Remembrance

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 v...

Life could be harsh, but at times some things make it worth going through the trite of 'living' it. A rainy Sunday evening spent with your favorite yellowed book, earmarked at several places, reading it again brought different emotions & perspective that you did not feel the first time you read it.  A long-forgotten song that suddenly plays in the car radio while you are stressed out to reach to your next meeting on time, bringing the deluge of memories you shared with your friends in school/college never worrying about a dime in the world. A tenner in your jeans pocket that had been washed & ironed, & you find it just when you are short of a tenner. A poem you wrote when you were a starry-eyed young-thing & loved all that you wrote, & discover it just when you had edited your article for the nth time & still think it's not making the 'cut'. A discolored picture from your childh...