Memories - the January chapter

documenting fond and fun memories so i don't lose them.. and of course, to make space for new ones. 

Jan 1st: my top favourite memory of all times is of my dad doing this really sweet thing for us - me and my brother - when we were little.. he arrived home(pune) early in the morning from darjeeling where he was stationed at the time. we woke to two owl-shaped balloons tied to the cot right in front of us... an owl sitting inside a ring... we screamed with joy when we woke and saw them.. i have held this memory close to my heart.. and it's one that helps me fight the dementors(a harry potter ref.)

Jan 2nd: latest happy memory is of my cute-as-a-button nine month old nephew Vaishnav waking up in the wee hours on my birthday last month, getting freshened up, dressed up with vibhuti and all and getting photographed with mom and holding a 'happy birthday atte(aunty)' placard and smiling with a single tooth showing.

Jan 3rd: this memory is from our two-month summer vacation trip to darjeeling when we were really small... dad's office had this carrom board made of marble.. it was super smooth and the coins were all made of marble too.. just a touch and the coins would go sliding across the entire board. there were no lines or circles on the board.. and the board itself was affixed to a marble stand and there was no moving it. it was amazing!

Jan 4th: remembering dad on his birthday!... dad had beautiful brown eyes.. small even teeth.. beautiful and very unique artistically slanted feet.. lovely nails.. his nails and teeth were brown because of smoking so much.. his handwriting was so good and beautiful. he dressed so well - clothes ironed, shoes polished, a golden watch, a pen in the pocket et al... he was meticulous and very methodical in preserving documents - always arranging them in order and putting them in different files. he was also very conscientious... and particular about time. for someone so perfect, he was also the most loving and the most lovable person in this world. everything about him was just so perfect! 

Jan 5th: dad had a single bedroom house on top of a hill beside a huge water tank. Right below our house, was the mess/kitchen. Warm smell wafted from there round the clock. Lower than that were the office buildings, with a blue fish tank in the courtyard built in the shape of a fish, with a mesh on top. All around the place were flowering plants, mostly roses. It was the most beautiful working-space ever!

Jan 6th: another warm memory of dad... when i was in 4th/5th standard in jhansi, i was to read out a speech. dad wrote it out on an unruled sheet for me.. he would place a ruled/lined sheet under so he could write in straight lines on an unruled sheet.. dad had the world's most beautiful handwriting. he also made a bow out of a golden paper-ribbon.. and put it on the paper on the left-hand top corner. it was a work of beauty.. and love. the speech went very well!

Jan 7th: happy memory of the numerous train journeys we took as a family when my brother and i were really small.. dad would buy us each a comic book.. the indrajal comics.. we would read them and then exchange with each other. he would also buy us gold spot that were sold in aluminium buckets filled with ice and gold spot and limca bottles. dad would take my brother to go see the engine whenever the train stopped at stations, since my brother was crazy about them.. these journeys used to be so much fun!

Jan 8th: dad taught us how to drink from the cold-drink bottles.. sipping delicately from the sides of the rim!

Jan 9th: contd. there was this phantom comic where a young girl-princess is found adrift at sea in a raft... trying hard to remember her name.. she goes "bell.. bell... bonabell".. her name's bonabell and her hair's tied in two ponytails.. dad and i read this comic book together.. and whenever i tied my hair up in two ponytails, dad would call me bell-bell-bonabell..

Jan 10th: this memory is of dad telling us.. that when he was posted at jabalpur.. wild elephants would frequent at nights where he and others lived.. and put their trunks over the compound walls and eat sugar from the gunny sacks they were stored in.. these sacks would be left resting against the compound walls... we were in awe of these stories!

Jan 11th: this is a happy memory of dad's beautiful brown corduroy pants... he had a dark brown corduroy pants that looked so good on him.. and as a child i admired them so much. who knew that a memory of our parents' clothes could bring us so much joy!

Jan 12th: when we lived in pune and dad worked at darjeeling, he would visit us frequently... after dinner, we would walk till a railway crossing and a train would pass... mom and dad would sit chatting and my brother and i would place coins on the track and look for them after the train passed.. we never found our coins.. afterwards, we would all walk back home

Jan 13th: today's is such a fun memory ~ our jhansi row-house had a courtyard with a bathroom and a toilet at opposite ends. every morning, dad woke up in the wee hours of 5-5:30 to fill drinking water from the tap in the courtyard, in the single earthen pot(matka) that we had... on one such day, unable to shake the grogginess and walking around with half-open eyes.. dad walked into a wall with the pot in hand.. the pot broke and dad got a earful from mom!

