Somehow yesterday, I was thrown back to the days of childhood, when on a monsoon drenched day, we used to wade through the waterlogged Southern Avenue only to get the news that the school will remain closed for the day. On any typical monsoon day in Kolkata, when there was an incessant shower for a couple of hours in the morning, the area around the Dhakuria Lake (more appropriately the Rabindra Sarobar), would turn into an extension of the lake itself. From the morning itself we actually knew that there would be no schools, yet we were adamant enough to travel in our school bus to hear the holiday notice in person. The mayhem and pandemonium that followed are all in the Kolkata folklore now. We came back home all drenched and soaked, the school uniform all soiled – “Daag achchey hain”!
Yesterday the rain was not there, and the time and place all so different from my childhood days. Yet, the essence was there, the feel was the same. Yesterday, our office was closed a couple of hours after lunch due to a major power failure, and we all came out in a queue which was more like an organized chaos. The charm and the smile in the faces were exactly like the one I saw on one of my school friend I know from the past. Surprise gifts always are welcome in any shape or in any form.
We went out on a shopping spree into the Carrefour. It really does not matter in any way, the names of the people who constituted this “we”. There were a few other people other than me, and that is what matters most. We were pretty different in our way we look at the world in our day to day life, which is pretty much normal, as no two people are exactly similar. Yet, today what bound us together was this “Hothat paowa chhutir anondo”, the ecstasy of the surprise gift of freedom. A bunch of conglomerated spare moments which we do not need to account for to anybody, a couple of free man-hours to loiter, linger and lay back upon.
We planned a grand home cooked dinner; an evening filled with a black and white Bengali Oldie and a lot of chattering (not beating) around the bush! As the day ended into a calm and silent night, we were all relishing the garnishing of the dessert we had. Which we rarely do. We tend to forget about the itsy bitsy pieces of the garnish on the main course of life. We either ignore or forget them. Yet it is the small pieces of nuts or the one or two golden raisins that made the dessert more palatable, rather delicious. Tiny moments of friendship, a rare laughter shared with friends, a meal taken together or an intimate heart to heart chat, are a few of the many things that spices up our life. We still continue to get our share of the childhood rainy days all through out our life, only we are too busy to notice them. Let’s enjoy life and relish the garnish!
Yesterday the rain was not there, and the time and place all so different from my childhood days. Yet, the essence was there, the feel was the same. Yesterday, our office was closed a couple of hours after lunch due to a major power failure, and we all came out in a queue which was more like an organized chaos. The charm and the smile in the faces were exactly like the one I saw on one of my school friend I know from the past. Surprise gifts always are welcome in any shape or in any form.
We went out on a shopping spree into the Carrefour. It really does not matter in any way, the names of the people who constituted this “we”. There were a few other people other than me, and that is what matters most. We were pretty different in our way we look at the world in our day to day life, which is pretty much normal, as no two people are exactly similar. Yet, today what bound us together was this “Hothat paowa chhutir anondo”, the ecstasy of the surprise gift of freedom. A bunch of conglomerated spare moments which we do not need to account for to anybody, a couple of free man-hours to loiter, linger and lay back upon.
We planned a grand home cooked dinner; an evening filled with a black and white Bengali Oldie and a lot of chattering (not beating) around the bush! As the day ended into a calm and silent night, we were all relishing the garnishing of the dessert we had. Which we rarely do. We tend to forget about the itsy bitsy pieces of the garnish on the main course of life. We either ignore or forget them. Yet it is the small pieces of nuts or the one or two golden raisins that made the dessert more palatable, rather delicious. Tiny moments of friendship, a rare laughter shared with friends, a meal taken together or an intimate heart to heart chat, are a few of the many things that spices up our life. We still continue to get our share of the childhood rainy days all through out our life, only we are too busy to notice them. Let’s enjoy life and relish the garnish!
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