Roorkee Relived

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 15^th in the class of 25, Raju and Sonu managed to alleviate their ranking by 2 points, scoring 22^nd and 23^rd, 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.