There are so many childhood memories attached to independence day.. There was so much of excitement at my home.. me n my brothers were up at 6 a.m. ( and which was not usual on an holiday :D) but that independenc day is always special.. for us its importance was not in terms of independence, it was because of kites..
A day before we were taken to a kite shop and were allowed to pick up 50 kites of any design n colour.. ( and mind you 50 were such a small number).. While we selected kites, my father would check out manja..Its the string with which kites are tied and the sharper, the better.. And whole night we'll attach white strings to kites.. which was not an easy task.. all strings should be of proper length otherwise kite wont fly properly.. it could sometimes go round n round in air, which was difficult to manage..
Next day, we were almost up alongwith the crack of dawn, which was a rare sight ;).. I was mostly given the task of holding kite at some distance and give it the initial upward thrust.. then i wd hold the charkhi and let my brother fly the kite.. He would usually hand it over to me for sometime, when there were no other kites surrounding ours..
And the real excitement was not in flying kites but in "pech ladana".. The long strings tangle up with a nearby kite, it is usually done deliberately.. now which ever person's strings snap was boo-ed by every one.. :) that was the fun part.. not only the winning person did that, but all the people who are flying their own kites would join in with whistles.. :)
Also we used to keep a long bamboo stick handy, in case a snapped kite cut from somewhere else moves over our roof.. it was duly caught and brought down.. Mostly, we used to fly around 100 kites that day.. and the hardest time was endured by our mom, who'd always be calling us down to have breakfast and lunch.. :)
This time around i am at my hostel and not at my home.. and my brother called me to say he is missing me cos there is no one to hold the charkhi.. :( i am missing kites now..
Yaar! Kabhi kabhi aisi baatein sunkarr dil bhar aata hai aur pata nahi kahan se ek aansu aakarr palkon ko bhigo jaata hai!
ReplyDeleteMaine socha tha aansu sukh gaye hain meri aankhon ke... tune bata diya ki ab tak nami hai aankhon mein!!
Ask ur bro ... Arti aayi to chalega kya
And oh yes ... tere liye
>:D<
GBU
Arti
Jai Hind
ReplyDelete- kiraN
gud one..
ReplyDeleteJai Hind!
I walked past the corpses sacrificed in the name of fanaticism,
ReplyDeleteAnd the souls living a life of death in its terror,
I watched the law stripped naked by the symbols of corruption disguised in white.
I retched from the stench of poverty, the slums that have mushroomed on my belly.
I listened to the AIDS victims, homosexuals, transvestities crying out for acceptance.
I was deafened by the silence of women waiting to prove their worth.
I watched helplessly as soldiers died in the conspiracy of patriotism
And the spirits crumbled beneath the hand of casteism.
I have witnessed Pain of love, Ecstacy of grief, Sanctity of hatred and dubiety of happiness.
Yet cradling the hope of a better tomorrow in my womb,
I walked towards the tri-colour that symbolizes 6 decades of my freedom.
..Me