiness all over the village. Believe it or not, I got Rs.10 for the fair for 10 days where I could come up with the saving of Rs.3.

Finally, the marriages in the village excited me a lot mainly for two reasons. One to have sweet Box prepared only for Baarat (guests who come from the groom side) and secondly to have the special non-vegetarian food on this occasion, such was the smell of food. In addition to that, dancing with baarat with beats of band Baja was just superb. 

What else do I say about my childhood, that innocence of wearing slippers on the wrong sides of legs, leaving the paper boat in the rainwater? I still feel so much like playing in the rain but neither do I have those friends nor is childhood.   

 

This is not just the topic but the feel which is in everyone's heart, the feel to live it more. No matter how much I write about childhood it's never gonna cover the whole. As I spoke about my childhood I assume sometimes somewhere you might feel similar to yours, that's how beautiful was our childhood. As a child, we always wanted to grow up and now when we are grown we never wanted to grow up.