One should never go
back to the places of great childhood memories
Roorkee
is a small town on the outskirts of Uttar Pradesh, placed nicely between
majestic Shivalik hills of Himalayan mountain ranges and dusty planes of
Northern India. On a clear sunny day it is sometime possible to catch glimpses of
Shivalik hills from Roorkee too and that’s what Sheru enjoyed doing mostly during his summer holidays. In order to
catch glimpse of the hills he would occasionally climb up to the top of the tall
Banyan tree in his back yard or to the top of the water tank in his
neighborhood. His two best friends Raju
and Sonu would also join him some
times to enjoy the view from the top of the water tank located in the
residential colony, one of the several residential colonies in Roorkee, where
they lived with their families. They had
perfected the art of climbing to the top of the tree but climbing to the top of
the water tank was a difficult task. They had to sneak past rusted iron gates
and from the piercing eyes of Nathuram
the chowkidar, and then quietly take several flights of stairs to reach to the
top. Although tired at the end of the climb, they were reward with the pristine
view of Shivalik hills. The view of mountains filled them with the joy, which
was almost equal to climbing the mountains itself. Sometimes the gang of three
would spend hours at the top away from the eyes of their parents planning their
summer adventures. Their adventures mostly revolved around picking up sweet
juicy leeches from Mrs. Chopra’s garden or tasty mulberry from the garden of
Mrs. Nathuram, or teasing the local public schools care taker Bhagu, all of whom
would often run after the boys with sticks in their hands. There was some fun
in such activities for the boys, which was not comparable to anything else.
Just
a day before their schools was about to open after a long summer break, three
of them made their way up to the water tank once again. Sheru was in no mood to
go back to school; he just liked the freedom and routine less life during the
summer holidays with no book or teacher to follow. While they were chewing on
the freshly stolen Mulberries from Mrs. Nathuram’s garden, gang leader Sheru announced
that he has a plan, which could make their school remain closed for another
week. Raju and Sonu were immediately interested,
to know what exactly Sheru was thinking about this time, they both asked him to
reveal the details of his plan. The plan was to jump the fence of their school
in evening, when Bhagu is usually busy doing evening prayers, and block the classrooms
door locks by putting match sticks ends into their keyhole. The plan was full proof with high chances of
success, except on the day they were going to execute it Sheru’s dad decided
that it’s time to go and buy the books for the next class term as the new
stocks had arrived in the book shop and would not last long. It was one of the
least interested things he wanted to do that day, but it was very hard for him
to say no to his dad. And by the time he
returned back from the Bazaar it was too late, his friends were waiting but Bhagu
was back on his rounds after finishing his prayers. Now there was nothing much three
could do except to prepare themselves for attending school next day.
Schools
started usual way, Sheru and his class mates were asked by Head Master Chobey
to write an essay about their summer holidays, this was again a routine Sheru
knew very well. He was now used to writing similar essays every time school
re-opened after the summer break. Already on the first day at school Sheru
started dream about the next summer holidays and things he would like do with
his friends. He started counting the days when it will be summer again and he
will be re-united to the freedom and joy of viewing the Shivalik’s and enjoying
stealing leeches and mulberries once again. Mundane life at school went on
between the lectures of Mrs. Sharma, on how to write proper Hindi with correct
spellings, and Mr. Gupta on addition, subtraction, Trigonometry, etc. Sheru
always wondered when that occasion will arrive in his life where he will make
use of Trigonometry. Neither addition
nor subtraction has ever been much of an issue while running errands at local
Banay store whenever his mom asked him to go and buy something. So far in his
day to day life such a need has not yet arrived, he thought perhaps one day
such an occasion might arrive and was waiting for it. Eight months passed very
quickly between the school lectures and homework. It was almost time for final
exams and then it will be once again time for summer break, which Sheru has
been waiting for all along. Result did not bother him too much he knew where he
will stand.
Exams
were over and summer finally arrived and with it came the school break Sheru
has been waiting for almost a year now. It was too hot this time hot winds from
dusty planes were blowing, trees were dry, street dogs were laying in puddle of
mud to cool them down. Sheru and his friends were sitting under the banyan
tree, which was still providing some shade from the intense summer heat. They
wanted to celebrate the school results, which they had obtained earlier in the
day. Sheru was on his usual spot around 15th in the class of 25,
Raju and Sonu managed to alleviate their ranking by 2 points, scoring 22nd
and 23rd, and were very happy that they were not the lowest rankers
anymore. In order to celebrate they decided it was time to venture outside the
bounds of their residential colony, after all they were grown up now, at least that’s
what they thought, and they could handle the life outside their residential colony.
The plan was to cycle along the Ganga Canal, in the afternoon, to take bath in
one of the tributaries of the Canal on the outskirts of the city. They had
heard about it from one of their school friend who lived in the nearby village
where the tributary flowed through. He
was going to join them there and was going to show them way to reach to a nice
spot where they could dip their dark slim bodies into the cold water of the
canal to get the relief from the intense summer heat. Plan was executed and all
of them met at Century Gate near civil lines and then cycled along the Canal to
the spot to enjoy the cold water of the canal, they splashed the cold water on
each other, joked, and had a lot of fun. How time passed they had no idea,
Sheru looked at the time in his new digital watch, a gift from his parents for
keeping up his position in his class, it was 5:30 in the evening, it was time
to go home else he would be in trouble. He asked Sonu and Raju to go back but
the two were in no mood to get out of the cold water they were having too much
fun, they both asked him to stay for 30 more minutes but Sheru decided that he
should leave else he will be in bigger trouble if his parents would found out
that he had cycled so far away from the house. He told Raju and Sonu that he
will join them next day and planned to meet them at the top of the water tank
next day morning to plan their next adventure.
