My Childhood Diaries 1

A news of death of one of my childhood pal "Pavan" took me to the past. Although Pavan was a handicapped guy (Which is the reason for his early demise) but we really had a great time together.

His place used to be the Adda for all of us. After school we used to gather at his house varanda and shared all the happenings of the day or plan our next holiday.

In those days we used to celebrate all the festivals together like Diwali, Lohri, holi, even for Lohri we used to form a group and went door to door to gather fire woods with singing the tradational jingle of Lohri -- Lohri Lohri Lakadi Jive twadi Bachri..... This is a tradition in Punjab to go door to door and gather the firewoods which will be later used to light the camp fire on the auspicious day.

Holi was also used to be one of the most awaited festivals for us and obviously Diwali was the special one. We used to gather all our fire crackers at one place and then start the show till late night. Next day of diwali, our gang used to visit all the houses of the society greeting elders and taking their blessings.

Those were the best time of my life. Need not to worry for anything, After school used to play lots of games, whether its summer or winter, nothing could stop us. We didn't have to worry about any office or any deadlines, any assignments or any client meetings.

Summer vacations always seemed to be very short for us. Our routine was to get up early and go to a nearby park and then play cricket after coming from the park time for the breakfast and then gather for the long afternoon video game sessions.

Evenings were always welcomed either by Cricket or some other indoor game. after dark, Hide and seek (chupan chupai) was a must and everyone used to be scared of starting the game because in a dense lane of houses it was really hard to find someone. Those words which used to be called out, when you find someone are still afresh in my mind.

One more interesting game was "Pan Dikkar". In this game we have to hit a tower of stones with a ball and then try to make it again before the opponent hit you with tha same ball. We used to play this in teams and enjoyed like anything.

Sometimes I think why we have to grow up and start behaving like the instruments in this world. Why can't we always be a kid and enjoy. The most sacred things about kids is they do not have any hatred about anyone. Even when they fight with each other, after some time you'll see them together even this used to happen with us.

I really miss those day and specially Pavan. When I heard about this I really wanted to cry but could not because we are not human beings anymore we are just instruments.

Thank you for touching my life

In ways you may never know.

My riches do not lie in material wealth

But in having friends

Love,
Mayank