Childhood Re-lived!

It was a bright and sunny morning; as I tossed and turned in the bed shaking off my sleep, I could sense the overwhelming feeling of nervousness in the pit of my stomach.

In a few hours I would be meeting the erstwhile neighbors I grew up with- these are the people who are all older than me and who once lived in the same street as us(me and my family). Being the youngest, I remember being their object of mockery most times. That is not what made me nervous, what made me really nervous was that they still hold the memory of me in frocks and a running nose! God, how am I going to erase that notoriety of my past self, I wondered aghast! While some of them are polite enough to let that memory blur into the background, others are not so kind, even now when a chat window pops up from one of them, they never fail to recall my “Oh So Famous” nose.

Fighting the uneasiness, I walked up to the bathroom, giving myself the much needed assurance that people would not bring that up when they meet in person. High hopes I had!

I am not a big fan of “keeping in touch” except for a few “Hi”s and ” Hru”s in google chats and clicking on likes in FB posts and pictures. So it should come as a big surprise to be told that it was me who arranged for one such meetup. During one of my many “enlightening” moments, I decided to summon everyone of my neighbors I grew up with for a get together, come what may. Its because I was curious as to how they were, what they were doing, how have they grown up – you see Facebook updates can tell only so much- but more than anything else I wanted to get back in touch with those people I had always looked up to as a child.

And so it happened, on 21st Dec 2014 we met! It was like the clock has been set back, not just because we were constantly recalling those earlier days, but because at the very first sight we could make out the resemblance each of us had to the younger versions of our parents, whose faces are well etched in our memories as uncles and aunties. Of course this was expected, social networking sites made sure we knew how each other looked; nevertheless it was nice to witness the striking similarity in real.

My apprehensiveness flew out of the window in no time. It took hardly any time for us to get comfortable with each other. Of course my “running nose” was mentioned many a times, still it did nothing to dampen my spirits. Meeting them with their ever friendly spouses and re-living the “once upon a time” moments was all it took for my spirits to skyrocket and remain at its peak throughout.

A lunch and a coffee later, it was decided that we extend the togetherness by another day, much to my own bewilderment! Yes we did have a lot of fun, pulled each others leg a lot (mine the most though) and laughed until our stomachs hurt. But a night out and the next day of extended fun was something that was least expected, yet the moments of which are most cherished! When it was finally time to leave, with a heavy heart I bade goodbye, taking back with me treasured memories of rekindled friendships.

Now I am back to my routine crunching and munching data after data, the after effects of those two wonderful days being at its best making me smile every time a memory pops up.

The effects would soon wane, but the memories made would remain engraved in my mind forever.

Taking a day off on an impulse was not a bad idea after all!