Of Duck Tales And Cement Mixture
I was taking a stroll in a park near my house. A couple of kids were running around and were so joyous. The laughter was so infectious that it took me down the memory lane. From eating the lolly ice (frozen ice packed in polythene tubes), shunti (ginger) pepper mints to playing cricket early in the morning till the soles of the feet started burning, those memories brought a flurry of emotions. Waking up on Sunday mornings to melodious songs played in Rangoli on Doordarshan to having breakfast watching ‘Duck Tales’ and ‘Talespin’. Even today the thought of Uncle Scrooge and Baloo makes my heart leap with excitement. Jungle book was another fascination. Even though I have seen many versions of Jungle Book, the original is closer to my heart.
We would grow vegetables in our small garden. The whole process was so wonderful. How did a few seeds grow into plant? How did my parents know exactly when we should pull the radish out? We would water the plants everyday. Plants would grow and after months of waiting the first sight of a vegetable was so exciting. There was something else which brought me a lot of happiness and to this date I cannot explain why. That was to see the preparation of concrete mixture. The way the mason would first create a dry mix of cement and sand, create a heap first and then a circular space at the center for the water and mix it slowly to create a uniform mix. I would spend so much time just looking at the house construction.
For most of us childhood memories are the sweetest. What made those memories so sweet? Was it because back in those days choices were limited or was it because there was no responsibility to fulfill?
Was it because we were in the moment without worrying about past or future or was it ignorance? Was it a bit of all of these?
And if this is what it takes to create the memories which make life more vibrant, what are we doing now to create some more of these memories?? Just a food for thought!
