Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Growing up in India

Not that I have had the opportunity to grow up elsewhere, but here are some of the zillions of reasons why I loved growing up in India:

  • Playing pittu and gully cricket in the streets with the guys
  • Spinning tops and flying kites on the terrace
  • Climbing a wall to explore the bhoot bangla ('haunted house') in the locality (doesn't every locality in India have one?)
  • Eating the neighbours' pickled mangoes left to dry in the sun
  • Rainy day school holiday
  • Orange lollies for 50 paise
  • Tiny packets of tamarind with salt (one for 5 paise)
  • Chaat and panipuri stalls outside the school, which both teachers and parents discouraged us to patronise. And yet...
  • Making a 'neighbourhood fireplace' in the street during winter and huddling around it with friends
  • Watching Mom haggle with the sabziwala (vegetable seller) and learning the tricks
  • The bhaiyas ('elder brothers') of the neighbourhood that used to come knocking on the door asking for donations during Diwali to make our street's ladi bomb (or 'ladibum' as they used to call it in hindi) the longest and the loudest in the city
  • Dad shaking his head at the bhaiyas as he put in his donation, knowing that half would go into sponsoring alcohol for them on Diwali night
  • Roaming around the city as multi-coloured hooligans on Holi (festival of colours)
  • Placing diyas (earthen lamps) and candles all over the house, and making rangoli during Diwali
  • Tracing my foot on a piece of paper and giving it to Dad before he went on trips to other cities, so he could bring back shoes for me (yeah, I started young!)
  • Cycling back home with friends after school
  • Extra classes during holidays when we did not have to wear the school uniform
  • Sitting in the dark during power cuts, eating pakodas, alu chops and vadas, and chatting with family
  • Watching the ads before the sunday evening movie, and walking out as soon as the movie began
  • Making paper boats and racing them in the muddy rainwater
  • My landlord's huge dog Jimmy to whom I used to do a Virdi-style 'Thrrrbbbrrrrt' and sing "Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy, aaja aaja aaja!" sending Mom into fits of laughter (I was petrified of Jimmy but because it was always leashed, I dared such stunts)
  • Plucking leaves from the henna trees in the neighbourhood and pleading with one of the aunties to grind it into a paste for me (now that's natural henna, everything you get in a packet is nonsense)
  • Refusing to play with the boys (hence pissing them off) cos 'I had henna on my hands which would get ruined if I played'
  • New books, notebooks, stationery and school uniform at the beginning of each new year
  • Reciting the Gayatri mantra and the Athaishwarastutiprarthnopasna (No, I'm not making this up!) mantra (chants in Sanskrit) in the school assembly every day
  • Making Dad late for work 'cos he had to drop me to school in the car 'cos the 'auto wala did naga' (did not turn up)
  • Watchman finding out about my exam results and asking Dad for bakhshish ('reward money') 'cos 'his blessings were with me'
  • Reading Tinkle and Chacha Chaudhry placed in between pages of textbooks, in class
  • Roaming around with a handmade bamboo bow and arrow after watching the mega-serial Ramayana on Sunday mornings
  • Refusing to be Sita 'cos she did not get to carry a bow and arrow
  • The horrendous intro music of Doordarshan (national TV channel) and 'Yeh akashwani hai' ('This is national radio')
  • Climbing the neighbour's guava tree and stealing guavas and then giving them to the younger kids in the neighbourhood 'cos I don't like guavas
  • Waiting for summer and the aamwali (mango seller) to go around the streets with her big tokri (basket) yelling "Aaaaaaaaammmmmmm!"
  • Refusing to get out of bed and get ready for school during winter
  • Laughing when Mum asked me to take a bath 'cos the water had frozen in the taps
  • Getting almost knocked out by a hailstone the size of my fist
  • Sitting on the terrace on sunday mornings in the sun with my sis, and painting Christmas and New Year cards for friends and relatives with Camel water colours
  • Pouring the milk that I was supposed to drink, into Dad's plant pots and telling a very surprised Mom that I had finished it all
  • Making faces in spite of Mom adding complan to the milk (once she found out the reason behind Dad's super healthy plants)
  • Watching Rangoli, Ek Do Teen Char, Fauji, Circus, Udaan, Samandar, Spiderman, Indradhanush and Chitrahaar on TV
  • Watching Dad make bonsais
  • Watching with fascination as Dad shaved, making him laugh so uncontrollably that he almost nicked his cheek
  • Learning to make chai by watching Mom as she made it every day for the kaam wali bai (maid)
  • Drinking Rasna with friends after a hard day of play
  • Summer holidays spent lazing at Grandma's place, getting pampered by grandparents, three masis (aunts), two mamas (uncles) and my childhood nanny
  • Long drives with the family and stopping at dhabas to have moti wali roti (errr... fat chapatis) and tadke wali daal (yummy lentil dish)
  • Going to the zoo every month and looking at the same animals with the same kinda fascination
  • Elephant rides at the zoo and realising that an elephant sways from left to right when moving forward
  • Being made class monitor 'cos the teachers figured that was the only way to control the hyper Sayesha
  • Finishing half a bottle of Hajmola with my cousin at one go
  • Going shopping with Mom on Saturday afternoons and drinking Maaza and Thums Up on the streets during the commercial breaks
I guess it will take me some time to make as comprehensive a list as possible. Will take a few days to add on to this. :)



