Bits and Pieces

It's strange how bits and pieces of incidents stick to our memory and remain with us throughout our life. I guess whatever we found peculiar or affected us most at that time, remains with us.

For instance, I still remember the following instances:

1) When I used to follow my sister Prerna in sweltering afternoons to raid fruit-laden trees and eat our "prized catch of the day" on the terrace...
2) While learning how to cycle at the age of 8, I fell down almost every day for 1 week and cried for almost an hour, but later on always thanked the experience...
3) The amazement when I first saw the bud (and after opening found a very attractive looking appendage) on wild cactus plant at the age of almost 6
4) The first time when we went with our cousins to the bank of Yamuna River in Delhi and tried to steal a water-melon from the field on the bank, and in the process left my slipper there.
5) The first time in Haridwar, where I took my first holy dip in the cold water of river Ganges and also when I left the "lit diya"on a leaf and left it in water...
6) My sister and I used to eat "äloo-chat" and other snacks, while walking back from school in Kolkata...
7) The time when a cow gave birth to a calf right behind our school in Delhi
And all of us were witness to that amazing phenomenon...
8) The time in college in Mumbai, when a road-side astrologer told me my future in writing and most of the things did come out to be true...
9) When in biology practical classes, we dissected frogs and chameleon and cockroaches and managed to locate their nervous system...
10) When in hot weather, we used to sleep on the cool terrace, under the clear skies in Delhi...
11) When we should go to the vegetable market with our mother, so that we could eat the tasty "chat “near the vegetable market...
12) When I would love to drop and receive our guests at the railway station, so that I could buy Hindi novels, which are available only on the railway station book stores...
13) when our entire 10th standard class went to see Aamir Khan's first movie "Quamat se Quamat Tak" and spoke about it for month's afterwards..
14) When I would read my mother's women's magazines and novels (back-to-back) at the age of 12, without her knowledge...
15) When I went for mountain biking in Simla and narrowly escaped being flung in the valley...

The list is endless, but the memories are still there and refuse to go away...