aboard d train and down d lane.

dated June, the 28th.

It was yet another morning... and once again I woke up to the pitter-patter of the monsoon rains. Oh hell! correction...correction..! It's a different morning today- infact my last morning at home. I still haven't done my packing man! Herein comes an end to my brief and joyous homecoming.

I could sense, mom was already in the kitchen, probably packing a goody-bag for her daughter. How I wish to hug her tight....and miss the train.

I rolled out of my bed, found my way up to the wash-basin and turned on the tap...

Rajdhani Express. 2A. berth no. 31. I dumped my bag and looked out of my window. As the train chugged out of the sleepy station, I tried to look back... (maybe mom's still waiting) ; I looked back at the paddy field, at the little boys playing cricket , and at that particular hill which have been a constant motif in all my school drawing books...and I looked back at the wonderful time I had this vacation...and this wonderful bunch of people that I befriended back home.



Well how do I possibly introduce them to you? Um.. let this be a collective introduction rather than an individual one- because this group leads a symbiotic existence. You'll always spot them together, and I bet, they can't do without each other. Kehne ko toh they are all grown up people, well-settled with a great career, but they are still boys straight out of college who refuse to dump their boyish pranks in their closet. Wait a sec...how can I NOT tell you their names! They'll kill me for any further delay... Afterall this page is for them, about them and dedicated to them. Sumiron, Santanu, Pulakesh and Anupam- doesn't matter if you add or delete the 'da' word- they're like big brothers who simply forgot to grow up and who'll be your friend always...

For once, they have made me take back my frequent claims of "first impression is not always the last impression".What I liked instantly about them is their boy-next-door attitude, and it has stayed. I liked the way they all bond together, and the way they care and share things- be it dinner at one's place or going out for long/short drives...or sharing their feelings for...well..um...excuse me, but...for school kids (nibi, doro, et al.) Poor people! There's hardly any scope in T/s... caught in the wrong place- I say!!! Jokes apart, they make me nostalgic about my SKL days particularly the never-ending kamur sessions. Lemmi tell you here, when it is your turn to turn pink, you are left with just two options- either be brave enough to endure in silence 'coz it's golden, or else put on your best acting skills and pretend that their kamurs hardly affect you... and if u take my advice, all the while, ardently pray to god that they take pity on you and find a different bait...that's it. No other way to escape them. But you'll enjoy it all, I tell you. Every moment.

@ the dramatis personae, namely sumi, santa, anu and pulu(sorry guys for d pet names...my sis has christened u so. can't help) :

Meeting you all was perhaps the best thing that happened this summer. I don't know what clicked, but I liked you all from the start. This time I have packed a lot of goody- goody stuffs in my back-pack including all the wonderful memories that I built up this vacation. I'll always remember those late evening walks(despite our cctv phobia). I'll always remember you Santanu da, for your art of giving out kamurs (u r d undisputed winner with sumi close-behind by a few points), and I'll always remember you Sumiron da for your crazy antics and witty answers, and of course Pulakesh da and Anupam da, for having survived all the kamurs...in return remember me as...well...as a friend who found your silly jokes very very funny, who had a whale of a time with you... well that doesn't make up much, does it? But maybe you can remember me as a friend who'd like to be your friend and who'd cherish this friendship- always.

@ Santanu da: I wonder if could do justice to the promise that i made to you, but i hope i didn't dissappoint you either. This may not be everything, but I hope, it is at least something.

happy father's day dad!!

Hi ! What a perfect occassion to start my new blog page. It's Father's Day today and I dedicate this to him. Silly gift- you're thinking. But dad will love to see that his daughter is at least trying to write something. Well let me tell you here, I owe my love for literature and art to him- infact I've inherited this ingenuity from him. He is the one who introduced me to poems and stories at a young age and I actually wrote my first poem in my 4th standard. It was like this: we were on papa's deptt picnic in Galengpo,a place in Bhutan. And there was this beautiful stream with gushing water that was music to one's ears. I hadn't any friends, so I sat on a big rock by the stream, and just soaked into its beauty. Papa then came to me and said, "It's a beautiful place..do you like it?" and I said "yes". "Why don't you write a poem on it?" he suggested."..maybe on the hanging bridge?" I looked up at the bridge. I had never seen a hanging bridge before- it was scary as well as exciting and it swayed at the slightest provocation. My over-active imagination set into play and i even imagined the bridge giving way under our bus and my papa was the unrivalled hero who saved all of us...but well, even though i dont remember, this wasn't what i wrote in the poem for sure :) .Whatever, dad still has the original copy of the poem that I composed later at home.

My sis and I are hardly two years apart from each other and we are almost like twins. During winter evenings papa used to sit cross-legged on his favourite cane chair and we used to clamour for a little room each under his eri shawl, and we'd listen to his wild and brave and boyish exploits with wide eyed wonder. Maybe that's why I still have this 'my daddy strongest' syndrome. At bed, me and my sis would get into a fight over which side papa would face, and he used to face towards the ceilling in order to appease both of us. Those winter evening scenes have stayed on forever in my memory, and at times I yearn to spin back time, become a kid again and sneak into his shawl. Looking back, I feel we have had the best childhood one can possibly ask for,with dad.

Besides story telling, there was this going out for morning walks with dad, feeding sparrows every morn, accompanying him to market and to his colleagues' place, working together for our school project works, gardening and carpentry and so many things!! One thing that I find amusing now is, whenever dad used to go out of station, I used to make files with old science practical copy covers, make two holes with the punching machine, and tie loose sheets which contained algebra, by-hearted multiplication and additional tables, some english, hindi, s.st , science, drawing, and anything that would make him happy when he returns. And on the presumed date and time of his return, I used to stand with my blue covered file on the road and strain my eyes looking for him...

Thanks papa, for such a wonderful life. Thanks for letting me enjoy a carefree childhood, for sparing the rod (except for twice), for the story-telling sessions, for my b'day frocks every year, for my first wrist-watch, for my first bicycle... Thanks for appreciating and encouraging me throughout and teaching what self discipline means...Sorry for some of my report cards and whatever complaints you had to bear during PTAs...And sorry for not being able to follow any timetable that i charted...I later found out that I am not a time-table person at all. But I learnt to be well organised and disciplined with myself. Hope that gladdens you... and I promise never to let the ink in my pen dry...That's a promise. Love you papa. And happy father's day.