Weekly Photo Challenge: Nostalgic | My Cycle and Me

This week’s “Weekly Photo Challenge” encouraged me to go back in time and see a flashback of my life till now. It feels just yesterday when i used to go to school, enjoy vacations and play with my friends. Time actually flies very very fast. It feels so good to have a look at the old photographs. Its only sweet memories which we are left with, to ponder, recollect and enjoy the old times.

I recalled my first school. I recollected how we friends used to go walking holding the hands of Aaya. I still remember the green abacus kept in a corner of my school which had intrigued me a lot. Reciting poems in class, doing homework, participating in games and fancy dress competitions (I had got first prize for being Indira Gandhi :)). I can see a video recording of all these events as if it is being played in front of my eyes !

Then we got shifted to the colony, so that i could have more friends. My life changed ! I made so many new friends. Every evening we used to play. I remember, we even played during exams and yet performed well. Hide and seek, ice and water, hopscotch, racing, cycling, climbing trees, dark room etc were the games we played apart from badminton, carom, basketball, chess and table tennis. You name it and we played it 🙂 Then there were fun filled birthday parties, the return gifts, the tasty dishes, sweets and chocolates, it was so much fun. We also used to fight with each other for various reasons. Now the reasons may look silly but at that time it mattered a lot to us.  However all fights and misunderstandings were forgotten and each day was a fresh new day. We never held any grudges for one another.

“When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.”
―Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

The picture above shows me with my companion “my maroon Hero bicycle” when i was 7 years old. I was so proud of my bicycle. It was my surprise birthday gift ! It was a big transition for me from a tricycle to a bicycle. I still remember how my Dad used to teach me cycling every evening. I used to wait for him to come back from office and teach me how to cycle. The roads lined by lush green trees, the fresh air, the chirping birds, it was all fantastic ! In the beginning the bicycle was so huge for me that i could not even sit on the seat or take a complete round of the pedals. But i myself don’t remember when i started racing with my friends. Off course there were a lot of scrapped knees followed by tetanus injections, but i guess it made me stronger and braver 🙂 Later on we used to do cycling every evening on the broad roads, chatting together. We would get so engrossed, that we just forgot about the distance we had covered. Later at night when our legs pained, did we realize that perhaps we had cycled lot more than our capacity 🙂

I think childhood is the best time to imbibe a lot of skills in children. I hindsight i realize we learnt leadership, team management, time management, handling difficult people, facing challenges and so many other skills without even intentionally learning them. These skills can only be learnt practically. No book or teacher can teach you these skills in a classroom. Thus childhood is the best time to inculcate various qualities which are useful later in life. There cannot be a better teacher than our own experience.

I will conclude with a small poem written by me on childhood –

Childhood is the best time to learn and grow
To inculcate and nurture the seed you sow
Play games and make so many new friends
Not to give a damn about the latest trends
Enjoy life and be happy each and every new day
Not to be apprehensive of the mysteries future lays
To fight with friends and then forgive & forget
Not to worry about the deadlines that are set
If life seems to be so good from a child’s view
Then lets bring back the child, whom we bid adieu !