On the topmost step of the step ladder, the world seems small and the attic seems dustier than ever before... Dreading the amount of spider webs i was bound to endure, i made my way up into the loft and threw down the cardboard cartons that held the dust of years past... Mom was looking for a particular cookbook that conveniently happened to be in the last carton...
I jumped down from the ladder and found this box labelled "Ben's Stuff". Interested, I dragged the box inside my room and opened it up... On top was the shirt that I wore on the last day of school.. The pocket ripped off, as was the custom in my school, and the signatures of some thirty-odd classmates, still fresh on the shirt...
Then I found a deflated basketball which read "Congrats! You did it!" I still remember my coach signing my basketball when we won the District Championship....
I dug further down and found a huge file containing all the speeches I ever made when i was in school... All the welcome addresses, the vote-of-thanks speeches, the year reports, oratory competion papers, printed reports... Each piece of paper reminding me of the pre-speech apprehension....
Further down, i found the diary i maintained in 6th grade... Describing how tough the new subjects were... I flipped through the pages and found a peacock feather that a classmate had given me... A sly smile came across my face as i sent her an SMS asking her if she remembered the feather.. ;)
Deeper down, i came across this badge that said, "Asst. House Captain, Reds". I still remember Sister Veena pronouncing my name all wrong as I went up to collect the badge in front of the whole school and becoming the youngest Asst. Captain in the history of the school...
Another dig later I resurfaced with a small cloth patch that read "Shorin-Ryu, Shorin-Kan". Shouts of "Kiyak!" filled my ears as I remembered how we practised Karate with great fervour... Imagining ourselves to be Superheroes of some sort.. always ready to save the damsel-in-distress....
Another delve resulted in a big sneeze and a bag full of certificates that ranged from normal stuff like "General Proficiency - Std.V" to some stupid award like "Best Dressed Student in School - L.K.G"
Every little thing in that box reminded me of some part of my life, however insignificant it might have been... And then I realized, I might have forgotten all of this had I not looked at this stuff... So i decided to keep the box under my bed =) The other boxes, however, have to go back on the loft.. ;)
Memories might fade, Years may pass into oblivion, Records may become obsolete. But, this post is a small tribute to all the people who made my life worth living. I salute you all.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
The Rain....
We stood at the entrace to college when the skies opened up..... Four of us stood and waited for it to stop so that we could go home... Suddenly, my cellphone rang.. A friend called and wanted to know if I wanted to ride back in the rain... A second later I found myself sprinting towards the bike park, already soaked to the core...
Then I realized that I had some stuff that I didnt want to get wet.. So, standing under an asbestos sheet, I rummaged in my bag and the best protection i could find happened to be a plastic CD sleeve.. I chucked my phone, my iPod and my watch inside it and put it at the bottom of my bag which was apparently water proof. My 'chauffeur' arrived on his Bullet and I hopped on.... Both of us were horibbly wet but still decided to ride in the rain. And we left...
The skies opened up even more sending down a torrent of water on us. I looked down and realized that half the bike was pretty much submerged in the water that had already flooded the roads, thanks to the poor drainage system. We cursed the corporation and continued as I watched the exhaust sputter and send out clouds of smoke along with puffs of water which ended up right in the eyes of the son of misfortune riding behind us. He screamed some not-so-nice words and moved out of the way.
It so happened that we kept getting stuck at EVERY signal we came across. Seeing this as a warning from above, we stopped for a glass of hot tea and samosas from an unusually over-crowded tea-shop. The old man was probably having the best business of his life that day. The rain seemed to be stopping, so we got onto the bike and trudged along but as luck would have it, it started as quickly as it had stopped, drenching us completely...
I somehow managed to move and get off the bike because I thought my limbs were frozen solid! I had to walk a while to reach home and as I was walking there was this cute girl who was walking towards me. She was equally drenched and I smiled at her out of impulse and she smiled back ;) Unfortunately, I'll never see her again. Such is life.
