“Chandrakanta” was THE most popular television series that could be found in those days. I was hooked to it like anything. DoorDarshan also featured serials like “Shanti” played by Bandira Bedi ,”Superhit Muquabla” hosted by Baba Seigal, “Flop Show” and the like.
I was also interested in the Indian cartoon version of “Alice in Wonderland” ,”Mc Iver”, the genius guy and “Street Hawk”. All these television programs formed a part of my daily entertainment as a kid.
I had several kid friends but amongst my favorite was a girl who was nicked Buri and a guy who was nicknamed Babu. These were the best friends I ever had as a child. But our friendship was short lived because my parents got me admitted to a boarding school far from my hometown. It was in Darjeeling.
But the childhood I had with my friends was mostly covered in tricycle races and a few illegal rides to a nearby grocery shop to buy lozenges, and the latest pickle sold in small exchanges of money. Babu and I cycled a lot when Buri joined in after forcing her parents to purchase one for herself.
A new house was being built nearby and a small road got reddened by the breaking of bricks. We called it the ‘lal rasta’ or the red road. Babu was the eldest amongst us and he got admitted to school first. So initially Buri and myself became alone in his absence. So this girl and I became best mates. She often asked me to take her out on the ‘lal rasta’ on my tricycle to which I enquired about her tricycle. She told me that her tricycle broke due to some reasons and her parents were not willing to buy her a new one.
I reluctantly accepted her proposal and gave her a lift in my tricycle making her sit in between the handle of my tricycle. If it was a long ride she would often lean back towards me. She was very fond of pressing the bells of my tricycle and we could often hear some of the neighbor aunties asking her not to press those bells.
In this neighborhood all the three of us were best recognized for climbing walls. Anyone who saw us said “you are that guy who climbed and walked walls, where are the other two friends? ”.We friends had a common liking for Reba aunty who lived in the same neighborhood.
It was because she made the spiciest and the tastiest pickle here. And she kept it in the sun to dry. In the afternoon we visited her spread and made the best of the day. She knew that we were stealing from her stuff but never complained. She spared us for a reason. To her, we were the advertisers. We used to advertise her pickle story and she became an instant hit in the locality. Everyone wanted to taste her pickle.
There was a state of unhappiness whenever a power failure occurred in the evening. So we friends got out together whenever there was load-shedding. Following us, our parents also came out of their house. It soon became a social gathering for the neighborhood. Somebody always made ‘jhal-muri’ and everyone got a share from it. And we enjoyed every time there was darkness due to power failure.
I grew in size in size and height and I got admitted to a local school. School days were exciting, specially the travel by a cage shaped rickshaw .My school began early in the morning and I had never been more exited to wake up early. While at school I did a lot of things that I consider naughty now. I uprooted the garden plants, I threw stones at the chained dog who kept barking consistently. I broke some glasses with stones and fled the scene. I began to experience strength in my muscles.
Going to school had opened the doors of independence to me. I was curious as to what lay on top of our house. Our house had a narrow terrace that could not be visited from inside. So I gathered some courage and sought Babu’s help in climbing the terrace. After several attempts and change of several strategies we finally reached the terrace. First I tried by climbing the pipes and failed, later I found that some bricks of our house were purposely kept a bit projecting outward for easy climbing.
Reba auntie’s had a daughter Tumpa who was 10 years elder to me. She sometimes accompanied us in our play. But mostly due to age she got priority in most of our fun games and this saddened us a lot. One fine day she said she has a kitten and wanted us to join her in her play with her kitten. Actually she had housed a cat and while she got pregnant she gave birth to two kittens in her house. So ‘Nano’,the kitten was our new best friend. Nano was so cute, what to say.
Another incident that occurred to me is a bit funny although it is tragic. I wore a half pant that had a zip in front. I don’t remember wearing underwear under that. So after a pee in my school toilet I pulled my zip up and my THING got stuck in the chain.I screamed a lot. I was also embarrassed. Whole of my school got the news instantly and I became a subject of mockery. Also while returning home my mother had come to pick me up. The best thing she could do was to get me home to get some privacy. But taxis didn’t ply in our place so I travelled in the rickshaw and I felt that someone was always looking at me. At home my mother tried a lot to get my THING out from the pant zip but no success. It was Reba Auntie who was my hero. She pulled my zip down in a quick movement and I was all relieved.
to be continued..........read chapter 5
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