Friday 6 March 2015

वो कटरा मोहर सिंह दियां गलियां !

I was born and have spent the first five years of my life in Amritsar-walled citie's fragrance of papad wadiyan still haunt me. Still remember my bauji's (Dadaji's) shop (Panditaan di Hatti) and Golden Temple was just half a kilometer away. Remember those covered entrances and bargad trees with pyaoons and small domes towards the way. Some open grounds-my cousin then 18 years old used to play volley ball there, old taxi stands and narrow lanes. Now that house doesn't exist and heard some commercial complex has been raised there. I still have moist eyes writing this.
Our taya ji used to live on the other side of gali and dadi used to make halwa. Groceries used to be shared tying a gathri to a pole and slid from higher to lower window across the lane. From a window at the end of a small bylane a sikh uncle used to have an green office and he always used to wave at me. I am really thirsty having those days back in my life.I recall that in nursery I used to snatch away other student’s lunches in Arun Rashmi school-classrooms bunched around a small courtyard. My brother(2 year kid) went to a stationer and for eraser and the shopkeeper gave it for free. Bua’s house-chunnis used to be colored and dried in the afternoon sun.
Me, Anuj(my brother), my cousins used to take cat’s kittens to the terrace and give them milk. Mom cat used to search for them and I used to point to the cat the kitten’s direction-she actually could follow the direction of the finger-amazing. Once a cow hit me on the back and I fell in the drain.
Once thrashed by my grandfather for disturbing in the shop. And an old aluminum attache gifted by my father and used to go to school-used to make noise by it on the walls while climbing a compact staircase with more of winders. Before my grandfather died-he said he could hear that noise and Manuj must be coming. But that time we were in Faridabad.

Manuj D Sharma

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