What are some of your special memories of childhood?
Playing hide and seek with friends?
Going for a ride with family every Sunday?
Eating that special dish for dinner on Fridays?
Winter and summer vacations with cousins?
Celebrating festivals with family and friends?
I think all of these and so much more!
Nothing else compares to the joy felt during the spring of life. What do you say?
How we spend our childhood in many ways forecasts our future as grown-ups, the kind of person we become. Yes, it makes us what we are in many ways. But life is about going forward, isn’t it? There’s no reverse gear in life. Hence just a trip down memory lane through the alleyways of our heart and soul is what we have to be content with. But sometimes all the heart yearns for is a chance to in some way relive those moments again. It could be in any way possible.
Maybe that’s why we take vacations to our ancestral homes or visit our family. In some way these connect us to those elusive threads of sanity in the form of memories that make us feel warm and fuzzy inside. Because once we are grown-ups we see through the false sheath of life and that’s when those years gone by become even more precious. So we try, and try hard, to hold on to anything remotely associated with those wonderful and magical childhood days.
Today my heart aches for those special autumns spent in Shillong, a hill station where clouds floated through bed room windows. Yes, I grew up in such a place, in the abode of clouds. In my abode of clouds! There my autumns began with Durga Puja. Thanking the Goddess for the year gone by, sporting new clothes, sampling some of the scrumptious dishes ever, enjoying special dance and song performances, carnivals and so much more. Memories woven around glee, colored in orange and golden hues, I gathered year after year at this very time. But sadly I had to leave all that behind for living life as a grown up.
Now as a working woman I’m at the mercy of my organization for leaves, for a chance to weave some more memories. And this year I’m stuck, unable to go home, forced to let this year’s Puja pass by. So my heart aches this year, my friends, for who knows if there will be another year. Or, will there be a year when I’m able to really enjoy this festival again in the way it is meant to be enjoyed? Life is so unpredictable after all. So it tugs at my heart, this inability to actually celebrate the way I had always as a child.
Sometimes I feel the price we pay for being as adult is a little too much. It’s more of a penalty in my view. Of-course, it could just be my currently depressed state of mind that is painting this picture. But seriously tell me don’t you think we have to give up so much for being a responsible grown-up? I think I do!
Sometimes the urge to go back to being a child again is so strong that I wonder if anyone else feels the same. Tell me, do you? Or, is it just me and my frivolity!
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It's funny, because as a kid, all you want is to be a grown-up. It seems like it will be so exciting and you will have all the freedom you could ever want. But then, you become a grown-up and see you pretty much had it backward and the freedom was when you were a child. Either that, or we are just never satisfied, ha ha 🙂
Childhood memories are nostalgic.One can never forget!!
Ohh yes festivals… how I miss them… thankfully Durga Pujas is here!! Happy Pujo Nabanita
There is nothing worse than being stuck at work when you ought to be celebrating with friends and family.
Life is indeed a paradox. Our drive to grouw up as kids and then the wish to turn back time. 🙂
PhenoMenon
http://throodalookingglass.com/2014/09/life-in-a-drop-of-water/
True life becomes complex, time seems like a luxury and we work more towards fulfilling our responsibilities than our wishes. I know how it feels but don't be disheartened. I hope you get extra-leaves in the coming days for other festivals!
Oh those days! the best years of our life… i guess when we grow old we will look upon youth as the best days, too. But, yes, festivals and hometown can never be separable. I get your frustration.
Oh how I wish to go back to those days… Life does get complicated as we grew up…
But sometimes life becomes so much better as an adult than as a child, because we now have control over our own lives. I miss the simple pleasures of childhood, but I relish the realized dreams of adulthood!
I agree….childhood is the best time of everyone's life, and we often drive down the memory lane to be there for at least some time to get relief from today's challenges. Nice write up….
I have such fond memories of my childhood, my grandparents with me….everyone to take so much care 🙂 So carefree and without responsibilities! i so related to your post 🙂
I have spent years working outside India and away from my family and friends. The tug at your heart to go home is never greater than at the time of festivals !
It is ironical that as kids we wanted to grow up fast and as adults we want to turn back the clock! True, there's nothing like celebrating festivals with family and extended family!
And today I was missing my boarding school so much. The fun I had back there was so much. As Shilpa said… now we just want to be kids again. Such is life.
When I was a kid all I wanted was to be a grown up so I could do whatever I wanted. Now I'm grown up, and while I don't really want to go back I wish I could sometimes not have to worry about all the stuff that comes with being a grown up.
One can never forget the childhood memories, those friends, those times spent maybe bunking at school and other stuff :). Maybe that's why as we grow old, we slowly become like children again. The cycle repeats :).
so true.. I am not sure whether our future generations will get all this 🙁
That sounds like a lovely place to grow up!
Shillong sounds like a gorgeous place. I'll need to look up pictures.
Shillong must have been heavenly to grow up ! Really want to visit the north east one day..totally unexplored territory for me.
In answer to your question Nabanita, the urge for sure is strong at times, especially when I see some of the new 'toys' (not necessarily toys/games) and education that the children get…looks and sounds so fun and exciting. You mean they get choir in school? I didn't have that growing up and yet all the schools, at least where I live have them! I am sorry to hear you will miss one of your favourite festivals and hope that you are able to make it up somehow. Is there a way? <3
In answer to your question Nabanita, the urge for sure is strong at times, especially when I see some of the new 'toys' (not necessarily toys/games) and education that the children get…looks and sounds so fun and exciting. You mean they get choir in school? I didn't have that growing up and yet all the schools, at least where I live have them! I am sorry to hear you will miss one of your favourite festivals and hope that you are able to make it up somehow. Is there a way? <3