Memories have become a thing of the past. Every time I smell freshly grounded coffee, I'm reminded of my home. When I see cloudy days and the smell of rain hitting the muddy floor, special classes at school at 8 in the morning. The smell of strawberry essence reminds me of days in Mumbai where every meal would be vada pav and ice cream (and strawberry/raspberry would be available always!). Bright Saturday mornings remind me of my white-tiled bathroom (this, I have No clue why). Watching cricket takes me back to the days where I'd be the umpire to a game of street cricket and arguing with the children who used to go: "Akka give out akka pleeeeeeaaseeeeeeee" against "Akka you are fair to their team wonly akka, what akka?"
When I go to my cousin's house I'm reminded of playing games such as 'tree-to-tree,' cricket, treasure hunt, hide and seek etc. Tree-to-tree in particular used to be the most popular one. My cousin's house compound is really huge with a lot of trees pretty close to each other. A catcher would be chosen and the rest are a group. The catcher points to one tree where the group would huddle and he'd point out to another tree which we have to touch in the form of a long chain. Usually the gap between the two trees have to be quite long, so that when a gap falls in the chain. Which means the chain is split into two. Therefore the first group runs, followed by the second group. While doing so the catcher catches a person or a group thereby making them out. This continues till everyone is out. And the game starts again. I seriously LOVE this game!
There was this time when my friend and I (sometimes joined by both our sisters), we go up to our terrace (hers or mine) and throw water bombs at unassuming people walking on our street and immediately duck, before they can spot us! I know, it sounds a bit mean but hey we were really young and we loved to see people get wet, get angry and look up to see no one at all and just walk by shaking their heads. There was this one person who tracked us and came to our terrace. We got scared and climbed up another ladder and hid in the water tank for some time. After 15 minutes or so we slowly climbed down, only to see him waiting for us. He severely reprimanded us and then left. I think we stopped after that, we started feeling sorry for the pedestrians I guess.
Van games used to be somewhat similar too! Only we used to throw paper and/or chalk at other vehicles. The riders used to yell at us and complain to the van driver who would yell at us on his part but that didn't exactly stop us!
There was this library in my locality which my dad joined as soon as shifted. I found a friend and we started borrowing books almost everyday (during the holidays it used to be morning and evening!). Some books we never used to return and claimed that we did not borrow and that they made a wrong entry. We still have most of the books. They recently shut down and my friend and I still think it's because of us that they went into a loss and that they shut down. And every time we see the owner we run and hide, even now.
I miss those days. I still secretly wish I could throw water bombs at innocent people. I just might.