80 comments:

Chitra said...

Ya... true !!

Ravi said...

Monstrous... The sheer size of the list. And you still say that you need to make a comprehensive list! Baap re.... :)

Though I know you can never complete the list.

Deeps said...

Very nostalgic. Brings back memories of:

* Climbing trees (compeiting in who reaches the top most branch ;-))
* Taking bus rides and dragging my brother along (I had a pass, and he was too young to be issued a ticket ;-) )
* Munching away on 25 paise guavas/raw mangoes/gooseberries
* Stealing (:-o) 25 paise from my grandpa's suitcase to buy peppermints :-D
* Cycling -> falling -> bruises/scrapes
* Fighting with my brother (a lot!!)
* Pestering dad to take us to children's parks (the ones with jhoolas, slides and see-saws)
* Pestering dad and mom to take us to 4th block (Jayanagar 4th block, Bangalore was the biggest shopping complex then) and get us bhel, sugar candy and ice creams :-D. Sometimes even hot air ballons..
* Singing different prayers each day in school (believe it or not we had 6 different prayers for 6 days of school!!)

I could go on and on, but I guess I'll stop when I can :).

Kaala Kavva said...

oh man!
how much time did u take 2 compile this ????

hhaha
for me it would'v taken forever!

Anonymous said...

>> Roaming around with a handmade >> bamboo bow and arrow after
>> watching the mega-serial
>> Ramayana on Sunday mornings

Hahaha! Been there, done that, got the t-shirt!

I once tried wearing underwear outside my pants after watching 'Superman 5'. Oddly, not as cool as it looks on TV it turns out .... maybe its cause I didn't have the blue tights to go with it, at the time...hmmmm.

.... but aerodynamically speaking its a no contest.

:P

Cheers,
Kais

Shobana said...

//Tracing my foot on a piece of paper and giving it to Dad before he went on trips to other cities, so he could bring back shoes for me.
haha! that was cute:)
now a days u dont have much power cuts. playing with shadows and chatting on verandahs after power cuts was so much fun!
i remember playing bow n arrow too:)
and btw i thought aakashwani was voice from the sky..

Sayesha said...

#ABias,
Yeah, I can't be too far from her either.

#Chitra,
:)

#Ravi,
Hehehe... actually the length of my posts is quite notorious... installments mein padh lena yaar! :P

#Deeps,
Cute list! :)

#Chapaat,
Took a while, about an hour or so... but it's worth it, to preserve the memories somewhere :)

#Kais,
Hahahaha! I don't want to imagine you in your home-made superman costume, but I just did and it was HILARIOUS! :D

#Jade,
Hehehe... :P
Yeah akashwani literally means 'voice from the sky'. The stuff in brackets is not always the literal translation, it's just bits of explanation here and there for my Singaporean readers :)

burf said...

r u not in india now? is india a poor place now?

