My Wonder Years...

Found this at Silverine's Place...A wonderful tag...

The Wonder Years Tag

1. Write 8-10 things about childhood ( 1-12 years) that you miss.
2. Write 8-10 things that you disliked about childhood.
3. Tag a few people.

The person you turn out to be in your life is almost entirely shaped by what you experienced as a child...
I believe that in every sense of the word.

People often tell me I am crazy, rebellious and pretty arrogant. I was exactly the opposite as a child.
I guess I decided I was too damn nice and changed for the better or worse.

Moving right along!
(I would have liked some blues music to play...since I got no blues rock (read Clapton), I would have to make do with Led Zeppelin)

I miss...

1. My grandmother. She is an iconic figure for me. She was the person who instilled confidence in me which I carry to this day. I guess she will feature in other points too. :-)

2. Sitting on front of my Father's old Jawa bike. Going for rides or simply playing bike. Still remember vividly me, all of 3 years, getting scared after seeing a Kariyilavesham during Onam time in one of our trips to my Father's home in that bike.
I loved that bike...
It had a gleaming black color. There is a photo of that bike in the early seventies with my Dad on it. It was colored Green, Red, blue and black!
There was a sidebag on it and had a big noise. I could hear my Dad coming from a mile away and used to run to receive him. He used to open that sidebag and take out some goody for me with a smile.
It was eventually sold for 1000 rupees! Such a shame... :-(

3. I miss the paintings in my Kindergarden. There used to be large paintings pertaining to Hindu Mythology on the walls of my KG (There were pictures of Mahaveera, Buddha and Christ as well. One each.) These paintings were in the adjacent class. Mine used to be a small, drab room. I used to go there and stare at those pictures forever.
Picture of Bheeshma in Sharashaya, Yasoda going to spank a hands tied Krishna with Balarama peeking behind a curtain, several ways of worshipping Krishna, an image of various power chakras in the body...there were so many of them... We had an afternoon nap time those days. I used to lie there imagining my own stories based on those pictures. (when I was not playing with kids. We never slept during nap time and never let others too :-)) )

4. The kids serials in Doordarshan...
Giant Robot, Stone Boy, a serial about robots and its maker, Street Hawk, Knight Rider, Duck Tales, Talespin, Daanu aka Denver
(I still feel blue thinking about the Daanu song,
"Daanu iska chotaa naam
Poorn naam daanasur
...Chipkali ke naana hain")

5. I miss my old room in our old house...me, Father and Mother...a wide bench attached for me to sleep. It was a small room. But I never felt cramped there. Loved waking up seeing the light streaming in the window through a Sheemaplaavu opposite to our house.
I had my own office too. Wedged between a big cupboard and an ancient but very cool big table. A pint sized mahogany colored wooden chair and a small green wooden table. My Grandmother bought that chair for me...

6. I miss playing cricket with my cousin. I still play the game ofcourse...but this was different...Only two of us playing. We used to play by picking two teams. Like Australia and New Zealand. (New Zealand lost today...waaah! :-(( ) That is, we roleplayed all the players...a full blooded 11 on 11 game! We played both forms of the game and we played all players correctly as well. Batted with hands...bowled with both arms...
I used to device new things to keep things interesting...Like Lefthand bowlers XI or Spinners XI...
Today I can bowl and bat quite decently with my weaker (left) hand due to that.
We didn't know many players of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. So we made up names... 3 De Silvas, 3 Warnaveeras etc.
There used to be a small flowering tree and a wall to obstruct the hit balls. We considered them as fielders and named them Pushpakumara and Mathilanda Warnaweera respectively. :-))

(Playing Syd Barrett now...)

7. We used to play SAT until we were quite old (15 may be)...our haunt was my cousins home...lot of hiding places in a small area...We played SAT on afternoons after a morning session of cricket...It was quite popular as my younger cousins got a chance to play too. Once in a hot afternoon someone got a 100 count. Me and a friend promptly went to the shope nearby had a sip up and came back while others scrambled on to hiding places... :-D

8. I have had a constant supply fo books since I was able to see! First ones used to be Russian books in Malayalam.
I loved a red hard bound book especially...several stories were there in it...characters used to be Kittens, Ducks, Puppies, Frog, Rabbit, Porcupine, Wolf, Fox, Snow Man etc...
I still have that book in a tattered state...
"Oridathu moonu poochakuttikal undaayirunnu...
Onnu vella, onnu karuppu, onnu charaniram"
Another one was Achante Balyam (My Dad's Childhood) which my mother convinced me, it was the story of my own Dad!
Though I was suspicious (the boy in the book had glasses and my Dad didn't), still the naive me believed. :-P

9. During the Jungle Book era in Doordarshan, we had our own Jungle Book at school. During the Lunch Break! We played running around and thinking up all sorts of nonsense...Weird thing was, almost all the boys played and the roles were always static! I used to be Akru, the sidekick of Mowgli. I really miss that. We used to be pretty damn serious about it. The fights used to very intense and real!(and painful I might add!)

10. I miss living with my Grandmother, parents and aunts...with a perpetually never ending list of guests throughout the year...The house was a small one...But it was so fun! Whats more...our relatives were nearby and it was a joly time.
Privacy? I didn't happen to care...but now...a small personal visit can really upset my comfort zone or privacy...atleast for a short while of time...

11. I miss being hand fed by my mother and aunts...it was so good. I used to read a Balarama while someone fed me. Miss sitting on someone's lap. There used to be fixed positions for my mother and aunts while we watched TV. I used to switch between them. I used to hang around my Father's neck and talk to him whenever I wanted to get something from him! :-D

12. I used to run around naked after school for atleast 1 hour after school! :-D Irritating my aunts, my Grandma and my baby cousin. This charade lasted till I was 8-9...

I could ramble on and on about this...but the post is already getting very very long...

(Loading Coldplay on the playlist)

I didnt like...
Frankly speaking, its tough to find out...
1. I hated people teasing me about my stammer. But I never did react strongly and may be thats why those instances have been few and far between.

2. Tears welled up my eyes when I was late somewhere...No one scolded me...still I used to cry ( no one else saw ofcourse! :-D)

3. Hated people telling me I was too small to do something. During Diwali, my Mother would tell you are too young for those crackers ( not heavy duty stuff...very very mild explosives mind you!) Things turned around later...she used to say you are too big for that now! :-))

4. Whenever I got into a scuffle I was at the receiving end...either at the hands of the other guy or from teachers or put into great shame. Hated the frequent chances of fights.

5. I didn't like my name...I thought it was too old fashioned and not very good. Infact I didn't like my pet name either! I felt it was too sissy!
Now I like them both. My real name is quite unique in this part of India, in my generation and couple it with my initials...viola! Instant Karma!

6. I didn't like milk. Used to be forcefed.

7. Never liked vegetables...Don't eat much even now...

8. I didn't like being weak...I used to be a very thin boy (Now don't faint!) and was as powerful as a eerkili.

This was so good to do...feels really happy now...Was feeling a bit bluesy after office today
A true Return to innocence...
Special Thanks to Silverine for introducing this tag.

Tag a few people

I think everyone should do it. Good for your health! Guaranteed! :-P