Do you remember the times when there was a family get together in your house. There was an occasion, an imminent wedding or a festival and it was time for relatives from far flung corners of the city to drop in and have a good reunion. You had the chance to meet up with the entire bunch of cousins. The entire house was lit up and the noise was deafening. For once, you were unconcerned about the admonishments from that watchful parent, everyone was in a jovial mood. Pestering the good hearted uncle, you asked for money to go and buy the orange ice candy at the department store just outside the colony. Showing your reddened lips and tongues to everyone and compare who had the most colored one. Bursting crackers on the open plot besides your house. Sharing bragging tales about summer hol escapades. Wondering in amazement about how tiny the hands of the newborn baby are, the latest addition to the extended family. It meant good food. It meant running around the house till you tire yourself, or until someone happened to have a bad fall and after a good chiding you had to settle to quiter games. Playing 'dark room', looking for a scapegoat for the jokes. Small sums of money given by the elders when you touched their feet in respect.
And then you grow up, take different paths and find your own friends outside the family. Distances grow and the reunions are fewer and far in between. Differences set in. You realise that you may not relate to them anymore. Nostalgia over the past. The same cousins are now getting married. The surly uncle who used to admonish the cousin who had a runny nose, is no more. Simple things as orange ice candy lost its sweetness. Dark room and games such are but kiddish. You wonder if all of that will ever come back again.
And sometimes, it rewinds all over again. There is a time again when all of you are together again. Uncles, aunts, cousins, distant cousins are back again. The house is lit up again. The aroma of home cooked biryani is just as fresh.
I lived a part of that time again today.
Zindagi Migzara
(Life goes on)
- Afghani saying
And then you grow up, take different paths and find your own friends outside the family. Distances grow and the reunions are fewer and far in between. Differences set in. You realise that you may not relate to them anymore. Nostalgia over the past. The same cousins are now getting married. The surly uncle who used to admonish the cousin who had a runny nose, is no more. Simple things as orange ice candy lost its sweetness. Dark room and games such are but kiddish. You wonder if all of that will ever come back again.
And sometimes, it rewinds all over again. There is a time again when all of you are together again. Uncles, aunts, cousins, distant cousins are back again. The house is lit up again. The aroma of home cooked biryani is just as fresh.
I lived a part of that time again today.
Zindagi Migzara
(Life goes on)
- Afghani saying
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