Kaala Kavva said...

hahah
mera to naam bhi constant nahi!

amit said...

whata speed..... 9 posts in first 14 dayz with 3 posts in last 3 days..... arre give us sumtime to read thru the posts n the 'innumerable' comments...;)

u hv jotted down every wierd thing tht i did or thot of doin during my childhood, n u say this list is not comprehensive.... sahi jaa rahe ho;0

Shuuro said...

Very nice Sayesha, Your compilation reminded me my childhood.

Ps: You forgot to mention, that you watch Chitrahaar with mute on. :P

Rays Of Sun said...

haiiiiiiii!! Post generating machine..Lol! bilkool meree jaisee hai..Ill come later n comment...:)

Ginkgo said...

Now Now..How many of these are made up :-P

virdi said...

and going to the village and sitting on buffalo... and then taking bath in the cannal... and running around the fields of sugarcane...

i think growing up in India is being close to nature... and yes I also drove my uncle's tractor...

V..

virdi said...

i had paan today!!! want to post something about it... :-)

Thanu said...

Great list. I can relate to most of the stuff like being made monitor, god talks during power failures... brought back lot memories. Yes, growing up in India was so much fun back then. I don't think it is all that fun now, kids have tutions from 6 am then after school. Its all cable tv and school and tutions

Lalit Singh said...

thats some list u have there.. and the most amazing part is that while eading there was a movie going on in my head .. all the memories flasjbacked...

ritzkini said...

for the first time...
no zzzz before the end of your post..bravo sayesha..good one..really,good one..
:)

L said...

Tracing my foot on a piece of
paper

Seen Kabuliwala..?? Similar thingy ..!!

Refusing to be Sita 'cos she did not get...
Now this is the icing..!!

Waiting for summer and the aamwali (mango seller).....
Oh the sellers to the colony...They were a boon.. U hardly find them nowadays...!! Food-marts have wiped away everything..

Laughing when Mum asked me to take a bath 'cos the water had frozen in the taps
Hey where does this happen in India..?? Dehradun...?? Darjeeling??

Pouring the milk.........into Dad's plant
I guess all Mom know it.. !!

Quite nostalgic..!! Though lot has changed.. much of India remains same..!!

PS: Wondering..what made "Sayesha upon Elephant" a swaying journey..!!

Rays Of Sun said...

Waah..re woh bachpan..:)
Cute post:) All I can imagine Sayesha doing is bashing up ladka log:))
Yeah Doordarshan,I remember..and I followed suit with that mehendi ka jhaad..my neighbor aunty had it!!
@Viks,
Lol@Athaishwarastutiprarthnopasna..tere bete ka naam karan ho gaya tha BTW:p
BTW, what will be your childs pet name then??;)

Anonymous said...

Did you forget this one?
Ek Anek

~Whatever!

Rays Of Sun said...

#Whatever

That was awesome..brought back those memories:) Had a great laugh over this:)

Sayesha said...

#Burf,
I'm in Singapore now, serving a bond.

//is india a poor place now?

Errr... why would you say that???

#ABias,
WOW. Thanks for reminding me, will add those to my list. I am 25 and I remember all! :D

#Random,
Sahi bola re tu! ;)

#AMit,
Hehehe... sorry yaar... when the dimaag is full of ideas, they just spill over on to the blog... weekend par I write only one, tab catch up kar lena :P

ps: A 'Growing up in India' list can never be comprehensive, don't you agree? ;)

#Shuuro,
Hehehe! You remember that post? :) Yeah, mute during study hour! :P

#ROS,
Hahaha! PGM it seems! :P

#Ginkgo,
Are you telling me you never had these when you grew up?? Boy, are you deprived or what! :P

#Virdi,
Wow, I did not spend a lot of time in my village, but I used to visit once every coupla years and roam around our mango groves... awesome! :D
ps: Will wait for your 'paan khaaye Virdi hamaare' post! ;)

#Thanu,
I agree. I think growing up is not as fun anywhere in the world as it used to be... Kids here look so stressed all the time... I never remember even knowing what stress was! :O

#Lalit,
// there was a movie going on in my head .. all the memories flashbacked...

