The month of May always reminds me of my childhood summer
vacations. I always feel like going back
to the good old days and living them all together again. I am sure after reading what I did as a
child; you will also feel the same.
I used to visit my native place in summer and Diwali
vacations. My brother and me would count the number of days for the vacations
to begin as we longed to see my grandmother.
My father had a transferable job and we would travel all the way from
every corner of our State to my native place all by ourselves. We felt such
great adventure in doing that. When we reached, my uncle would pick us up from
the bus stop and we would travel 18kms on the Bajaj scooter to reach our old
Wada, where my grandmother awaited to welcome us right in the front door. It made me feel really special. Once we were
freshened up and changed we would have the most famous dish in any
maharashtrian household the “Aamras” with steaming hot chapattis and kanda
bhaji’s. We would be so tired, that as soon as we finished our dinner, we would
immediately go to bed.
We have a huge well in our house, the whole village drinks
its water. In the morning as we freshened up in the backyard, all the people
who came to fetch the water, greeted us and asked when we reached and how we
came. There were a lot of people I didn’t know, but they knew me and my
parents. It made me feel royal. They felt brother and me were so brave to have
travelled all the way by ourselves. We would have tea and run to take our
towels and clothes. We were four cousins and my uncle, the poor Bajaj Scooter
would carry all of our weights to the farm well where we would swim in fresh
cold water. It was so refreshing. After the swim, we would be so hungry. On
reaching home, we would be greeted to the smell of hot chappattis being made,
that we would all sit with a plate and have hot chappattis and tea.
Later, a lot of children from the neighbourhood would gather
in our house, and there would be non-stop playing of games such as lock and
key, hide and seek, coconut tree, playing cards etc. We would set up plays and
organise drawing camps. It used to be a lot of fun. In the evenings, we would all go for a walk
in a nearby farm and pluck raw mangoes… the taste of raw mangoes alongwith a
packet of chilli powder and salt carried in pockets still lingers in my mouth! J Somedays, we would
cycle down to the canal and feel the fresh breeze and stare into the sky and
watch the most amazing sunset, At night, we would all freshen up and gather in
the family temple and say “Manache shlok” and “Shubham Karoti” in one tone.
By the end of such a mastiful day, we would be so tired that
we fall off to sleep even before having dinner and I fondly remember my uncle
carrying each of us to the kitchen to have atleast a cup of milk before we
slept.
I can hardly imagine a vacation of this sort for todays generation,
especially the city bred “kids”
Truly this was the bestest part of childhood.
Who wouldn’t want a childhood like this?? J
