The ‘Lifeless’ Friend.

It is far from truth to say that only blood relations are thicker or last longer. Nowadays, in fact, one finds the tide turning other way round. Relations last long when there is an innate bonding between the two, when there is no greed or selfishness involved. One can relate to anybody and that relationship can last forever, even a lifeless object can be your trustworthy buddy. By the way, there is nothing lifeless in this world, modern physics is finally proving what our age old sages wrote a few thousand years before.

The prelude to this blog entry necessitated because, i had a deep bonding with one such ‘lifeless’ object, the relationship lasted for over three decades, until a fortnight ago.

I was in third division in the early eighties, when my dad purchased this, it was a large almirah, a cupboard. I was a small boy then, those were the days of meager resources not only for our household but for the society as a whole. Having a color television, or a landline phone suddenly raised your bar a few notches above others. So this almirah, a strong metal bodied chrome colored piece of work, with a large mirror embedded on the left door arrived almost unannounced. When i reached home from my school, it was a pleasant surprise, i was very happy, actually, that cupboard was of not much use to me as i always led a much-unorganized lifestyle then and even today. I was so small then that i could barely see myself in the mirror then, the cupboard witnessed my growth, physical and in all aspects. I would dress myself everyday standing in front of that cupboard and slowly, that love, that bond, that relationship developed. The cupboard witnessed all ups and downs in our lives, more downs than ups though. It had a safe, where one could keep ornaments money and valuables, most of the times it would be the most vacant space in the cupboard. Like most of the kids of my age then, I used the almirah many a times, to hide my answer sheets which sometimes would not very presentable anyways. The cupboard stood firmly with us, it bored the brunt of our financial instability, as we changed houses, during monsoon it used to sink in knee deep waters, but, still stood firmly, no corrosion, no loss of paint, no scratches, its mirror smiled. It in fact, taught me a silent lesson, how to withstand a rough weather.

I had no plans to bid a goodbye to this loyal friend of mine, who was with me for over 35 years. But, i shifted to a new house. A newly renovated house suddenly makes your things look old and outdated. So the first thing in my wive’s no list was this almirah. I had to keep it in my old house hoping against the hope that someday i may be able to bring it to my new house. The cupboard now was empty and gave a deserted look.

Suddenly a tenant came calling and i had to empty the house. I now had no alibi to retain the best friend of mine.

So a scrap dealer was called, i did not wished to see my lovely treasure store of memories pass away. The dealer tightly tied ropes around it and most ruthlessly brought it downstairs caring less about damages. I felt very helpless and sad to go. It was not just a piece of metal for me, it was my companion for more than three decades

If you create a bond a relationship with even a lifeless object they talk with you, you only need to be that sensitive to understand. I talk with my tiger shark, i talk with my plants and they all respond. My readers may think i am a nut, so be it.

I inquired with the scrap dealer assistant what they do with these scraps, just to understand, the agony my friend was to undergo, i was pleasantly surprised. He told me that they would repaint it, do minor repair works and again sell it to someone. Poor people who cannot afford costly cupboards buy such old refurbished goods.

I was happy, happy that my friend would not be broken into pieces, It was once again going to adorn the house of somebody. Yet another child like me would stand in front of it and befriend it for years.

Bye bye my friend and best wishes for your new journey, i will miss you forever..

Those days of innocence…….

Childhood days are perhaps the most cherished days of life. Unfortunately, when we were children we always dreamt of growing fast, our role model were young people living life fully. But now when we are older we seem to feel that good old days of our childhood were really the best days of our life. Even an old man near completion of his earthly sojourn yearns for the childhood days. We tend to forget so many a things, but those childhood days, those memories – good or bad, we never tend to forget.

My childhood days memories take me good two and a half decades back. Those were pre-liberalized days. Nineteen Eighties was quite different an era from today’s. Even a Black & White Television was Luxury Item. A person owning a Color Television was envy of neighborhood. A person telephone was shared by the whole locality and the poor owner more often than not used to regret for having installed one.

My childhood days went in Naval Colony, it was Government Colony, my dad being a Navy Man. In Govt colonies residents stay for a short tenure, till they retire or get transfer. The Children of these colonies are most affected one, unfortunately nobody tends to realize this. The kids make good friends, only to realize one day that the friend has left him because his dad retired or got transferred. I made and lost so many friends. My friends too lost me when my dad retired.

My schooling was in St.Xaviers at Bhandup, a typical strict convent school it was. Those days were really nice, the school used to start at 7.15 am and lasted till 1.15 pm. Thursdays and Sundays used to be holidays. Thursdays holidays because they used to have prayers in church.

After reaching the school the first thing i used to do was to part away with my school bags, and hurriedly gulp something and rush to the playground in that scorching heat. I made many friends and our ‘team’ used to consist of around 20-25 kids of both gender. Our games lasted till 6 pm, then with heavy heart and unwillingly I used to go to tuition class, which lasted till around 9.30 pm. Reaching home i used to complete the homework etc and by 10.30 used to go to bed totally tired.

All kind of games were played, though cricket was the preferred one, but during monsoon, football was our favorite sport. Then in vacations carrom, cards, housie and other games. Exploring newer things were our favorite past times. During those days, IIT Mumbai area was not too developed and our colony was located at the base of IIT Mumbai. The Central School which is now functioning used to be our playground once, The playground itself was an abandoned graveyard of Christians. Those innocent days, stories of ghosts and evil spirits were abound, so a sense of fear mixed with good amount of curiosity was always there.

On one such fine day we went on to explore the jungles of IIT in search of coconuts. Somehow we waylaid, and reached an old dilapidated structure, which was a graveyard of christians, one of our senior member climbed the tree and got the coconuts for us. Just for our misfortune, we found ourselves being caught by the Father of the Church. But in that scorching heat, at a deserted place, seeing a person standing behind you in milky white gown, gave the impression in us, that it was a ghost and we started running helter skelter. Poor guy who had climbed up was caught. When we came back to our senses we realized that it was not ghost but the father. We assembled all our guts to go to him and apologized, the kind-hearted father accepted our apologies and allowed us to take the fruits.

Rainy season were the most boring season for us, for it kept us inbounds most of the times, and we were not the kind of people who used to stay indoors. Though we played indoor games, our preferred games were outdoor ones.

Most of my childhood days my memories and my heroes were the cartoon characters, phantom – The Ghost who walks, Chacha Chaudhari & his Sabu, Bahadur and of course Chandamama shaped my persona. I had joined the library to read these books.

Television was a premium thing then. Even seeing the intro logo of Doordarshan was very eagerly watched. The news at 7.00 pm was watched by the whole family. Telecast of Ramayan could result in empty streets. Javed Miandiad’s last ball six on Chetan Sharma’s delivery created him a villain instantly. Kapil Dev was our hero and Grahame Gooch and David Boon our villains for they would not get out so cheaply.

Everything has changed now, life became more fast, communication more direct, but are we really able to keep up with the pace? Do we not feel exhausted by this pace? And why such a haste, for more money, for money brings happiness? but does it really bring it? We waste our lives earning money, to find it that someone else is enjoying it.

Why not live the life like the way we did in our childhood days, live life with carelessness and enjoy every bit of it, thinking less about what happens tomorrow. At least, even today, i live life the same way i did yesterday, may be that is the one reason, people around me at my place, at my office always comment that Vijay has remained the same, he has not changed. Is that not a compliment for me 🙂