Most of our childhood memories fade away with time, as we
grow up. But some stay with us till the end of our lives. Most of us would
agree that we did a lot of embarrassing things as kids, things that we find
embarrassing now, but were confident about it then. I have some memories from
my childhood that clearly show how eccentric I was as a child. Once I was found
running in middle the of a road in Mumbai, with a bus not far behind me, and people
running after me to stop me. The other time, I got lost in a crowded carnival
in Nepal. When spotted and picked up by our driver there, I tried to beat him
up with my little hands, thinking he was abducting me for money. Another
incident from my Nepal trip, that I remember distinctly, is that I roamed
around a market place in Kathmandu, holding hand of a random lady, thinking I
am holding my Mom.
How I wish I could voluntarily erase some of the memories of
my outlandish activities.
We used to have fancy-dress competitions in our school, in
which kids dressed up, or rather attempted to dress up, as famous personalities
or known figures (though they ended up looking like weird objects most of the
time) and displayed themselves on the stage, spoke a few lines about what they were.
Needless to say, I participated actively in those competitions. My mom once
dressed me up as Goddess Durga. My puny body was draped in 5 foot long bright
red saree, and accessorized with jewellery cut out of paper, and an eye was
drawn vertically on my forehead, known as the third eye of Durga. When I
reached school, looking as weird as that, and saw many parents looking at me, I felt an air of envy. My mother taught me a few lines
about the Goddess, that I must speak on stage, with a serious tone. Everything
was good and almost normal, until it was my turn to go to the stage. I
pompously walked over, displayed myself. And then, out of exhilaration, instead
of speaking about Durga, I sang “twinkle twinkle little star”. Yes, I did that.
And I had not realized that I had done that till I got out of the stage. I will
not write anything about what happened after that. But did I continue to
participate enthusiastically in competitions after that day ? You bet!
