Not dumb anymore!

There is a lot of silence around me. Most of the people in the hostel have left for home to celebrate diwali. I am kind of enjoying this time.
I enjoyed the small chat with sadaf, in the mess, today. She told me about her childhood days, how she missed her grandma after she died. She was eight and a half then.

My childhood was the best period of my life till know and I guess will always remain so. And now when I look back at that time, I laugh upon myself and wonder - Omy God! What a dumb child I was….

We lived in an old government quarter with walls that were painted yellow. It was located in a farm with all those fields planted with ‘barseem’, ‘sarso’, ‘ganna’ and yes ‘munji’. The time they planted munji was the best time because that time the field was watered most. It was like a pseudo-little-river for me…..

Naniji would make me sit near her and study while she cooked food on her ‘chulha’.
All my attention would remain on the wood that was burning inside.. :)
To escape studies I sometimes hid behind the same ‘chulha’. Naniji made a song out of it.—
‘lado beti ladli..
chulhe peeche gadli…
jab ji chaha nikal li…’

These village songs…rather folk songs you call them…I have heard a lot of them. I still hear them from her.
I was in class fourth…we had a dance competition in our school. I cursed both of them for not buying me a ‘tape recorder’. ‘how do I participate now?’ I shouted. Naniji came with an instant solution. She taught me a folk song which was something like---

‘gazar ka halwa laya mera piya…..’

I sung it myself and danced on it while everybody laughed on me. :)
But I still believe I was the best…. :)
When ‘teez’ came, nanaji would make a ‘jhoola’ exclusive for the cinderella that was me….and while I enjoyed the swing both of them would sing the ‘teez special’---

‘ kachhe neem ki nimboli, saawan jaldi aiyo re…
dada door mat bihaiyo, dadi nahi bulane ki….
Mama door mat bihaiyo, mami nahi bulani ki…
……
……
……
And I would desperately wait for the line—
Nana door mat bihaiyo, nani nahi bulane ki….

Nanaji called naniji by her name 'shiksha'.
And I used to think that every man in this world calls her wife as ‘shiksha’. I never knew it was her name. I mean she was ‘amma’! thats it!..why did she need a name!
(it was much later that I was ‘informed’ that I was just too stupid!)

And yes that poor old black and white 36 years old television that introduced me to vyomkesh bakshi...potli baba ki…vikram betal….alif laila …I loved them all…..

When we got a phone connection I was given the privilege to make the first call. I called my friend just to know if she has taken my ’50 paisa’ pencil with her!
I was so enthusiastic every small thing that was brought into the house.
I was the happiest person on earth when we got a refrigerator. After all I would not rush with that 25 paisa coin to buy that small piece of ‘burf’ for my ‘rasna’.
That was my little paradise..and was the only princess… :)
I thought I was the most beautiful girl on earth. And when I came in class 5th I strongly felt that I should be take to a ‘parlour’ instead of the ‘local nai’.
And I hate that sick teacher who failed me in poem recitation. I mean how can you fail someone in that small an age!...i was just in K.G then!
(* That was the only time I failed before coming to college!)

ahh…I guess I can write pages on that….

Now I keep telling them that I have grown and matured…I have learned the ways of the world and stuff like that…
But they strongly believe that I was too dumb to improve….
They think their child is the most innocent girl on this earth. I was dumb..alright..but come on…I have come a long way now….see I have my own view points about things..i can argue with them now…I have started liking english numbers…wearing branded stuff….using orkut….i am socially more active then they were at my age!...those folk songs…home stiched frocks….plastic hairbands….they all form a long lost story!....

But then I still miss those fields…the old chulha…the black and white television…the tainted mirror….the yellow walls of the government quarter….and everything that made me dumb!...... :)