Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Random memories from my past

- I think I remember there was a big jackfruit tree in the enclosed courtyard in the back of the house that we lived in when my dad was in Jamshedpur. I could be wrong, though I don’t think so. What I DO remember is wearing a pair of shorts with my top tucked in the waistband, and tearing up and down the house from the front to the back, leaping over the small gutters, yelling “I’m a boy, I’m a boy”. (I’m guessing I wanted very much to be a boy.) The exuberance, of course, inevitably cut short when I tripped or slipped over a gutter and went flying. No memory of anything thereafter, but I must have bawled. I think I was 5 or 6 years old then but I’m famous in my family for being the world’s worst cry-baby. [Possibly only surpassed by my sister (heehee)].

- I remember telling my mother (when my sister was a baby, I think): “She cries too much. Let’s throw her away.” A caring, sharing first child, me.

- This must have been during school holidays. I remember invariably asking my dad every morning, very fearfully, while he was shaving, if I had to go to school that day. The indescribable relief when he said “no, not today” is something that’s very clear in my mind. Not a school-loving child, me, right from the start.

- While on the subject of school, I remember my grandmother (who took me to school – DBMS Primary School in Jamshedpur. I was in LKG then) promising to wait outside on the steps for me all day, because I wouldn’t go inside the school at all otherwise. I don’t know if she really did sit there all morning, but I DO know that she was always there when school let out.

- I remember playing on the see-saw (or teeter-totter as they’re also known) in school all by myself and growling – literally - at other kids who wanted to get on. (There were other see-saws there. Really.)

- Before my first trip on a plane (we were moving to Tanzania) I remember being petrified by the noise and dazzled by the headlights of the massive aircraft that we were going to board – and which I did not want to board because everything was so scary. My mother must have had a tough time with me. And yes, I was bawling. (Why everything comes down to that, I really don’t know!)

12 comments:

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desi witch said...

“She cries too much. Let’s throw her away.”

priceless!

Anonymous said...

this would make a nice tag. childhood memories....G

Anonymous said...

v. sweet -- but this has been nagging at me... how exactly did you manage to play on the see-saw by yourself? swing, yes, slide, yes. but see-saw? that NEEDS two people -- even WE are not that schizophrenic yet :-)

Anonymous said...

Brin: If you stood in the centre and pushed down with your weight on one leg, first to the left and then to the right (and so on), it's possible to play on a see-saw by yourself! :)

Anonymous said...

good god! i wish i'd known that when i was young... but didn't you ever lose balance and tumble down? i would have... :-)

Anonymous said...

brinda: So now we (I mean I) know who's schizo, dont we (I mean I) :D

Radha said...

That first trip on the plane - you forgot to mention that Amma was then pregnant with Kumar (about 5 months?)... How in the world she ever managed, I will never know. :D

Anonymous said...

My goodness, I'd never have the guts to stand on a see-saw. Some more memories please.

Anonymous said...

Drinking a mug of cocoa, I stood in the kitchen arguing with my sister. As the fight escalated, she lost her temper and she smacked my arm. With a barely-yet-still perceptible, very deliberate pause, I opened my fingers and let the mug drop. It smashed heavily, splashing cocoa all over me, her and the entire kitchen floor. For added drama, I burst into tears.

And went to tell Mom.

Anonymous said...

Jay: haha... you must have been a holy terror to oppose! :)

desi witch said...

y haven't u posted in such a long time?