Good ole days…

Why did the world seem so simple when we were kids. When the only major used to be to convince parents to let us play for that extra half an hour. We perceived the world so differently when we were shorter than the fridge. Mom’s hug was the very definition of love, Dad was the strongest man ever, Grandma’s fables brought a smile on our faces before falling asleep, and even a bar of dairy milk was enough to contend us. Getting high meant standing on the rooftop and bad was yet to become the new good. Telephone was meant to get in touch with distant cousins and cell phones were an alien device. Video games could keep us going across the longest summer afternoons without any complains, when family dinners and birthdays were all that parting meant. Politics, malice and manipulations weren’t a part of our vocabulary. Man’s best gift to his kind was chocolate. Acquaintance and friend were synonyms. The eyes shone with spark of innocence; and the genuineness & warmth of that smile simply priceless. A time when the hues of fantasy and reality mixed on the palette of life. There were movies you were barred to see and magazines not allowed to read, reasons you never knew, minds brimming with questions, some of which left subtly unanswered by the adults. When bedtime used to 9pm and the 6:30 alarm meant a gush to get ready for school. Night-life was limited to late dinner parties with loud aunties engrossed in gossip and balding uncles engrossed in supposed to be intellectual discussions over whiskey, while we had our ball over rather mundane games. Sundays meant an eager wait to accompany Dad to the market, and a siesta hearty Sunday meal. Weekdays flew away in School; School a word that needs no description…seven hours of exuberant fun blended with the studies( read the teacher teaching while we are in our own world of bliss), and with friends boredom and monotony found no place even in the confines of the classroom. The fun during those 20minutes of recess unmatched today even by parting at the plushest of the night club. The Games period that kept us on the toes for the complete 50minutes of the previous period. A time when attending social functions weren’t such a pain in the arse. A talking dog and his group of wacky friends or a cat-mouse chase was the very definition of television (not to forget home theatre was an alien concept). The list would be ever ending…something to which each one of us can add a new think every time we reflect back on time. An as I barely brush my teeth and walk out of the house early morning, I see a group of a school kids dressed in white boarding a school bus, I just smile and jog past…to a new day and to life…

Shadow:

It walks with you on a lonely moonlit night, sits by you on a candlelight dinner, and stands by when you light the bonfire… Call it a natural phenomenon or a manifestation of your very existence; it proves itself to be an abiding companion. It stood by you when you queued to gain entry to that rock concert and sat by you when you secretly wept on the basketball court after a breakup. Been a companion by your side, alike in both rejoice and agony, there to share all shades that life has to offer. It seems like a friend who has always been there, would follow you till the brink of earth, always lends an ear to your pensive thoughts still never passes a judgment. People may be black or white, rich or poor, Hindu or Muslim but the shadow evades all these differences. Breaking all bounties disparity and creed, the same dark cohort sits by the poor begging for alms and trails the superstar on the red carpet. It braves the scorching heat before you on the sunny day and watches your back on a lonely night.


Some literature and myths may symbolize it as a sign of gloom or malevolence, but for me my shadow symbolizes that even when it seems totally dark there is still a gleam of light somewhere to incarnate the shadow. When your shadow leaves you that’s when you should realize that it can’t get any darker. I see no streak of grim in my shadow nor any stroke of gloom, it’s a reflection of my being, a companion who knows no gold or rag, and will stand by me throughout my walk of life...