I continued and felt the rush of the wind under my outstretched arms and the pitter-patter of the raindrops against my face. I sprinted the last few meters and reached home, dishevelled and cold. Mom was waiting by the door going "Tch Tch... You got wet... Go dry your hair... You're going to catch a cold.." I walked into my room and my Grandma asked me "Did you get wet?" Irritated, I walked into the shower and turned on the hot tap.... Ten minutes later I got out, humming a melody in my head when Mom called me for lunch... I gladly agreed and watched gleefully as a plate of hot food was laid before me. As we were eating, my Mom asked me, "Where's your phone?"
A plate of flying food and an overturned chair later, I was at my bag turning it inside out and my Mom watched in horror as I removed the CD sleeve, bulged with water with my phone, iPod and watch floating in it. The phone felt funny and I realized that it was vibrating and emitting small amounts of . I tried drying the phone with a towel but it refused to work. The iPod and the watch worked, though. All my efforts to revive my V3i were in vain as i reached out to grab a hair dryer as a last resort... I thought I'd give it a shot and the lights on the phone blinked for a second. The next morning, however, was sunny and I thought my phone would probably work. It did.... And it still works.. ;)
From that day onward, I've always carried a lockable plastic pouch in my bag.. But it hasnt rained.. ;)
Then I realized that I had some stuff that I didnt want to get wet.. So, standing under an asbestos sheet, I rummaged in my bag and the best protection i could find happened to be a plastic CD sleeve.. I chucked my phone, my iPod and my watch inside it and put it at the bottom of my bag which was apparently water proof. My 'chauffeur' arrived on his Bullet and I hopped on.... Both of us were horibbly wet but still decided to ride in the rain. And we left...
The skies opened up even more sending down a torrent of water on us. I looked down and realized that half the bike was pretty much submerged in the water that had already flooded the roads, thanks to the poor drainage system. We cursed the corporation and continued as I watched the exhaust sputter and send out clouds of smoke along with puffs of water which ended up right in the eyes of the son of misfortune riding behind us. He screamed some not-so-nice words and moved out of the way.
It so happened that we kept getting stuck at EVERY signal we came across. Seeing this as a warning from above, we stopped for a glass of hot tea and samosas from an unusually over-crowded tea-shop. The old man was probably having the best business of his life that day. The rain seemed to be stopping, so we got onto the bike and trudged along but as luck would have it, it started as quickly as it had stopped, drenching us completely...
I somehow managed to move and get off the bike because I thought my limbs were frozen solid! I had to walk a while to reach home and as I was walking there was this cute girl who was walking towards me. She was equally drenched and I smiled at her out of impulse and she smiled back ;) Unfortunately, I'll never see her again. Such is life.
I continued and felt the rush of the wind under my outstretched arms and the pitter-patter of the raindrops against my face. I sprinted the last few meters and reached home, dishevelled and cold. Mom was waiting by the door going "Tch Tch... You got wet... Go dry your hair... You're going to catch a cold.." I walked into my room and my Grandma asked me "Did you get wet?" Irritated, I walked into the shower and turned on the hot tap.... Ten minutes later I got out, humming a melody in my head when Mom called me for lunch... I gladly agreed and watched gleefully as a plate of hot food was laid before me. As we were eating, my Mom asked me, "Where's your phone?"
A plate of flying food and an overturned chair later, I was at my bag turning it inside out and my Mom watched in horror as I removed the CD sleeve, bulged with water with my phone, iPod and watch floating in it. The phone felt funny and I realized that it was vibrating and emitting small amounts of . I tried drying the phone with a towel but it refused to work. The iPod and the watch worked, though. All my efforts to revive my V3i were in vain as i reached out to grab a hair dryer as a last resort... I thought I'd give it a shot and the lights on the phone blinked for a second. The next morning, however, was sunny and I thought my phone would probably work. It did.... And it still works.. ;)
From that day onward, I've always carried a lockable plastic pouch in my bag.. But it hasnt rained.. ;)
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