Mine too :)

#Ritzkini,
Thanks! :)

#Arun,
Thanks! :)

#L,
//Hey where does this happen in India..??

Would you believe it, the water freezing thing happened in Patna! I spent many many years there, and it only happened in that one year! :O

//Wondering..what made "Sayesha upon Elephant" a swaying journey..!!

Hahaha! Reminded of my ghoda post, are you? C'mon man, I was six! A six-year-old Sayesha can't make an elephant sway! :D

#Viks,
Hahahahahaha! :D

"Athaishwarastutiprarthnopasna Kulkarni"

AWESOME!

Or you could have like five kids and name them Atha, Ishwara, Stuti, Prarthna and Upasna! :D

#ROS,
//tere bete ka naam karan ho gaya tha

Vikram already took it! Ghabra mat, tere bachon ke liye bhi I will dig up such names... school ki purani diary nikalkar dekhna hoga what other mantras we had :P

#Whatever,
//Did you forget this one?

Oh man I did! And I also forgot Swimmy the fish and Pingoo the penguin! :O

#ROS,
Yeah man! A friend sent me the video file of 'Ek Anek' recently, and I felt like I was a kid again as I watched it! :D

Rays Of Sun said...

Good morning, baccha:p

Sayesha said...

Good morning, babes! Rushing to work now (it's almost 7!) catch you later in the day, okie? :)

Avyakt said...

Good old days.
How abt Mowgli and the other Sunday cartoons?

Stealing mangoes from the neighbours in summers...

Falling from the bicycle and not looking forward to the dettol on those wounds...

Prank calls...

Fighting in school...

Throwing snow-balls at strangers in winters...

and many more.

Sayesha said...

#Avyakt,
What a surprise to see you here! I did not know you still read my blog! :)

Haha... Mowgli and that song 'chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai phool khila hai' it seems! I used to wonder what was wrong with Gulzar! :P

Oooh, dettol stung! And then they came up with that other medicine that did not sting like dettol... I forget the name... but parents still insisted on dettol! :P

Snow balls? Lucky you! I threw my first snow ball at a stranger at the age of 24! :|

Ginkgo said...

lolz, smart....trying to turn the attention away frm u to me...wher did I say I never did any:-P

Rays Of Sun said...

Heyyy, who threw snow ball in INDIA?? :O

Anonymous said...

>> I don't want to imagine you in >> your home-made superman
>> costume, but I just did and it >> was HILARIOUS! :D

Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it! :/

Using this 'approach' I found myself able to levitate two feet above the ground and just hover there for about forty seconds. Now I know the cynic in you is proabably thinking - "... but levitating is not 'flying' per-se ...". True, it isn't, but still its something ... lets just say im easily amused ...

Cheers,
Kais

Raj said...

What surprises me the most is that we gawked at the "Agla prasaaran dilli se" sign for 10 mins and then went thru 10 mins of ads in order to watch Chitrahaar. Things a channel can get away with when its the ONLY channel!!

Shruthi said...

Lovely :) Makes me want to make my own list (though I think I can easily copy-paste half of the list from yours ;))

Anu said...

a wonderful list Sayesha..

"Refusing to be Sita 'cos she did not get to carry a bow and arrow"

ha ha... how true. I too had fought with the guys when they make me to act in roles which doesnt involve any fighting :)

Anonymous said...

Am Nostalgic now.

Sarzamine Hindustan – Mein aa raha hoon.

TC

Jay said...

"Drinking Rasna with friends after a hard day of play"

Oh yeah! :D

Pi said...

Sayesha, remember the Hajmola ad? The kid from the ad studies with me in school here.

The Bhandari's said...

:) Nice list Sayesha.... bachpan ke dinn yaad aa gayey

Adi Oso-Groot Finch said...

arre i didnt go anywhere... was always here... from virdi-escapades to reminiscising abt the past to ur promotions and office quips.... just that i dont comment too regularly... but then u should know that.

Sahil said...

Half a bottle of hajmola?!?!

Are you nuts?

No wait, I know the answer to that.

Let me guess - someone challenged you to do it rite?

Avyakt said...