Jan 14th: another exquisite food from my childhood - one i haven't stopped thinking about - are these beautiful milk chocolates dad used to buy us from darjeeling. there were two variants wrapped in transparent plastic much like cling-wraps. one was log-shaped.. and the other was flat and tear-drop shaped with a stick on one end. they were so good. a few years ago, when i tried to look for these chocolates, all i found were churpies - yak milk hardened cubes - they are not the same. i miss those chocolates.

Jan 15th: when we lived in jhansi in north india, it used to get burning hot and summers extended to many months. dad's office gave him two very thick canvas water containers.. one was a collapsible green-coloured bucket with a canvas handle.. and another was a white long container with a cap and we were to hang it upside down.. when water was stored in these, it used to get very cold and very pleasant.. just like an earthen pot. they were so useful!

Jan 16th: in jhansi... we lived in army quarters... huge trucks(known as 3 tonne) came around sellig fruits and vegetables to where we lived.. the water melons sold for rs.1 a fruit. good times!

 

Jan 17th: today's memory is of the board game dad bought us... it opened like a book and had ludo and snake-and-ladder. it used to be good fun.

Jan 18th: another memory from jhansi.. thursday nights DD aired a horror show called 'keele ka rahasya' around 9pm. this was also the time mom and dad went out for a walk everyday leaving me and my brother at home. bro was fearless, but the show's music terrified me no end and i desperated hoped my parents could return from their walk quickly. i remember that as soon as the show started, i'd turn towards the front door and praying it'd open any moment and my parents would walk in.

Jan 19th: this is as much dad's memory as it is mine...my naughty dad once told me that while in the army.. one day his mates and him sneaked out to watch 'ben hur', the english movie, after lights out. fortunately for each one of them, they didn't get caught and had had so much fun.

Jan 20th: years l later, I watched ben hur by myself at home on tv.. and enjoyed it the way dad must have enjoyed it.. dad must have been a wide-eyed kid, away from his small village, away from social restrictions and from lacking, all his needs taken care of, making a bit of money and earning respect in his village, drunk on the wonderment of an english movie... i loved imagining him and enjoying the movie

Jan 21st: dad also loved reading james hadley chase.. so i bought him books on flipkart.. back when it sold only books.. i read them too and got hooked for a bit, before losing interest

Jan 22nd: this one is one of my most beautifu memories ever! it makes me so happy to remember it. dad was visiting us in pune from darjeeling. and he took us to show his office... and we all sat under the shadow of a helicopter wing and ate snacks - dad and mum chatting, me and brother just eating and sitting around. it was beautiful.

Jan 23rd: dad bought a brown coloured TVS XL from the canteen when we were in jhansi.. there was quite a wait between placing an order and receiving it. it helped him come home for lunch...he was quite proud of it!

Jan 24th: today's memory is of the childhood days again.. we were visiting darjeeling with dad.. and he bought us jackets... and taught us over and over again how to do the zippers on them.

Jan 25th: during engineering college days, dad bought me 2-3 balloons that were shaped like a pigeon... they were delightful.. i kept one close to me at all times when reading late into the night, and it gave me great comfort... i treated the balloon like a pet and called it 'birdie.. birdie balloon' in a sing-song tune that hasn't left me to this day!

Jan 26th: today's beautiful memory is the the super-cute letter pad dad bought for me from his work-trip to allahabad.. it had mickey mouse head printed on the left bottom and it was so pretty.. i couldn't stop looking at it. it made me so happy.

Jan 27th: dad worked for the madras engineering group.. and once in a while, they went to allahabad to set up bridges underwater so pilgrims of kumbh mela could bathe in the river. i remember dad saying that he saw black-coloured roses being grown in allahabad!

Jan 28th: dad's group also went into forests to spray pesticides or such stuff.. he had thick wraps for just above the boots.. and told us it was to protect from snake bites. 

Jan 29th: dad's jhansi office had a library that had many comic books. during summer vacations, he would arrange for us to visit and while there, he would treat us to cold drinks.. and show us around. dad was such fun!

Jan 30th: dad's jhansi office also had an open air theatre.. the 1 tonnes would come pick us families up around 7pm.. we would be seated on benches and chairs.. a movie would be projected on a huge white wall, from the back of a 3-tonne.. we got cold drinks during breaks.. and get dropped back home. 

Jan 31st: some evenings, we would go to the temple inside dad's office.. there would be bhajans followed by halwa with black chana topping. the halwa used to be delicious!