Looking back, just a little bit.

My childhood memories go back to the days when I lived with my family in an industrial town named Wadi, somewhere on the borders of Karnataka and Maharashtra. My father was a mechanical engineer in a power house, my mother was a full-fledged house wife, and me and my sister were kids who thought electricity and water came free of cost. Yes, back then, we had not the slightest clue about the existence of a telephone bill and an electricity bill, for my father's company took care of all such expenses. A huge house with all possible facilities, a beautiful garden, amazing next door neighbours, a very good school and wonderful friends- all this was a part and parcel of living in Wadi. I could ride my bicycle bang in the middle of the road, and not one soul would dare to blow the horn from behind, more because of the fact that there was no semblance of traffic there!
The day began with a bowl of cereal, followed by starting the walk to school after the morning power house siren, the chitter-chatter in school, walking back home for lunch, the afternoon nap, the "four p.m. fruit", the running and catching at six p.m (or "pakdam pakdaai", as we used to call it!), an hour of homework, dinner and bed time! No pressure whatsoever, just truck loads of life in it's best form! It was the time when the watchman at the colony gate to the gardener to my father's boss-anybody and everybody could walk into home, and receive the same kind of hospitality. A very comfortable environment filled with smiling faces-that was my childhood in a nut shell!
Some days back I had been to my little brother's school to drop him. And, God! For him, the day begins with an hour of abacus or spelling-bee practice, a tetra pack of soy milk, crossing one of the most busy roads in the city to reach school, a box of bread and California grapes for lunch, a test or a dictation almost everyday, crossing the scary road again to get back home, followed by some more abacus and spelling-bee practice, along with the homework and project work that's due in a week's time! It amazes me as to how the kid doesn't cry out loud in the middle of all this work!
Sometimes I wonder, was my childhood perfect, or was it just ignorant? Along with making sure that I perform well academically, my parents also made it a point to involve me in extra curricular activities and sports. The level of exposure that I had in that little town has made me what I am today. Although initially, living in a city was close to a nightmare, adjusting to it was not a very herculean task.I turned out to be the lucky one for I had the experience of living in both the environments-the peaceful one, and the "not-so-peaceful" one! But with the alarming levels of pressure on children these days, I only feel sorry for them and for their parents, because both of them seem to have become accustomed to this roller coaster of a daily routine.
Given a chance, I would most certainly turn back time and lead the "Wadi life" again. People say that life is not a bed of roses, but back there, it was a whole garden. And the best part being, I got a chance to play around in that garden and pluck little flowers of memories that will stay with me forever.