Memories...

Recollecting the moments that come back to me time & again, I realize that there are moments which cannot desert me. No matter when they took place, they are still a part of me.

I remember the day I was to mug up the table of 7. I was under the strict vigilance of an ‘invigilator’, who had given me that tough job! Nobody other than me knows that I was doing something else in the name of mugging up the table. I was busy contriving a neat escape! I walked in & stood behind a chair. Smartly, I got hold of the piece of paper in my pocket & kept reading out the results as & when required. Obviously I had to strain myself to look down, each time I pretended to recollect the result. Soon I was called in front to find out the reason for my awkward behaviour. I neatly placed the paper on the chair (which had a table before it; this easily hid the treasure I had placed on it) & went in front. I was asked to return to my place, pick up the piece of paper & start mugging all afresh!
She not only made me mug up tables but also came running to pick me up from school on the half-days, took me to watch ‘akele hum akele tum’ on 14th of March & often took me for treats of phuchkas!
I always told her that I loved the way she chided me & the occasional ‘one-handed strokes’. Why remember all this suddenly? That’s because I was told a few months back,”mashi, tumi bhishon maro!” I could see that each time I tried a tt stroke on him, he ensured that the stroke was a successful one!

It was a day in this year when ‘he’ asked me, for how many days would I stay. In return, I asked whether he wanted me to leave. I was quite surprised by his untimely matured way of responding. He put his arm around my waist to assure me that that was the last thing he wanted. All he said was,”na…na, tumi joto din paro toto din thako.etai ami chai.”
I remember the day he cried on the 2nd of October after I was hit ‘a teen number of times’ on the back (a modified form of birthday bumps!). He had tried his best in the mean time to stop what was happening, & was partly successful!
There is one day which I can never forget – the day he asked his grandmother for some money. On being asked further questions, he said that he wanted to buy chocolates for me. Innocence and love at their best!

Was it just yesterday when ‘he’ said,”amar shonge khelo naaaaaaaa…” & then when it was time to sleep,”amay ekta golpo bolo na…….bhutu-r galpo!”

Then of course, one fine morning came that phone call ,”hi! I’m calling after 7 years! Do you remember me?” this made possible the re-establishment of a long-lost friendship!

One day when I was on the verge of tearing off all threads of the relations that had grown so strong in the recent past ‘she’ walked up to me & said,”Amri, have you gone mad? Do you want to go away from the relationships you cherish so much? I know how much you need them so stop saying all this.”
I remember that evening walk with her on the misty field in the dark. That was the day I revealed the biggest secret of my life!

Then came the day on which I met my best friend - the person who has always listened to all the rubbish that I’ve uttered, the person who supported me when he thought I was right & who pulled me aside to tell me that I was wrong, when he felt so. Whether right or wrong, good or bad, happy or sad, he has been with me all these years.
I remember all those ‘lessons’,’lectures’,arguments & discussions that we have had. It was all to get me out of the ‘shell’ & to make me face the world. Those attempts were to bring a smile on a weary & drooping ‘earthquake victim’!

All the mad deeds are also a part of this - the titanic-pose on the pitch-roller, the proposal to walk on the slanted bar of the goal-post, the vodka-story & of course the fried momos!

Last but not the least, the continuous blabbering from 9:30am(oops sorry! 10:00. here comes miss ‘latecomer’!) to 5:30pm, with only half the things getting registered – well if she knew this then, I would have been surely been killed!

Whether all this will take place again or not, they are definitely a part of my memories! If they happen again…they are most welcome; but if they don’t, it’s perfectly alright with me because things are original when they take place for the first time!
Moreover, I believe in one thing – anybody who wishes to stay might stay & anybody who wishes to leave might leave; but this time, I won’t leave. I don’t want time to flee this time.