The last month was filled with catching up and bumping into faces and people from the days of yore when we lived in the famous steel city – Jamshedpur. Its a little over 12 years since we moved to Pune and almost the same time since I visited the place where I grew up. Jamshedpur seems to always bring wonderful memories of my childhood. I could perhaps write volumes and volumes on my memories of this little town with about an 8 to 10 km radius. Some of the things that come to my mind right away are:
- My school: the fun filled rides to school in our school van/autorickshaws, the silly fights, the school “dosa-wala”, our sports days, school elections, feast days, prize nights and what have you;
- The Colony: the fun-filled games of catch, hide 'n' seek, cricket and football with the kids in the neighbourhood
- UC: The club with its library, movies, melas(fairs), basketball matches and swimming pool and meeting our friends there
- Outings and drives: Jubilee park, dimna lake, our drives to the wayside dhabas, visits to the neighbouring mining townships and the other nearby places with lots of close friends living there, our annual trips to the dilma hills and lots of smaller picnics in the outskirts of the town.
- Holi, Pujo, Diwali, Christmas, New Year and lots of other celebrations: Filled with fun, food and laughter. All the bespectacled, short haired aunties trying to discipline us unruly kids. A bunch of us who were the “senior kids” would shut the door of our room and read the “banned” novels, watch the so called “A” movies like Pretty Woman (give me a break for heavens sake), talk about the boy next door and our silly notions of romance; and generally do everything that would annoy our mothers and irk our siblings(for not being able to participate).
Those were a fun 16 years and as I gradually start reestablishing old ties and remember those days; the seclusion and the niche lifestyle of the place strikes me hard. Its a world by itself and a world I continue to love and cherish. With more than a decade gone by, I do long to go back and see the people, my school and everything that is so familiar, as familiar as yesterday.