Sayesha,
That was Savlon... didnt do much good to those wounds though..

And did you forget HeMan...

All of us have our memories of those days...

Anonymous said...

The acchi dawai was/is called Savlon - "jo jalta nahi"

But believe me, there are tons of experiments one can do with Savlon. Such as using dispensary strength Savlon (neat) to clean the wounds. And no, you don't need to do it yourself to get the results - the skin burns off! Remedy: totally desi style - washing with neem water (Azadirachta indica A. Juss. leaves boiled in water) - it does help.

And for those nostalgic temp/perma-expats, here some more fodder:
Mile Sur Mera Tumhara
Jana Gana Mana

Disclaimer: Follow the instructions on the medicine bottle carefully. Most of the disinfectants (Dettol, Savlon, etc.) are not supposed to be used as-is ... they are meant to be heavily diluted with water

BP said...

Hey was this burst of nostalgia inspired by the website links?

Can't say I can relate to 'em since we were on different continents... but I do remember catching a few episodes of Ramayana on tv. ;)

R said...

hey.... half a bottle of hajmola? duh... didn't it give you loosies?

Sayesha said...

#Gingko,
So why would you assume I was making anything up?

#ROS,
Oye north India bolke bhi kuch hota hai dhakkan! :P

#Kais,
Is it odd that I am extremely disturbed and amused at the same time? :O

#Raj,
Hahahaha! So true! And remember 'Rukaawat ke liye khed hai'?? Hahahahaha! :D

#Shruthi,
I think a lot of my list is common to a lot of pple who grew up in India :)

#Anurama,
Hehehe :P

#HoliDevil,
Wow, cool man! Lucky dude going home! :)

#Jay,
Remember "I love you, Rasna"?? :)

#American Pie,
Wow, is he hot? ;)

#Preeti & Sachin,
Thanks :)

#Vikram,
Oh man I hated that ad! That was nonsense! :D

#Raven,
Kabhi kabhi 'hello hi' bol diya karo yaar... pata toh chale you're still around! :)

#Sahil,
Err.. no! Sayesha needs no challenge to gulp down hajmola! Or panipuri! :P

#Avyakt,
Oh yeah Savlon! :)

#Whatever,
Oh yeah 'Miley sur mera tumhara'! I knew all the lyrics (in all the different languages) by heart!! I think on some levels, I still do... hmm...

#Banana,
Spot on, babe! ;)

For the curious, Banana forwarded me two links about 'Hinglish' yesterday that she found rather interesting. And I was swept in nostalgia. Thanks for inspiring this post, Banana! :)

#Rohit,
Hahahaha! No! Practice I guess! :D Besides, I only had a quarter. Remember I was sharing it with my cousin? :)

oxymoron said...

nostalgia!
sayesha, wat did ya do?
now i'm all home sick! :(
mujhe ghar jaana hai
uawaaaaaa *sob* *sob* uawaaaaaa

Neha said...

huge list... it brought back so many memories n a big smile on my face :)

very nice post..

Manish Kumar said...

cute little things.....
grt post!

Adi Oso-Groot Finch said...

oye sayesha... which part of india did u grow up in... the story of ur childhood seems so familiar that changing a few names and actions here n there it could just as well be mine :) ... including water freezing in pipes n then ma heating huge 'pateelas' filled with water on on the gas to ensure we got a bath :(

~ab se every post gets a 'Hi' ... or atleast every other post :D

R said...

ooooh yes.. even then...

Pi said...

sayesha, he is married. But he is a completely bindaas guy. great fun to have around. He acted in a bunch of ad films when we were young - also acted in a couple of minor movies, and has good connections to some people in Bollywood. The next time I am going to Bombay, I told him - I am going to hang out with him... :)

Eclectic Blogger said...

I am going to print your blog page and just see how many pages it runs in to :)

Anonymous said...

Heyyyyyy Sash! It was a long, restless week with no internet. The tech took forever to come fix it. Got a lot of catching up to do!

Oh, I got so nostalgic reading this post..
Could identify with so many of the points...and so many others come to mind. Very sweet memories.

