Lovely memories....

There are a few moments in everybody's life that bring a smile on their faces whenever one tends to recall them.. In this hectic life with all its problems and pressures galore, I tend to recollect those great days I had in school, the cricket we played, the classes, the idiosyncrasies of various pals, the best and worst of moments ranging from the highly mentionable to the downright embarrassing!!..Life seems to have suddenly taken a decision to put me on a real fast train and get me so far that I can hardly even dream of getting back to those great times...but everything seems to have happened just yesterday..Those days of innocence without having to care about any responsibilities, the small joys of eating an ice cream or chaat at Gullu's, playing a day before the exam and getting shouted at for turning up late, bunking classes on the pretext of attending inter school fests, eagerly waiting for the holidays, cycling, unending cricket and other board games, innumerable quiet walks near the golf course on way back from school, those immature crushes and the little joys that came on being able to see the girl everyday let alone talk to her...I really wonder why this phase doesn't last forever!!

I spent much of those school days in a central area in Bangalore- P.G halli..its proximity to school, coupled with the fact that almost all my friends stayed around that place made it a dream house..A lovely house and a large one at that...it had a couple of terraces and I found ample room to end up playing a lot of cricket, albeit dangerously close to the terrace walls...I was in my 1st grade when I moved to this place and I remember it being Jan 18th 1990...my darling sis was born a few months later and I had my bext times then..The best part of staying in this place as i mentioned was that accessibility..the school was really close by and numerous pals stayed within a few streets of my place which made it awesome...

I remember badly damaging my nose in a freak incident in school when i ran into the basketball pole..It was about the time of the world cup 1992...and my friend Ram still remembers me with all the stitches watching the games especially the India Pak one and cheering away...Ram and Vivek were among my closest of pals and still are...both were with me ever since my playhome days and we had a terrific time..the families knew each other very well too and this made the job of actually sneaking away to the others place to play a lot easier...My daily routine involved getting back home at about 4 ..gobbling up some snacks and rushing off to play...be it cricket or any of the other games including hide and seek, board games etc..I also sued to frequent Anusha's (a classmate from kindergarten days) place where I had a number of other friends coming to play too...We used to have a terrific time and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience...

Vinayak was another close pal those days and we were almost inseparable...Most times I would end up being at his place...we used to play some weird cycling games along with the cricket...school and acads were never a issue as they bldnded seamlessly into this hectic life...:D...my mom used to be quite amazed as to how I ever managed to find time to play despite having exams round the corner....That was something that has lived with me and even to date play has been paramount and I have never cared less for the fact that there is an exam around...I used to have Sanskrit classes in school after hours and most times we would walk back home after the classes which was a lot of fun..Devdutt, Kaushik and others made up that gang and the great times we had will live forever...

I remember coming down with chicken pox in 1995 after the exams and not being able to play much during the holidays..it really hurt a lot that I was missing out on the fun...soon it was time for the 7th grade and I got the bad news that we were going to move out of the place to our own house...though this must usually be something that brings joy, I was stunned...never had I envisioned that we would move out of the place I considered heaven...be it school days, holidays or even festival days when dad and I used to visit as many temples as we could on the scooter,,ah long for those days..the simplicity and charm is nowhere present nowadays...I cried a lot and it took a long time for people around to convince me that I could still have a great time in the new place as well...finally I relented and we moved to the new place..

It was march 9th 1996, WC quarterfinal India vs Pakistan at Bangalore... we got to the new place and without any unloading etc got the cable guy to setup stuff and sat for the match...it was awesome...soon I had my exams...the problem began once I got done..I was not sure if i would have enough guys around to play like my old place..I was rather despondent..but much to my good fortune, I found some amazing pals around...Raghu (he moved in just 10 days after me), Navneet, Subhash etc were a few and we had a great time with loads of cricket and other games...Diwali was especially great as we used to burst crackers non stop from the early hours till late night....I simply started loving the place...I used to go to the same school though and was able to hang out with my best pals there as well..so in a way it was double the fun...The funniest thing at that time was Raghu and I going more than 10km to Pg Halli to get a hair cut at Macho men's beauty parlour...lol!!...I even remember Raghu, the god of all hitch hikers getting us a lift all the way to PG halli...Cricket, Hide and seek, chess etc made my day during the hols...soon in 1999, i was in my 10th...most people would have shut themselves up during these important days..not me!!..did manage to play play and play and still do decent on the exams...and after that had a whale of a time...Karthik and Kiran moved in to Vidaranyapura and these guys became and integral part of my life from then on...I can continue writing on and on...but will summarize the remaining moments that make me beam as I write...tenth hols and the PU years. bunking PU classes and getting away on Shamanth's bike...guru tuitions, early mornin classes much to our irritation (dr raj's abduction turned out to be the cause), times in the classes in college and tuitions....fun amidst all the studies...early mornin cricket...cleanin the ground..test match specials...football in evenings...brave goalkeeping and getting blasted at home...the awesome times with karthik all through PUC and college days...MSRIT days when we bunked and bunked anytime and everytime...project in BEL which was done for most parts at the cricket ground..lol..

Lots of people may say one has to move on and that there's no use of talking about the past..But to this date....recollecting these moments makes my day..when am down I just think back and smile...Karthik, Vivek and Raghu still are and will remain the pals with whom I can always fondly talk about those fascinating times and without a shadow of doubt those memories and details will live with me till I do....