February, 2002. Class 10 board exams were just around the corner. As a kid who had to hold a cricket bat every evening to drain out his daily quota of sweat, these bloody exams were still a month away. Bokaro was a small place, comfortably shielded from the mall culture which was gripping the country those days. Gossips and occasional family re-unions were the only source of entertainment to the simpletons out there.
It was during those days that a relatively very close friend of my dad visited my place sometime in the evening. I had just come back from my daily routine of smashing the ball all around the street. With a cup of tea in his one hand, the bespectacled uncle asked "और क्या प्लान्स हैं exam के बाद "? Without a pause, I replied "जी अंकल, आजकल तो खेलना थोडा कम कर दिया है ...exam के बाद पीछे वाली गली में रहने वाली टीम से मैच रखा है!" Eyebrows were raised, and my dad pitched in to save the situation "अरे नहीं ..exam ख़त्म होते ही इसको coaching में डाल देंगे...आई आई टी के exam में ज्यादा समय थोड़ी न बचा है !" Probably, that was the day I ceased being a kid.
The next two years were spent rigorously in making an engineer out of me. You name the course material, and I had that on my study table FIITJEE Rankers Study Material, Comprehensive Chemistry, HC Verma, Resnick Halliday, R D Sharma, S L Loney blah blah blah....every damn book you could ask for. People around me said, "अभी पढ़ाई कर लो...फिर आगे तो ऐश ही ऐश है ". Even "that" Ash went with that loser Junior Bachchan of all people.
It was just 9 years ago when evenings were spent bickering about whether somebody could bowl just after they had batted. Right? I finished Engineering where I did burn the midnight oil (sometimes) remembering the same line "अभी पढ़ाई कर लो...फिर आगे तो ऐश ही ऐश है ". When I sit back and introspect, all I can realize is how the word "ऐश" has changed it's meaning all these years. From fierce cricket matches, to all night chatting on Gtalk, to weekend booze parties, surroundings changed, priorities changed. The childish enthusiasm and innocence gave way to inconsequential worries and tensions. Sitting in my balcony,I am wondering, how much would I pay, just to get those days back.
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| Hilarious, but true |
It was just 9 years ago when evenings were spent bickering about whether somebody could bowl just after they had batted. Right? I finished Engineering where I did burn the midnight oil (sometimes) remembering the same line "अभी पढ़ाई कर लो...फिर आगे तो ऐश ही ऐश है ". When I sit back and introspect, all I can realize is how the word "ऐश" has changed it's meaning all these years. From fierce cricket matches, to all night chatting on Gtalk, to weekend booze parties, surroundings changed, priorities changed. The childish enthusiasm and innocence gave way to inconsequential worries and tensions. Sitting in my balcony,I am wondering, how much would I pay, just to get those days back.
Nice !!! :) Something I hav always wondered why along with so called "growing up" we hav become so worried people .. on FB thr's a page "I want to get back to the days where the biggest problem was which crayon to pick up next " SO TRUE !! :) Wish u have only tension in your mind the whole week ..whom to play against on weekends ;)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely....kanche khelna..patang udaana..and lattu haath pe nachaana..were few of the "arts" I was a master back in those days...pure fun..playing in the winter afternoons...Nostalgia
ReplyDeleteWish I could like your comment Enigma ;-)