The real taste of Life !
While remembering some real experiences of my life, I scanned the pages of my life real quick. Unable to figure out which one would I pick out, I decided to go with the one which came first to my mind. Yes, I could remember it now. A very rusty road leading to the 3 storeyed house of my chote nanajee. It was supposedly one of the first houses of the area and it stood majestically tall. Just opposite to the house was a well. Yes a well….which was too deep for us little kids to engulf for ever. And as a picturesque scenery, there was a Jamun Tree just by the well’s walls. The roots of the tree made the well’s base seem to me a little crooked and if it is coming out of the earth( rocky stones) in form a sine or cosine waves…Ofcourse, I didn’t know the terms then I was too young for these terms. The rest part of the area was dusty , earthy and only wild shrubs and plants adorned it.
Anyways, I was always fascinated by this scenery watching it from the balcony. Once we cousins on a hot summer afternoon decided to make our own snacks – by plucking the jamuns from the tree. We had planned to relish our treat when the old members of the family would be enjoying the summer siesta.
When we finally reached the place, the heat was scorching on the streets but the shade of the tree and presence of the water made it look like evening time. One of my cousins marched up to the tree with such swiftness I looked dumb with my mouth half open. He reached to one of the branches to the jamun and he instructed me to collect all the jamuns that were falling on the ground. I very obediently started collecting the fallen jamuns in my basket checking their texture and freshness. I realized that most of our efforts were falling in the well L. In my enthusiasm to save the delicious treats, I climbed the wall and started swinging my basket here and there to collect the falling little drops of heaven. Suddenly, my balance on the creaked wall began to crumble and the swinging started again ….but this time it was my body I was playing with. Finally I was able to recover my balance by jumping towards the ground but the few seconds which I experienced of losing control over my body were something larger than life, something even after 100 attempts would be difficult to pen down the emotion on paper, the look of the dark, shady, green covered water well calling me with its own strength, the feeling of me really falling for that look and the fear of the darkness that lay below was overwhelming. Even though I managed to just push aside it as another child’s play incident, but after so many years it gives me jitters to think of it now. Of course then too I was a little scared and cryey (if that’s even a word) but somehow my cousin managed to lift up my spirits and we made promise to each other that we would never let it out to our households.
Now years later, the well is closed and cemented and the streets are no more rusty but blue smooth roads have superseded them. However, whenever I visit the place the sweetness of the jamun still lingers in my mouth somewhere. :)
Anyways, I was always fascinated by this scenery watching it from the balcony. Once we cousins on a hot summer afternoon decided to make our own snacks – by plucking the jamuns from the tree. We had planned to relish our treat when the old members of the family would be enjoying the summer siesta.
When we finally reached the place, the heat was scorching on the streets but the shade of the tree and presence of the water made it look like evening time. One of my cousins marched up to the tree with such swiftness I looked dumb with my mouth half open. He reached to one of the branches to the jamun and he instructed me to collect all the jamuns that were falling on the ground. I very obediently started collecting the fallen jamuns in my basket checking their texture and freshness. I realized that most of our efforts were falling in the well L. In my enthusiasm to save the delicious treats, I climbed the wall and started swinging my basket here and there to collect the falling little drops of heaven. Suddenly, my balance on the creaked wall began to crumble and the swinging started again ….but this time it was my body I was playing with. Finally I was able to recover my balance by jumping towards the ground but the few seconds which I experienced of losing control over my body were something larger than life, something even after 100 attempts would be difficult to pen down the emotion on paper, the look of the dark, shady, green covered water well calling me with its own strength, the feeling of me really falling for that look and the fear of the darkness that lay below was overwhelming. Even though I managed to just push aside it as another child’s play incident, but after so many years it gives me jitters to think of it now. Of course then too I was a little scared and cryey (if that’s even a word) but somehow my cousin managed to lift up my spirits and we made promise to each other that we would never let it out to our households.
Now years later, the well is closed and cemented and the streets are no more rusty but blue smooth roads have superseded them. However, whenever I visit the place the sweetness of the jamun still lingers in my mouth somewhere. :)
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