ChildHood

Ritesh:

I spent all of my childhood in Panipat. While I am writing this, old memories are being refreshed in my mind. In fact, I clearly remember the day when I got my first bicycle. I even remember my first tennis racquet. I remember when I hit my first six (believe me, it was a huge one) , the days when I used to go jogging at 5 am, and bring back fresh flowers.

School days were real fun. I was sent to the nursery school before I even celebrated my 3rd birthday! I have some faint recollection that my first year was a bit tough. But after that, it came very naturally to me. I remember I came 9th in my exam in nursery, but then, came first in LKG (Lower Kindergarten) :-) From then on, I was always in the top 3. I remember being pampered a lot in school.

I used to take part in all of the debates and declamation contests and have won a lot of prizes. At the same time, I used to play badminton a lot. My dad was my coach. We had a badminton court in our backyard and I used to practice daily. My dad was very particular about physical fitness and he won't let me go to school till I had finished my morning jog. I really thank him for inducing this habit in me and I am continuing it till date. I represented my school and my district at the State level Badminton competitions thrice.

I remember the day when I first played tennis and just fell in love with the game. I was in the VII standard and it had rained heavily that day. We used to play football (soccer) in our games period, but couldn't do it that day because the whole field was full of water. One of my friends had brought a couple of tennis racquets and a ball and luckily, there wasn't much water on the tennis court. So, we just started hitting the ball around. That was the day and today, I am still playing tennis regularly. I even played at a couple of open tournaments.

I was very good at music. I started learning Harmonium when I was in the III standard. I used to play the National Anthem and other prayers in the school assembly every morning. I even used to teach the sargams to my classmates. I had a small stint with painting also. I remember the day when I finished my one and only painting and I believe it is still there on the walls of our living room in Panipat. :-)

Oh, how could I forget to mention about a few poems that I had written. One of them even got published in the MASD Times, our school's monthly newsletter. I got this fever of writing poems when I was in the VIII standard, but unfortunately, couldn't continue. I used to write articles for MASD times though. Most of them related to science and astronomy, but I remember one article "Women" which created a havoc in school. None of my lady teachers and my lady friends talked to me for a full day!! Actually, I had written that article in frustration, but that is a long story.

I can go on and on writing about my childhood. Well, I can't help it, it was so eventful. But, I think I will leave the rest for some other day.

Jinie:

My parents already had two sons and they wanted a girl as a third child. So they went to several holy places offering their prayers to be blessed with a baby girl. And there I was! :-)

I spent my first 8 years at Agra. I have very vague memories of those days. I just remember that my brothers were very jealous of me as every time my parents used to take me out and leave them at home. They used to bribe me a lot to get their work done. Believe me, I was rich. :-).

Then we moved to Varanasi. I remember that during summer vacations, my mom would send me for some extra-curricular activities and that's when I learnt painting, making soft toys, dance, etc. I was a complete mommy's child. I never used to stay anywhere without her. But, when I was in VIII class, my parents sent me to a boarding school. The first year was terrible as I felt extremely homesick. To my surprise, it then came all naturally to me. I loved my hostel life. I made a lot of friends there and we used to do everything like studying, playing mischief, doing masti, etc together.

On the whole, my childhood days were full of fun and excitement.