Preethi's tag- Things that I love abt my childhood!

I had been meaning to write this post in answer to a tag by Preethi.ON my drive back from Galle, I found myself naturally drifting into my memories of my childhood. What was that I loved the most about my childhood. When did my childhood start and end?


After thinking enough I came to the conclusion that childhood ended for me somewhere around the time my 10th std exams got over. The thoughts churned in my head and it felt wonderful to go through those lovely days.

Here are a few things that I love so much about my childhood. I found tears trickling down when I wrote about it. The feeling was too good for me to let go of it that I have decided not to write about things I hate about my child hood.


This post is dedicated to appa and amma who gave me a childhood which I cant find fault with. I wonder if I can ever give such beautiful times to my child. I for sure will be a painful mother!!!!



I loved the routine of my childhood.

I loved the fact that I had a routine. Not a day to day routine but a routine for many years. I didn’t have to bother about what I was going to do next. I just had to go to school year after year! I went to the same school for 14 years. Life didn’t changed drastically. I went to school with people who had been going to the same school for years. Unlike a lot of the novels there has never been a summer where things changed for good!


Queen of my world

I was the queen of my world. My parents treated me like I was the next best thing to have graced the world. My teachers were really fond of me. I had a decent set of friends. I was great at studies. I could rattle off the Vedas by just having listened to my brother say them. I had friends who were twice my age. Students in the 12th class knew me when I was in 4th std. I read Thomas Hardy from my brothers English books when I was in 4th std. I felt great about myself!!!!


Endless Clause Analysis

I loved my English classes and teachers. I was the pet of all my English teachers. I loved the routine of grammar. I loved clause analysis. I would do clause analysis of sentences in my physics and chemistry books. Clause Analysis is like dish washing. Have you ever washed dishes with a lot of soap? It gives you a sense of cleansing the world around you. While I did clause analysis I felt like that. I could break down every sentence you said, clean the mistakes in it and leave it the way it should be.

Mum

There is no doubt that I was the daddy’s girl. But I miss the bond I shared with my mum. My mum who knew all that happened in my life- my friends, my teachers, my lessons, my marks, my dresses. I miss that mum. Mum today is a very different person. I miss the routines with my mum.

After school routine:

I used to love that part of the day when I used to come back from school, sit on the kitchen slab, slurping some mango juice and recounting to amma what had happened right from the morning prayer to how someone broke my red lead pen to how much I loved her curd rice to evening national anthem. I don’t think anyone has appreciated every V.Good in my books than her. I think my mum was reliving a childhood that she had always wanted through me. Every victory that I scored- by means of marks or otherwise was hers.

First day of school:

I had this ritual that I went by car on the first day of every school year with amma. When I was a little kid she would drop me off till the class, find a good seat and wave bye from the window and leave.

Lunch by the tree:
My mum brought lunch for me till I learnt to eat on my own. I used to love sitting under the trees and eating her lunch. When I was growing up, everytime I fell sick and was recovering she would bring me lunch and a bar of chocolate. I miss these to no extent.

Yearly Family Holidays:

I loved the yearly holidays that we used to take as a family. We sometimes went with Bhajj uncles family. Bhajj uncle taught me how to eat with a fork and knife. Bhajj uncle always claimed right in the middle of our holidays that “ we are living beyond our means”.I didn’t realize the meaning of those words until long time.Our trips to athibelle, thekkady is etched forever in my mind and family holidays have never been so pleasurable as these. What I probably didn’t realize then was the fact that these were dads who were working hard for a living and working harder to keep their families happy. Loved those times.





Cycles:

I used to be taken by my brother in his cycle where I sat on the front bar(just like in the movies). He would either drop me till the bus stop or we went till the video store to rent a movie. I used to love this. I hadn’t seen any other brother do this. My brother urged my dad to buy me a cycle. He selected my hero ranger straight bar cycle for me. I loved those times when I just cycled aimlessly with my cycling friends in my summer holidays.


Dad

My dad was my hero when I was a child. He still is. He spoke the best English. He used words which I didn’t knew existed. Dad had the best manners. Dad took me to all the five stars hotels imagineable – even if were living beyond our means. He hugged me. Only he was allowed to sign my progress reports which shined with my O grades even though he would forget which std I was studying in. I loved dad. I hated people who hated dad. Everything that dad said and did was right. I loved his shiny bald head! I thought bald men are more intelligent because dad was bald and he built beautiful houses!! Now tell me how many dads can do that. I loved standing in front while he drove the scooter. I was super excited when I heard dad’s car horn.

At nights when I used to wake up and look around confused dad was there to tell me it wasn’t time yet to wake up. He would hug me, pull up my blanket and urge me to go back to sleep.

Now when I wake up in the middle of the night, there is a sense of desperation to hear someone say its okie to sleep a bit more. Its all okie.

I think I loved this the most- the security of my childhood.