Childhood memories…

We all remember our childhood days, the cricket, the cycle races, the park, the swings, the cartoons ,the comics . When I look back at my childhood (though I’m only 16 yet, but yes a lot of responsibilities are on my shoulders now so don’t feel like a child anymore) the part I miss the most about mine is how as a kid I used to find delight in doing small little stupid activities. Yes, when we were children we used to spend a lot of our time doing weird things and playing senseless games. Sometimes alone, sometimes with our siblings or with grandparents .admit it you all have done it in your childhood. However stupid they may seem now, but they are a very close part of us and these memories are still closest to our hearts.

So here I am writing after almost half a year sharing some of my stupidities. Hope you all relate to this.

1. When I was 4 one of my most much-loved pastimes was cloud gazing. Well this isn’t an official name for this thing and I don’t know what precisely this activity is called. As a kid I always looked at the sky while travelling with my dad in the car and used to imagine shapes in the clouds. It was lovely; it was like playing with one of god’s most wonderful creations. I remember I discovered dragons flying high, trees, large creamy spoons. The twilight clouds used to look like they were on orange fire. I spotted almost everything in my little mind from bugs bunny to birthday hats. Sometimes I would go to the roof of the building just to enjoy the clouds.

Even till today, every now and then find time to do it. Especially near the Independence Day when I spend quite a time on the roof. Sometimes I do it from the car while I m on a driving holiday. Cloud gazing is one of the few things that get me back to my childhood and I rediscover the four year old in me. I sometimes meet the cool kid I used to be.

2. I don’t know what to name this activity. Umm… Lets just call it bike racing but it is as opposite to bike racing as possible. It was totally safe. I always won the race and I didn’t even need a racing track. I was roughly 5-6 years old when like every other boy; I fell in love with the bikes. I found bikes irresistible. They are strong sexy machines. Of course, I had my cycle with the supporting wheels but cycling looked so uncool in front of biking. I wanted to ride one so badly that every now and then I would climb up my dad’s bike. My hand would barely reach the handles and my legs would be nowhere near the brake and gears, but I sat on the bike and fabricated that I m riding like a stud. I used to imagine all of it, the crowd cheering, my opponents trying to beat me, the cheerleaders cheering for me. And everyday I used to win one or other championship.

I don’t know how many of you did this or how many of you relate to this, but I loved this activity and it consumed a whole lot of my time. I don’t do it nowadays, probably I would feel too stupid….i mean a 16 year old sitting on a bike and making all kinds of noises.

3. This was me and my cousin’s favourite game for a very long period of time. We used to call it 1, 2, 3 JUMP. The game involved doing nothing but, climbing on the side of the bed, holding hands and then jumping as hard as you can. I don’t remember who introduced me to this or when I first played this game. I left playing this at the age of around 8 when I accidentally fell of the bed and hurt my forehead. I still have photographs of me and the company holding hands, ready to jump our way to the fun.

4. I don’t know if your parents allowed this but mine certainly did. Scribing on the walls was always a routine. I had a special corner in my room, near the divan where I just used to sit and write, draw and even paint sometimes. I started doing this as soon as my mom taught me how to hold a pencil. I was too clumsy to keep the pages safely so I always used the walls. I still remember that huge lizard I made with my green crayon, and a very unique ‘A’ which anyone would mistake for an ‘O’. I even tried to make a locomotive (inspired from my train set). I still remember that I felt very bad when that wall was repainted. I don’t enjoy it now. I am too conscious of the house I live in now. Sometimes so much that I forget that I am the owner (not caretaker) and this house is made for me. I sometimes still miss the place where I spent my childhood. For grown ups , house is just a property of a few lakhs , as we grow old we get more addicted to money. Lets not talk about it here but please dear readers  do give it a thought.

5. Pen-fight. Yaa, you guessed it right. I don’t think I need to explain this one. Everyone plays this at some point of time in their childhood. It first started when I was nine; a friend of mine introduced this to me. We first started playing this in the free time we got after finishing our three hour exam early. It started at sharpener fight, then to pencil fight, and finally reached the very popular pen fight. Each person sends one of his pens in the battlefield (the table) and gets alternate chances to strike his pen. The motto is to make your pen hit the opponent’s pen such that it falls down the table. There are no hard and fast rules to this game. That’s what makes it complicated as there are lots of fights and disagreements among the players. A lot of time I got too competitive with my friends and the matches took an ugly turn. Now, when I look back the fights are my best moments as a pen-fighter. Last time I was caught by my teacher playing the game was in 9^th standard. My English teacher just told me ,” Boys never grow up.”  I bet she was right.

Well, that was all for this time. I shared quite a few incidents and activities that shaped my childhood and hope that you relate to them and these words of mine take you back to yours….