PS: If I am remembering right, I used to love the Udaan title song. But can't remember the tune!! :-(
Oh, and I used to love watching Kile ka Rehesya, hahah.

Sayesha said...

#Oxy,
Wait up, I'm coming too!
ps: Wait, I don't have money to fly home.
pps: Wait, I have only two days of leave left.
ppps: Ok, you go.

#Neha,
Thanks! :)

#Manish,
Thanks! :)

#Raven,
I grew up in a lot of places, but many of the things in my list happened in Patna and cities in present day Jharkhand. The frozen water thing happened in Patna. :)

//~ab se every post gets a 'Hi' ... or atleast every other post :D

Hehehehe! :P Dekh ab toh WV bhi hata diya (I know you hated it!) :)

#Rohit,
Warning: This stunt was performed by professionals. Don't try it at home! ;)

#American Pie,
//sayesha, he is married.

Ya allah! Iske baad aur kuch kehne ki kya zaroorat thi? ;)

#Eclectic Blogger,
Arre yaar, don't waste paper. Just copy-paste on a word doc and see, it's only 2.5 pages! ;)

#Harshi,
Heyyyyyyyyy!! And I was wondering yeh ladki kahan gaayab ho gayi, email ka jawaab bhi nahin diya! Welcome back to the net! :)
ps: My sis used to LOVE Udaan! I was too scared to watch Kile ka rahasya! :P

Young Master said...

who is the aam waali with the big tokris?

Deepa said...

Reminds of the days when ,i used to play hide and seek with my neighbours ,when there is a power cut....
Lol
I remember they way my friends used to help me hide ,under the linttle (literly stuffing me into that small place),and say "man u really can't hide deepa". lol
The Lagori days ....where my team used to always end up losin' b'coz of me...(coz it was something like "Target cannot be missed")
The Street cricket ...day when i'd never agree with the guyz that i am out...boy!!!!! (i used to run away with the bat ...)
The Football game during the rainy days !! the best part of this is that ,the goal post ,was the grabbage can ....
Those were the day of my life....

Sayesha said...

#Ro,
You know what disturbs me? You rarely comment on my blog, and if you do, there's always some innuendo.

Sayesha's not happy. :(

#Deepa,
//when i'd never agree with the guyz that i am out

HAHA! I can SO identify with that! :D
I even used to demand immunity cos I was the only girl in the game! ;)

Ravi Handa said...

isnt all this a bit cliched?

Ravi Handa said...

and we do need some new ones.....

Bonatellis said...

awwww ... this is really really nostalgic :)

ritzkini said...

:)
phir se padha..aur phir se senti kar diya..
DAMN,LADY !!
:)

Sayesha said...

#Handa,
Aha, the cynic returns to Sayeshaz! Welcome back, buddy! :)

//isnt all this a bit cliched?

Perhaps. But that's the way it is. Take it or leave it :)

//and we do need some new ones.....

I suppose my bachpan was a cliched one. Why don't you provide the new ones? :)

#Bonatellis,
Sigh, the good old days... I was thinking about what I had written in this post on the way to work this morning, and I closed my eyes, and suddenly I was back in the streets holding the plastic wala cricket bat! :P

#Ritzkini,
Hmmm... one song for you -- Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hain jo mukam, woh phir nahin aate... :)

Deepa said...

Yup same here !!I'd just make this puppy dog face ...and they'd say "Fine u r not out".
When i'd tried repeting it more than once ,i was literly being parceled home....

Anonymous said...

and Vikram aur Vetaal? " main tere bas mein aane vaala nahin hoon!" =)

Anonymous said...

oops! galti se mistake...forgot to add in mah name and went ahead n clicked the button...sorry

Sayesha said...

#Deepa,
Haha! Been there done that. After they'd had enough of the puppy dog face, they'd just say, "Oye Sayesha. Nautanki band kar. Khelna hai ki nahin bol! Khelna hai, toh ja fielding kar, 'cos you're out! Warna ja ke ladkiyon ke saath gudiya gudiya khel!"

