Mama...
On this special day...4 August, 2008, I recollect fond memories of our childhood spent together for so many years in IIT...
Remember your friend Ajay Mahajan's sister Namrata who was my friend? For many years she kept thinking you were my own elder brother because you were friends with and same age group as her brother. She came to know you were my uncle only accidentally, when she once came home and heard you calling to mummy as "didi"!
...remember my calling you by your name instead of 'mama' ...and 'tu' instead of 'tum' or 'aap' cos of the way we behaved...fought...almost like siblings and as if we were the same age...and you never complained....it was many years later after nanaji snubbed me that i was forced to call u 'mama'....and tum or aap instead of tu...I know u like it but I never did nor do...it feels as if something died between us...distanced us in some strange sort of way...
...I still remember you eating arhar dal, chawal, bhindi...all mixed together and a big fat novel in one hand at the same time..nani calling out to you to eat first and not to read side by side...but you won't listen...so stubborn...that was your usual habit...its amazing how you still managed to be called a well-mannered kid!...and you would finish the whole novel the same day!!
...I and Chinu used to come home from school (Mother's Intl) when we were small (well not quite so small though) and straight to your room and jump on and climb all over you while you were resting or even wake you up from your nap...trying to get you to play with us...without realising you yourself were just back from school and tired...but you never complained...at least not to the elders of the house!! We loved those moments with you...
...I will never forget the kite-flying with you (and Pinto mama)....in the lanes of IIT... .and also the Holis celebrated in the campus...you were the one to come up with the idea of 'permament colour' to put on people through water balloons!!...something you used to make with reetha and stuff and some purple crystal powder...(Was it potassium permaganate??)...I still haven't figured out!
...and I was most facinated by your creative skills as well...esp one episode...the macrame pot hanger (with jute and glass beads) that you made as SUPW...work assigned from school...even scolded me when I tried to lend a helping hand!!...and a paper mache project in which you made a pencil stand...i think you were in 9th or 10th grade...I would think of it as a girls' craft and was impressed by how seriously you took to it...something to share with Christy's mom perhaps...!!
Oh and how can I forget...and I will always hate you for the prank you played on me with Raman in IIT when the lights were out once...You offered me a Wrigley's chewing gum (which used to be a craze with us at the time)...I was delighted as I put it in my mouth only to realise it was the front part...the white ribbed rubber strip of your school canvas shoes which had come off !! UGHHH...!!...you knew I would trust you and not Raman though it was Raman's idea..!
...It was terrible for us kids when you went to IIT Powai for your engineering...We missed you so...I always awaited your letters anxiously...and would be delighted to get a response from you to mine...(I treasured all your letters for many many years!)
....Rohini
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