These are a few of my favorite memories

Feeling a bit nostalgic today, remembering those childhood days of fun, days without technology. As a kid, I used to go to my dad’s native village every year, a village that did not have concrete roads or electricity. However, it had beautiful fields, a stream, muddy roads and a big enough house for me to be lost for hours in my thoughts. I had a favorite place, the window in my room, half of which overlooked the terrace and half the courtyard down. I could easily navigate between the real and the fantasy world at ease, reading and just getting into that other world for hours, without anyone disturbing me.

As we did not have telephone at home, in fact, the only telephone that the village had was in the post office, so dad used to write at least 2-3 letters to my grandfather informing him about our arrival. Sending so many letters ensured that we would be picked up from the bus stop on time. So after getting down at Bardhaman, we used to take a bus till the outskirts of the village, and from there a bullock cart ride on the kaccha rasta (unconstructed road), lined with rice fields, mango groves, and other such splendid views. Mom promptly had her pallu (corner of her saree) over her head and I used to get lost into my world.

The fresh air, the discipline of my grandfather, the battery-operated television, the masses that gathered around it in the evening and of course the many debates over uncountable teas are some of my favorite memories. Something else that was really amusing was the entire lantern business. Everyday around 4 pm, our maids gathered all the lanterns in the house, varied shapes and sizes and polished the glasses with ashes. I loved watching them but was never allowed to do them myself. It was fascinating. We also have a tube well in the courtyard and I used to love bathing under it. While, at my mom's place it was a big well, and again, I was never allowed to draw water from it. There were small ponds too and it used to be fun to splash around them.

I had a favorite tree too, the big Bunyan tree a few yards from our house. Then I had a few friends, and played with mitti ki gudiyas (clay dolls) and clay toys. They even had a kitchen set, made entirely out of clay, complete with an earthen chulla (oven).

There was this khajoor (date) tree outside our house and every afternoon I sneaked out and threw stones to collect those dry dates. It used to be fun and miraculously I never got caught. At my mom’s place, there is a guava tree, with low branches and I used to climb on it, pick the fruit and eat there sitting on one of the branches.

These memories are my real treasures.