#Anon,
Oh man! Vikram aur Vetaal!! Do you remember the horrendous amount of orange lipstick they used to put on that vetaal guy??!! :D

Pujya said...

i use to do the same ..trace my feet on paper..wow..even u did..cool.
and i use ride buffalo. hi hi
and u know what we use to have 2 groups and we use to have a war sort of thingy with mud balls,

ah..memories
what fun..where is the fun part gone now :(

PuNeEt said...

wow dear
u almost covered all...

some old memories flashed back
thanks so much dear

beautiful post

Sayesha said...

#Anirban,
Great going! :)

#Aethyr,
Mud balls? Buffalos? Wow, happening bachpan eh? ;)

#Anirban,
Haven't lived in Ranchi, but visited it for an inter-school art competition once. Loved the ride uphill! :)

#Puneet,
Thanks! :)

#Jigal,
Yes, I've done the garba. Years and years ago, at some new year function thingie. :)

Anonymous said...

yeah! hehe...and the title song 'vikram aur vetaal'...still can hear it =)

Anonymous said...

there was the other title song of some serial with ashok kumar(not the chhan pakayya one)...
the one where he is an emperor. The title song was nice -
na kisi ki aankh ka noor hoon
na kisi ke dil ka qaraar hoon
joh kisi ke kaam na aa sake
main woh ek mushq-e-gubaar hoon(sounded like that ;P)
...sung by mahendra kapoor

Sayesha said...

#Croondoodle,
Yikes now I can't get the Vikram aur Vetaal song outta my head! :O

ps: Can't place the Ashok Kumar serial.

Anonymous said...

=P oops!...sorry...its still playing in my head! =(

Anonymous said...

What a post! I remembered my Patna days. However, early on in my childhood I moved to Mumbai and the world there was 180 degrees different. No bhoot banglas... only jhopadis. No fauji games with teer-dhanush. Only plastic machine guns. No patangs with huge latais (reel). Only small firkees :)

I remember wearing coats/jackets to St. Karen's Patna, but didnt even need a sweater in Mumbai.

I think the experience of growing up in India is also as diverse as the country.

Lovely to read your post.

Btw, I stumbled upon your blog via Ankur Warikoo's blog.

Sayesha said...

#Croondoodle,
It's out of mine. Yeay! :D

#Yash,
Hey hey! Welcome to Sayeshaz! Thanks for dropping by, and thanks to Ankur for sending you here! :)

Irrespective of the bad reputation that Patna has, I don't think I can ever forget the Patna days of my life. The city where I learnt hindi, the city that showed me my first real winter, the city that... sigh... too many things.

I think I am gonna write a post on Patna/Bihar some day! :)

Anonymous said...

Roaming around with a handmade bamboo bow and arrow after watching the mega-serial Ramayana on Sunday mornings
and
Cycling back home with friends after school

absolutely nostalgic ...
there are a few of mine as well

waiting for dad to come home and then trying to get into his godi,

competing with cousin for the fact whom does grandma love more

throwing gubbaras at people during holi and then hiding fast

playing cricket in front of our house and uprooting the neighbour aunts plants (when chori chupke we will reach her garden to pick up the ball)

taking out the dirty ball when it landed up in nearby nullah

standing near the school bus after school to take a look at all beautiful faces

finishing along with cousin bro all the thums up that dad had got in one day and then blaming him

harsh chirania said...

hey sayesha
Am also frm chaibasa..nd frm DAV... i guess u also studied dere only..
i have read all of ur blogs and i m getting addicted to dem . i mean i can read em again n again n even more no of times. i wanna talk to u. ma phone noz +919928567890 or +919352542027.. Plz take it seriously and dun take i as another attempt to hit on u..
ohk bye sayesha
harsh chirania
P.S. Chaibasaz not dat small.. ok.. it has got a population of 1.5 lakhs now

harsh chirania said...

hey i 4got to ask u .. wat is ur email id.?? mine is harsh_chirania@yahoo.co.in

and ya .. r u the same gal abou whom Mr. T.P. Pati (princiapl of DAV chaibasa) keeps taklin about???

Anonymous said...

hii , i m deepak, i am too from cbsa(dav)can i know ur batch ???

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

whoa.. we used to take the pledge before the first period in school after the prayers.. It went something like "India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage...."