COLLAGE

There are always phases in your life....Each phase is characterised by certain PEOPLE, HOBBIES, INCIDENTS, MOVIES, TV SHOWS, FASHION and LIFESTYLE which somehow magically transports you back in time........well i have crafted a beautiful collage drawn up inside that little heart of mine and put all the the memories into the upteen phases I can think of....and its funny that one always remembers the sweetness of a phase, the hardships are almost always forgotten......ISNT IT A WONDER!!!!!!!!!

PHASE 1: SHOLAPUR (nursery)......Pink Frocks with frills.....two ponytails on the head that made me look like a bunny......a pesky younger sister who pinched me always.........very beautiful mom with silky hair cascading down her shoulders..........dads head looked like a basket full of very curly hair ...........beautiful mom beating me every time i try to bully that pesky lil sister of mine..........Mom stiching frock for my sis and me......attendents from dads office...........lots of rabbits at home and seem to be myteriously multiplying day after day........

PHASE 2:PUNE (LKG to 2nd std) ....small matchbox sized house...........waiting for dad to return from his frequent tours so that he could bring the new frocks frm every tour(Still remember the "BOMBAY KA FROCK" and "DELHI KA FROCK")...........vists to Patna and the smell of grand moms lipstikcs and make up............visits to my patenal grand mom at Coimbatore and the smell of sambhar and her gentle eyes......extremely gorgeous mom doing her B'Ed and going to college by LUNA.................reluctantly waiting for the school bus every Foggy morning, mom trying desperately to make us speak in english when we were only speaking Hindi...............in awe of those stylish and good looking paternal cousins who were just back from KABUL.............went to aurangabad with dad when he was out on business trip and drank loads of apple juice(GOLD COIN) and slept on the restaurant table(GOLD COIN made me high)..............DADs official driver RIAKER and Sepoy BHUJBAL..............Paternal cousin Lakshman buying my sis and me BON BONs every saturday............Mom taking us to Deccan Gymkhana once a month (MOM.....I still remember those yummy sandwiches you fed us at deccan gymkhana....LOL ).............Little flower Convent school and the GRAND PIANO in the hallway ...... pepsi colas outsite the school, The school fair and pope and mother Teresa's visit.............., a new Black and white TV,................. Doordarshan and Indira Gandhis assasination, .................Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor..........


PHASE 3: VISAKHAPATNAM(3rd std and 4th std).....very very spacious govt quarter and too much space,................. Kendriya Vidyalaya and mode of transport was cycle rickshaw, ..................Tata Rao, our rickshaw puller and Konda his wife a maid at our home, ..................The Charkravarties' sons Nirmal and Sukumal were our companions in the cycle rickshaw to school, Babloo and Bunny also companions in cycle rickshaw, ...................the district collectors son BUMPY who used to come home coz he had no friends to play with, .................very naughty sister always upto some michief of irritating FAT PEOPLE by calling them FAT on the face, ................GRIMMS FAIRY TALES, and moms puddings and jellys, ...............mom, her luna and the college she used to teach at AVN College,................Dads official car which was a big blue ambassodor and Anand Rao , his driver , ....................waiting for grandpas monthly visits to vizag...........chasing away "Rowdy Boys" from the guava trees in our compound and mom screming at them for breaking window panes while playing cricket,............ and ya our first colour TV,............... Buniyaad, Yeh jo hai zindagi, Nukkad and Vikram aur Betaal...dads greatest ceasure at the port of vizag which made big news then.....

PHASE 4: VISAKHAPATNAM (5th std and 6th std)....... MOM joining school and teaching higher classes,............... our favorite person NARAYAN who was like our second guardian, cooked for us , took us to "MUZIC" Classes and "SKATING" Classes and "SWIMMING " Classes, whom we loved irritating,.............. Lakshmi, our darling maid,................Kendriya Vidyalaya Waltair and lots of friends,.....naughty sister thinking and wanting to be the "naughtiest girl in the school" with a bunch of loud superbrat bunch of girls........................ Enid Blytons and Tintins, and sometimes Nancy Drews, ................dear friends Swechcha and Samatha,.............. enacting plays and getting dolls married,................. mom teaching us to make dolls, and embroidery,................Walt Disney, Broadway Musicals, War Movies.... family trips to Bhilai Steel Plant, Damanjodhi , Rajamundry, Kakinada etc....lots and lots of Rajiv Gandhi on TV .....................Mohd Rafi and Mukesh on the Tape recorder, .............................visits to grand parents at Hyderabad and wake up every morning to M.S.Subbalakshmis Suprabhatam....waiting for sundays to watch"ek do teen chaar", "Babuji ka baiscope", RAMAYAN, MAHABHARAT.....mom was away for 2 months in delhi for some cultual training and when she came back,.................... she fed us with all the indian history and culture knowledge, which i still cherish..............


PHASE 5: VISAKHAPATNAM(7th and 8th).......School annual day functions...."i hate boys" phase, coz suddenly i have discovered that they are dirty,............. wonder why only some girls are gifted with rotund shape on their chest while most of us are flat,.................... why have the same boys we grew up with suddenly started staring ,................ discovering fashion,........... dabble with moms make up kits,................. interested in clothes and left frocks far behind to make way for stylish jeans and mature looking Salwar kameez,................those "GITANJALI" dresses and "AASHAQUI" ribbons.............. crushes on Aamir Khan,............... Qayamat se Qayamat Tak,.............. Jo jeeta wohi sikandar,................. Dil hai ke maanth nahi, ................(Aamir...Aamir...Aamir...all the way)......4 new channels apart from DD......Star Plus and The Crystal Maze,..................... pesky neighbour boys who played tennis and broke our window panes,.................. a rich superbrat who wove many a stories about having a snow room in his house(well, met that superbrat years later only to find out he grew up to be a very sweet boy as i met him again at B-School)....................sista and me were staying at a friends when mom and dad were outta town and disliked the place coz the couple had an irritating college going boy who stared at us, so me and my sis poured GUM over his freshly prepared project report......Sachin Tendulkar has just been discovered......and looks like P.V.Narsimha Rao is the only non Gandhi Congress leader to hold the fort for so long........my darling grandpa passed away.......


TO BE CONTD.........