Sunday, August 4, 2013

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Those were the best days of my life, when lunch time broke opened to a red box, with sandwiches neatly laid  vertically and horizontally and colored vegetables peeping out of the loaves of bread. I didn't like roti but always asked mom to pack noodles for me. I loved the way I could slurp it into my mouth. She mostly settled on the sandwich which tasted stale on my tongue until some day, those wriggly noodles would appear miraculously like a rabbit from a hat.

Those were the best days of my life when the elaichi flavored Kismi toffee and the orange candy were my favorite delicacies on a day that ended with a stroll with dad and Roger.   

Those were the best days of my life when a girl called G who was ousted by everyone for wearing the shortest skirt in school made friends with me. And we got along like a house on fire. From doting on Dino Morea whom she raved about to holding the fort with me when my other class mates called me "kali" to teaching me to let my hair down. She was the first person to tell me that I was beautiful and being fair wasn't always synonymous to being beautiful.


Those were the best days of my life when my spoken English heavily twisted and tortured by a malayali tongue, didn't bother G and she made every earnest effort to correct the pronunciation. She was my first and only spoken English teacher.

Those were the best days of my life when my younger brother grew as tall as a banyan tree and everyone in school was afraid to stand upto his shoulders. Although his antics always got me into trouble (for being Miss Goody Two shoes who could never ever be wrong) but never did he let any of my guy class mates escape after a round of tattering taunts directed at me. The possessive brother he was, always ready to ward of the devils who teased with a nick name that I will never forget "Touch me not"!

Those were the best days of my life when watching WWE which was then called WWF was an evening exercise we didn't miss out on. Zee Tv then crossed the threshold in India and "Junglee Toofan Tyre puncture", "Banegi Apni baat" and "Hip Hip Hurray" became our favorite shows. Cable tv kept us busy after homework and two hours of play.

Those were the best days of my life, when invitations for birthday parties weren't glittering gold rimmed cards that are now distributed as wedding invitations. There were no formal invitations, just birthday parties which we were expected to attend without fail. They were synonymous to pastries and gifts which were always returned, and never were taken into count. There were no glossy restaurants and coffee shops, only the coziness of homes, the doors of which were always open for friends.



Those were the best days of my life when I hated opening my English textbooks and hated my English teacher and even then scored the highest marks in English. That just made me more lazy to ever carefully flip though my English books, Wordsworth was someone I loathed and Tagore's beard I always wanted to pull as a sign of resentment for his poems.

Those were the best days of my life when I never gave a second thought before pedaling down the roads on my favourite bicycle, that I didn't want to dump even after it was rusted to its last lee.



Those were the best days of my life, when memories were pebbles we collected along the streets and care was a pat on the back of a friend who is now only a smudged picture or a note in the slam book I have painstakingly preserved, as a beautiful chapter in the memoirs of my soul.




5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautifully written. Great post!

Unknown said...

Quite an inspirational write up

Richa Singh said...

We all have these memories, even I had a gal pal who "motivated" me to try new things. And then of course hip hip hurray and just mohabbat was always there to follow steps :)

I was thinking we must get back and discuss wow posts on blogadda forum what say?

Richa

kalpana solsi said...

beautifully written about the sweet memories of sweet toffees. congrats.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! Especially loved the last paragraph...you just nailed it there!!

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