Summer Vacations

Summer Vacations

I've read countless poems and writings about childhood. But they don't evoke emotions in me. They just make me think of my memories about my childhood and then only something strikes emotions in me.

This post is just one scene picked from those countless scenes I have in my mind about My Days. Yes those were my days.. without a doubt the best days of my life.

Every year in summer vacation we used to go to Patna. Talks about it used to start taking rounds in our Q No 17, Type III, N.H. 4, N.I.T., Faridabad 121001 some 1-2 months before the actual date of going. I still remember our full address, not just this, I also remember the addresses of other two places we had stayed at,

Q.No. 1223, Type III, N.H. 4, N.I.T., Faridabad 121001

and before that

House No. 5-k-2 No. 5, Faridabad 121001

So the talks used to start taking rounds. It used to become like a festival season. And then around one month before the D-day, one fine day papa used to bring the reservation ticket for New Delhi to Patna. And we used to start shouting, screaming with joy. And then one by one all of us used to see the ticket.

Didi and I used to start celebrating in our own way... Well, our way of celebration was fighting and running all around the house. Mummy with her glowing eyes used to go to the calendar and circle the day. Bhaiya used to analyse the nitty gritties of ticket and used to fire questions at papa the answers to which even he didn't know. Questions like, why have they printed the ticket in english and hindi both, why is the color of ticket blue this time, why is patna railway station called Patna Junction, but New delhi is just New Delhi. Least did papa care to answer the questions but he used to enjoy the celebration to the fullest.

It used to be ticket for five people. Three upper bearths and two lower bearths. We used to count the seat numbers to confirm whose seat fell in different cabin(good old first class compartments, i still remember how much i had cried when i first came to know that first class compartments have been phased out).

And then didi used to tell me its urs. You'll have to go to other compartment.

Mummy used to give me an option. Because you don't want to go in other compartment, we'll leave you here with Saroha Aunti, its just a matter of 2 months. Enjoy with dheeraj and shalu. And when we're back we'll take u back.

And I still remember the day when after one such prank I slipped out of the drawing room into our bedroom and closed myself in the closet crying silently. They recovered me after searching for one full hour. I didn't stop crying before I was promised the trip, a window seat in the main cabin and chocolates as compensation for all the agony I had been through.

And then Papa would anounce, lets have non-veg today.
Bhaiya would say Mutton.
Didi would say Egg Curry.
And I would shout the hell out of myself to get Fish cooked (I was a fish freak).

Not surprisingly I used to win... maybe because they felt guilty conscious about getting my bearth in different cabin.

As a child, I was a Fish freak, thankfully I had a supporter in mummy. She also loved fish. But now I am a crazy about chicken, those days we didn't eat chicken. I still remember the first time chicken was cooked in our house I peeked through the sides of kitchen door and saw bird feathers in the frying pan. I shouted a big no to chicken and disappeared in my bed without having food. Don't know when it happened but later I realized that those were sliced onions and not bird feathers.

And then everyday mummy used to mark a cross on calendar. Everyone had different reason for this waiting.

For Papa, it was meeting bua, uncle, bade papa and dadi.

For mummy, it was metting badi maa(my mom was very fond of her, I still remember how much had she cried the day badi maa passed away) and Nana,Nani and mama(my nani's place is also in patna).

For bhaiya, it was meeting Uday Bhaiya (cousin of same age as bhaiya)

For didi, it was flaunting new dress n doll at bunti didi, shweta didi, simmi n all (i have countless cousin sisters)

And then everyone used to ask me... Why are you so thrilled...

I used to just smile... coz my reasons were very different from theirs.

two months of no school no homework (KV Faridabad never gave us holiday homework), two overnight train journeys with a big window to enjoy and so many of Thekuas, parukiyas and namkeen. I love thekua and mummy used to cook them whenever we made patna trip. On the whole journey I was always allowed to consume as many of them as possible. Don't know why mummy never stopped us from over consuming them when on train. May be she wanted to keep us busy with something.


Thekua- a cookie kind of sweet very popular in Bihar
Parukiya- Known as Gujiya in north India