The Park

How quick we grow up..how time flies. It seems like ages when we live that moment... but years later its all but a flash of memory. A sweet memory of the childhood we once lived, played in the garden, made friends, went to school with the school bag full of notebooks of previous days homework and rushing to the bus stop to catch the early morning bus. Life used to be too simple as we see it now, but then when we were small it was the most torture some life any kid on earth could possibly be living. The daily ritual of getting up when the sun was still sleeping, brushing & bathing, packing the bags and polishing the shoes with the regret and promise to do that work before going to sleep every night but still ending up cursing myself for not having done so in advance. With mummy rushing to keep the Tiffin box she has made for us safely into our school bags before we rush out towards the bus stop with the prayer "oh God, please don’t let me miss my bus today... I’ll be up early tomorrow.. I promise".

Today when I see the children playing in the parks, I can't avoid the watery eyes and the little trickle of fluid from my eyes. Tears they call it. I can't stand to see the sight. I envy them to every atom of my existence. How small I was once to have ably slid down the slide. I dreaded the swings as much as I wished I was good at it. Heights take the day lights out of me.... when the swing goes up... my heart beat goes up and when the swing comes down , my heart sinks... & my brain goes dizzy. But still I was found on the swing at times... enjoying a gentle to and fro.

I have vivid memories of me and my mother spending the day at home. She would bake my favourite cake, my favourite cookies, my favourite chips, my favourite pickle, my favourite juices. Favourite coz those were the flavours first to be introduced to my taste buds. Mother's cooking is heavenly, made with love and patience and sprinkled with warmth and care.

The appreciations I got, the blunders i made, the friends I made, the friends I fought, the stories I read, the questions I solved, the pages I memorized, the drawings I made, the cartoons I watched, the cartoons I sacrificed for studies, the exams I gave, the marks I got, the games I played, the scolding’s I got, the cakes I cut, the blessings in got, the gifts I gave, the hugs I gave
to my teddy fleet and fed my family of 'Toys', the time I spent with my elder brother - fighting or making something creative(team work ), the efforts put in to get the 'Favourite' tag of the parents, the ice candies i ate, the ice candies I didn't ate to save the fiver for 'some other day', the colours I received, the joy of putting life to paper, the colours i dreamt to buy someday
standing at the art store and looking at the display, the visit to the optician, the trials for the new spectacle frame, shopping for a new pair of bellies, parting with my aged friend teddy and acclimatizing the new baby teddy to my kingdom - his new territory to rule, the visit to the railway platform, waiting for the train and then boarding it to move to a new city, unpacking
my carton to retrieve(read rescue) my army of four legged and two legged friends (teddy family, doggy family, He-Man and his team, Skeletor and his team), boosting with pride my elder brother’s collection of stamps and postcards and requesting friends to contribute for the same, my first cycling lesson, flying on the roads on my two wheeled companion and then unceremoniously bumping into or falling off until that eventful day when I gave up completely riding the bicycle, making friends, leaving friends, packing my belongings into the carton, selling off old books and moving out to a newer city and a new school.

I blink and I see the time gone by as I stand in the park. My ears are filled with the music of nature – birds chirping, children laughing, water gurgling from the water hose, the cling clank of the see-saw, the swish swoosh of the swing, the clink clink and thud of the slide. And then I am awakened to reality. I am working and earning today, balancing the personal and professional life, little time for friends and hobbies, and least time for reflecting on self.

Then a smile breaks across my lips. I know I will be back to the park. I will be rightfully spending time here. One day I will accompany my bundle of joys to the park. And then when am old and weak, the park will be my refuge from the boredom of my last days. Till then the park will have to wait.