Next
day Sheru waited for his friends at the top of the water tank they did not show
up, it was not usual for them not to come, they were usually always on time. He
decided to go and visit Raju’s and Sonu’s houses to find out why they were late.
He thought probably they are being punished by their parents for coming home
late yesterday. When he arrived at Raju’s house a bit of commotion was going on
and all the neighbors had gathered outside the house, even his own parents were
there too. He reluctantly asked his dad what has happened, he got to know that
Raju and Sonu have not returned back home since yesterday. He feared the worst,
all creepy thoughts started coming to his mind, have they drowned in the water.
He got really scared and told his father about where they all went yesterday. A
search party was quickly organized and headed to the Canal tributary, all they
found there was boys cloths and their bi-cycles. Later on the professional divers
were called and the bodies of the three boys were recovered from the Canal bed.
As the news of the death of his dear friends from drowning reached Sheru, he
was shattered, he could not stop crying, and he knew right then that his life
is not going to be same again, his beloved friends were gone forever.
Now
Sheru did not look forward to the summer holidays any longer, he tried to
distract himself by indulging more into studies and developed love for books
instead. Time worked as a good doctor and helped him get rid of the scars of
the death of his dear friends. Books and studies helped too, he managed to
improve his ranking in school a lot and now he stood among the top 3. With only
studies and books in his mind time past quickly, he finished school and managed
to secure himself a place in the prestigious Delhi University. He was happy to
have made it to the university and so were his parents. The four years he spent
at the University were challenging and demanding but passed very quickly,
perhaps too quickly then he had anticipated. A shy young kid had turned into a
man ready to take on any challenge, which life might throw at him. He was among
the lucky few who landed themselves a great job offer with a Multi-national
firm, at the end of the fourth year at the University. As part of his job he asked to move
immediately to London to start working with a multi-national bank.
Sheru
was filled with excitement about this new chapter in his life and thought of
moving to London excited him even more. His knowledge of London was limited to the
story books, and the Jeffery Archer novels he has read in his school, and at
the University. He wanted to explore London, visit, the Big-Ben, the river
Thames, and the Buckingham palace. He wanted to live the stories he read about
London. When he finally arrived in London it was summer time, his company placed
him in a bed and breakfast near the Green Park Station. The air in London was
fresh and Green Park station was surrounded with nice big trees, Londoners were
busy enjoying the nice summer sun with their picnics, and kids were playing and
running around trying to catch birds, which were trying to feed on the bread
crumps thrown at them by the visitors. The weather and the fresh air reminded
him of spring time in Roorkee he felt as if he was transported back to the large
green lawns of Roorkee with big Oak trees and green gardens. He would wake up
early in the morning to the sound of Big-Ben and his daily 30 minutes journey
to work would take him through the pedestrian pathway through the Green Park
passing the majestic Buckingham Palace with its huge iron gates and not to
mention large number of tourist from all over the world.
Soon
the routine of working in a corporate multi-national company started to take
its toll on him. He was paid well for his routine job; he never liked routine
anyway, and with arrival of cold and dark British winter excitement of London
together with his routine job started to fade away. It started to rain and the
cold winds together with rain made the 30 minutes pleasant summer time journey
a very unpleasant one. Sheru was not used to such cold weather, it used to get
cold in Roorkee during winter but the cold weather in London was not
comparable. One of the evenings on the way back from office he sat on a cold
bench in the Green Park. He was tired after work, he closed his eyes for a
minute, and the feeling of being lonely in such a big city started to dawn upon
him, he started missing, his home, his parents, and his friends. He started to
think about his childhood days with no routine and the joy of summer with his
dear friends. A sudden urge, to go back to his beautiful city with a lots of
child hood memories, arose in his heart. In his mind he then decided to go back
to Roorkee during the Christmas break.
Month
of December arrived and London transformed into a festive place with it streets
filled with tourists and several attractions for young and old. Sheru was not
interested in what London was to offer during Christmas, he was counting his
days to go back, his long awaited break was about to begin in a week’s time,
and he was looking for a break from cold British winter. Time finally arrived
for him to Board the British Airways flight to Delhi from Heathrow Terminal 2,
within a short flight of only 5 hours and 30 minutes he was back in his country.
He arrived early in the morning at Delhi Airport and from their made his way to
the New Delhi Central train station and took the first train to Dehradun, which
stops over in Roorkee. By 11:30 am he was in his city. He rushed straight to
see the houses where his parents use to live, and the water tank, on the top of
which he spent a number of summer afternoons with his friends. A thousand
thoughts crossed his mind, he was very excited, and he had not visited the
place in many years now. He contemplated
thinking how it will all look, who is living in those houses, will he find any
kids on the tank top planning adventures like he did during his childhood days.
When he finally reached the place he used to live, he could barely recognize it,
an over growth of trees and plants had almost engulfed the houses he used to
live. The water tank was in a state of despair with its stairs almost broken
and no way to climb up to the top without risking his life. He was totally
unaware of the state changes taking place in Roorkee while he was away. In the
years he spent in the Delhi and London, Roorkee and the neighboring areas have
gone through rapid changes, these changes were part and parcel of India trying
to become a developed nation overnight, changes too fast to cope with, which
let residential colonies in a state of rapid deterioration as a number of
people living in them moved out to build their own houses. Sense of community
and belongingness was losing fast. Sheru was caught unaware of these changes,
his childhood memories were shattered in a second. He closed his eyes and
remembered the good old days and his beloved friends, a thought ran through his
mind – I wish I could turn back the clock and bring the wheels of time to a stop
and go back to the good old days of childhood.
