Down memory lane

The year is 1993. My family just moved from Bareilly to Varanasi. I don’t like the house. It has huge rooms with tiny windows. We decided to move to a better house.

The place is called Vijay Nagar Colony. I love this house. It has nice rooms and a huge veranda from where I can see a large field which the laundry man uses to dry the clothes in the morning and children use as playground in the evening. The locality is studded with two-storied buildings arranged in neat rows.

The best part about this place is the people. They are warm and loving. Everyone is everyone’s child. It is like being a part of a huge family.

Then there is the incident which further strengthens my relationship with “my family”.

The year is 1997. I meet with a huge accident on my way back from school. My left ankle is broken and I am at the brink of losing consciousness. I manage to give the phone number of my neighbour to one of the spectators on the road. We don’t have a phone yet and my father is out of town.

The man, out of sympathy, empathy, whatever, calls Kaku (uncle). Within fifteen minutes Kaku is here, holding me in his arms, and rushing to the nearest hospital. I feel blackness enveloping me and I don’t feel anything else.

I open my eyes and I see Maa sitting next to me. I pan the whole room and see a lot of familiar faces smiling down at me. My tiny house is crammed with people from my para (locality). Maa tells me that Baba will be back the next day.

For the first time I love being ill. I am being showered with love and care—sweets galore. Everyone is helping me heal—physically and mentally. Some hold my hand and help me walk, some comfort me when I am in pain, and some even feed me when I don’t feel like eating.

After four months, I can now walk with a hint of a limp. The love, affection, and respect I have for them have increased many folds.

The year is 2007. I am at Kaku’s house, waiting to meet him before I go away to Bangalore. He is now older and I can spot the crow’s feet adjacent to his eyes. He sees me and exclaims, “How on earth did I lift you that day!”