Mummy says the first poem I wrote was about her. I was complaining about her to Daddy (I really don't remember that)!
After one year of schooling each at Nainital, Goalpara,Narangi and Binnaguri( Nursery, Lkg,Ukg, class 1 respectively), we came to Pathankot. This was my first recollection of staying with Daddy, while he was in his Unit. It was different from the other places. Since I was old enough, every experience was new and I soaked it all in like a sponge!
We were moving from Pathankot where we stayed for 3 1/2 years! The familiar faces and surroundings would soon be gone! This was my first real experience of packing and moving to a new place, lock , stock and barrel! When we came to Pathankot I had just turned 7.
I met my best friend Himani in class 2 here and we literally stuck to each other till she left. We started writing letters and since then my actual romance with the written word began. We are still in touch, thanks to FB! Written letters have been replaced by typed ones, but the feelings are same....
When we reached Karimganj, it was a strange feeling. Daddy was the only Fauji around as he was in an NCC unit. All the staff was civilian and we were living in a rented house in the civil area. I felt lost. I missed Himani and my friends in Pathankot and I wished we could somehow go back there!
My Diary became my best friend. I would pour out my heart to it every single day! My poetry became more intense while I retreated into my shell even more. Writing was my way of expressing my feelings. What I couldn't say out loud, I would write and convey. Almost every day I would write something and show Daddy.
We moved to Guwahati in 1991. I was a teenager, feeling and noticing new things! My poems portrayed the same. It was my first time living in a big city. I saw beggars, homeless people, crying and hungry children on the roads. I saw squalor and poverty coexisting with swanky bungalows and cars! The ups and downs of adolescent life (blame it on the hormones) leading me to write about friendship, love, life....
While we were in Guwahati, Daddy was in Field. I wrote to him regularly about my progress and also about my sisters. I loved writing letters and receiving them too! It was a pleasure to read Daddy's letters because he wrote so well and he had a beautiful handwriting!
I moved to Pune for my LL.B. I had never stayed alone, away from my parents. The first one year was difficult. Hostel life was a new experience! I could never talk much on the phone but I used to write about everything in detail in my letters home. I also wrote regularly to my two younger sisters .
How I waited for their letters!!!! Each one of them would reply to my letters and that made things easier to endure!
It was my first time staying away from mummy. Through her letters to me, I saw the side of her that I had never seen before! I realised how difficult it was for her to send me so far from home.
I met my husband when I was in college. We had a long distance relationship which lasted more than 5 years! My friends and roommates in the hostel are witness to the fact that I wrote to him every single day! They would tease me saying our wedding would be the biggest loss to the Indian Postal Services! Well, maybe they were right after all!
So, after many busy years of being a wife and mother, I am back to rekindle the lost romance. A lot has changed since then- reading books and writing letters are dying habits....
My romance with the written word will continue....
My words could soothe someone's pain or put a smile on someone's face....
I hope it did, for you....
Good one, again.. 😊