Childhood Nostalgia

I have so much free time these days that I let my mind wander through its labyrinth of memories and I pen down some of those experiences here. My memories are quite hazy for all these happened nearly four decades back and each day I try to go back in times of sands and relive my childhood days. Forgive me for the gaps in the post since I have just broached on few incidents of my childhood which are not connected

 

“Sunday means I have to be careful”

Between the years 1967 and 1969 I have had numerous falls and accidents while playing and most of them have taken place on a Sunday. Those days at Bangalore the doctors and the clinics would be closed on a Sunday thereby I had to withstand the pain or discomfort till the next day’s visit to the doctor. I have had dog biting me, cut opening my scalp after a fall from slide in the part and lots of bruises and cuts on a Sunday. One of the major fall I had caused a compound fracture in my left arm and I still recollect that moment even today when my mother ran here and there to so many doctors houses requesting for a first aid towing a wailing me along. We were fortunate to find one orthopedic doctor in the locality and she took me there. The doctor straightened the arm by cracking the bone in two places and used two wooden rulers (scales) as splint and put a temporary cotton bandage and asked us to come to the hospital the next day morning for taking x-ray and plaster cast. The whole night I was in intense pain and I did not allow my parents to sleep at all. Next day morning at Victoria Hospital the bones were reset properly under anesthesia and the arm was cast in plaster of Paris….for a period of 3 months. This was the final straw in the patience of my parent and every Sunday was a taboo and I was subject to lots of restrictions that particular day for nearly 2 years after the incident.

“Cemetery trips for hunting birds”

Being a Brahmin it is taboo to enter a burial ground and yet I used to go with my friends almost twice or thrice a week into huge wooded cemetery adjacent to our house to hunt birds using catapult. For those of you who are not familiar with the catapult, it’s a hand held weapon and it has a V or Y handle with rubber slings and a patch of leather for holding the pebble or stone. The stone held in the patch is drawn back thereby stretching the rubber sling and when released the stone would travel quite fast to its target. I was pretty good with the catapult and during the hunts we would surely fell down at least two pigeons which would be taken by my accompanying friends for their dinner since I never used to have non veg food. There are times that my mom used to find about these trips and I would be forced to have a bath to cleanse myself. I had never been frightened by the ghost stories told by so many of my friends when they learn of my visits to the cemetery.

“My first love …an one sided one “

It was the year 1969 and we were playing cricket in my friend’s house compound and suddenly while fielding I saw a cute looking girl of my age smiling and glancing coyly. She was quite a looker and I was pleased that I was singled out among my friends by her. By the time we finished playing I could not find any trace of this girl in and around our place and I was walking around Wilson Gardens, Bangalore trying to locate her. After couple of days I was able to find out the house where this girl resided. Then on almost every evening I used to follow this girl singing the famous song of the time from the movie Aradhana …”Mere Sapano ki Rani kab aayegi tu “ and thinking back now it seems quite funny that at the age of 12 without any knowledge of sex I have been trying to woo the girl. Maybe the thought of having a girl friend stemmed from seeing my friends elder sisters and the romantic movies of those times. Well this ended within 2 months of start when I was confronted and warned by the girl and her friend of dire consequences and all the smiles and coy remarks by her was just for fun…..there went my first Love down the drains

A Quote which is quite apt to the experience comes to my mind and it is “First love is only a little foolishness and lots of curiosity”…