Down the memory lane...

It's 5:30 in the evening and I am wondering what I should be doing right now. I stand at the window of my room upstairs and have a glimpse outside but not a single soul do I see in the vicinity of the chapel that once used to be so full of life with little ones having the time of their lives, not knowing how each passing day would change to what it is right now.

I recall my childhood days and how we would be overjoyed and eager for the summer vacation to start. Being so lazy during school days and making a fuss to wake up early for school, we would show our parents a completely different side of ourselves by waking up before anybody else in the house during the vacation. This was not done for any other reasons but just so that we could get some extra time to play outdoors. And yes, it was not just us but every child who I knew at that time, was like this.

As for me and my sister, we would wait at our doorstep for our friends early in the morning to arrive even before we could have our breakfast. Also not forgetting the huge piece of land under the tall banyan tree that stood in front of my house which was a waste and yet our playground that saw more children playing over it than any other place in my neighborhood.

Hide and seek, ring, badminton, cricket were just a few of the games we played. There were more games that we invented and didn't bother to name. Going on guava and raw mango hunt was an adventure, being scolded by old aunties of the neighborhood was indeed fun while parents nagging us for all the things we used to do always bring a sense of nostalgia into my heart. I still remember collecting 5 rupees so that we could go to the nearby shop and buy ice candy. That was a treat to us by ourselves. Building a tent in front of the house and spending an evening in there having a tea party was better than a vacation away from home.

Either the chapel area or under the banyan tree, we would spend hours playing, not feeling a bit of tiredness, running, cycling, going on little adventures in the nearby fields, climbing trees, swinging on branches, falling down several times and not bothering about our skinned knees. We had no time to think about anything as we were never idle.

 I could go on talking about all the things that made my childhood so memorable and fun, at the same time I feel miserable for the kids nowadays who spend most of the time of their vacation inside their houses and probably on their cellphones. Times have surely changed but have they changed so much that the kids don't deserve a childhood full of playful memories and little adventures that they can cherish forever like us?

I'm thankful to God I wasn't born in the era of smartphones and wish for time to reverse back to the point where kids act like kids and stop being so addicted to smartphones at a tender age. There is so much in life than a smartphone and trust me, no one gets another chance to do things they should have done once time passes.

So here I am, still lost in the nostalgic memory lane, hoping that every person has a childhood that they can proudly recall as the time of their life!