It's been 5 days since returned from bundi..my hometown....and the feeling just hasnt sunk in. I refuse to believe that i am back here and have to make decisions that will; in some manner or the other; shape my career. I'm missing the huge Chaubara, where i once used to fight for the spot right in front of the cooler; the humongous Darikhana, where the sounds of the plastic ball bouncing all day, can still be heard. The Paranda(place where matkas are kept), where i once slammed the brass lutiya straight into Bhuvan's (my uncle 2 yrs elder to me) forehead. The terrace still beckons me, for i used to play there for hours the only breaks being for lunch and tea..literally(well test cricket u see). As i think of it now...we really were freaks..saurabh bhaiya and me.....little 10-12 year olds playing bare feet in the searing heat of the summers in temperatures that once got to 50 degrees(Its true..its true). And then all the flak followed as i fell ill(was bound to happen..playing in high temperatures) Still cant figure out why it was always me of all the kids who fell to the viral trap of the Loo(the wind).
Another major YAAD of the town is its small li'l Galiyaan...full of trash . Where to get ahead u need to get every single human out of the way.(:P) And when u honk the horn at sumone instead of giving u the desired side..the person will turn around and look at u in dismay , probably saying..'who me??....u want me to get out of way??..really???"...well thats a sight in itself mind u...and adds to the various heritage sights the town has got.
This time me, saurabh bhaiya(my bua's son, my idol) sneha(his sister) and iti, were back again after what....7 long years. We had five full days(duznt seem much but we've grown up u see)....no more garmi ki chhuttiyaan stuff. It was a sense of deja-vu....remembering the good old days.
Saurabh bhaiya reminisced of our last holiday 7 yrs ago..of how the local league preponed its final so that both of us cud play in it. after all the side had reached the finals just coz of US. And how pathetically funny it was that two of us..in our mid teens...were bowling in the finals sharing a pair of slippers!!(he used it while bowling as i stood at slip and vice versa)..fact was we had a train to catch at 1730 and it was 1600 already...so we just bowled our speell and went off.If that wasnt enough try thinking two young lads playing on the terrace full blooded 30 overs one day internationals....(each one represented a team....full 30 overs and 11 men)..whats more we even imitated the styles of cricketers we were portraying....like the high backlft of aamir sohail or the clasped hands of javagal srinath.....havnt seen such cricket crazy kids in the current generations.
Then there was the Mishri mawa......we used to love it...it is a sweet u wud be familiar with if u belong to some rural folklore. Its made up of milk and is like fresh milk cake..white in colour. In old times it was a must for us daily...whatever money we got 25 p or 50 p( dont be too surprised we got enuf of it in that amount for both of us to suffice). Everytime i pass by a sweet shop in bundi it reminds me of those days.
This time there was a difference though. Bhaiya wasnt available after 11 in the night and before 8 in the morning. Reason??? anyone??? coz this time bhabhi was around. On her first trip of Bundi. Bhaiya got married this year in february....that i did not get to attend his marriage is one of my life's biggest tragedies...that amounts to another post though. So this was an uncanny feeling but i had grown up too...so dint hurt much.
then there is NUNU..my cousin(sneha)...we share the chemistries of all the laboratories of the world combined...she's a sweetheart and i love her so soo much.....this time we chatted to the fullest.....from whatever time we started to whatever time we slept in night..we were together...all the time...oh i so miss her.
Then there is the omnipresecnt Motusingh(iti)...she is always there..smiling...frowning..taunting...loving...understanding....caring..what not doing....she's my kid. no more adjectives please..i m her brother afterall.
this time though the cricket dint happen daily...though we managed to play on one of the evenings..it was bhai dooj and sonu and sintu had also arrived from kota(these two are also my father's cousins..my uncles and childhood friends).....all 4 of us played and loved it..it wasnt fancy 30 over games..just 3 sets of 3 overs a man...but the satisfaction was gigantic.
More so because i won 2 out of the 3 sets....got all them out at least once..there wer trademark drives from sintu...some frustrated heaves from sonu.....typical eye soothing defence and attack from bhaiya....and flair and power as usual from urs truly.
i even got 3-4 dismissals caught behind or in the slip cordon...Majaa aa gaya!!!
But as all good things must come to an end..diwali ended....with that ended 7 days of vacations that bhaiya and bhabhi had eked out.....Pa had to report back to work...so we parted. Bua and family left for ahmedabad and we for jaipur the same day.
Back in jaipur it was back to the usual questions..how to go about for CAT??? 15 days left.....To join or not to join INFOSYS? 24 nov beckons......what to do what not to? other exams..interview centres...ACCENTURE....alternative carrers..and what not....
When I left bundi..it hurt..not that it duznt at other times..but this time it was different...and it hurt more...cuz nobody cried...afterall We had grown up.
