Building k neechay....

                                                            Building k Neechay,

                                                          Jama hotay thay sab Yaar,

                                                            Zoron se lagatay thay,

                                                           Ek doosre ko pukaaar,,,,

                                                             Ab toh hai Sannata,

                                                            Aur Suni hai Galiyan,

                                                       Choot gayi Yaaron ki Yaariyan

                                                               Guzrun jo wahan se,

                                                       Toh bas "Meethi Yaadein" hon taaza 

                                                Dil kahay firse jee loon woh pal ek baar

                                                            Wo bhi kya din thay yaar!

                                                   

Gone are the days when we used to call out our friends in chorus at sharp 5.30 below the Building to play our hearts out.And the first thought that comes to my  mind down this" memory lane is kya din thay"seriously! I feel the 20th century generation had the best kind of childhood.I am not being prejudiced that this generation is not enjoying,surely they are,but somewhere they are missing out on the tenderness of innocence that we dwelled in.
 I have a very closely knitted memory of my childhood days,like i can recollect maximum incidences and the games we played, our fights,our gibberish talks,our amateur behavior,our foolishness and everything related to it. That's how i grew.We had no tab ,no whats app , no messenger but sharp shrill voices which pierced through the top floor to get the right person out.It's 5:3o and affu used to be down who stayed a few buildings away.She was always the first person to trigger the whole lot of bunch.The loudest voice among us was hers.And she used to come singing..."saimaaaaa,Truuuptiiii,sayaliiii,Eshaaaaa,snehalll,,Prajjjjj .We all stayed in adjacent buildings.But her voice was strong enough to get others down and  join until a chorus was formed.And soon a honeycomb full of enthusiastic children was formed playing Pakda pakdi,Lock and Key,color-color,football,cricket,Hide and seek,Tag-Tag and the list is endless.The street would be vibrant and Lively witnessing the craziness of 15-20 children playing like Today is the day.We used to get our cycles and play chor police on that.We ran about.Our bottles used to lined up at an aunty's place on ground floor who used to refill our bottle.A kind Lady.Yes,not to forget we have broken windows and put the blame on guys.The best kind of Memory which even today makes me laugh my gut out is  passing the football game(a modified version of football by girls).We stood on the two extreme ends and hit the ball with full energy to drive it to other end.Soon when we mastered this skill,we used to do target hitting i.e we hit the ball on the butts of the guys whom we did not like , just to embarrass them.[now dont call it Adam teasing ;)] Esha was my crime partner.Lol.So Foolish we were.We had a beautiful definition of celebration.We burst crackers in diwali together  and celebrated Christmas with all enthusiam. On eid,we had sewai and in diwali the modaks.From birthdays to festival we grew on simplicity.There was no competition, no jealousy.All we knew was 5.30 down with cycle.

But,now its all a memory which might fade away,but it gave me a childhood.It guided me to the first step of  being kind,how??,by accommodating even a weaker one in the group through 'kaccha limbu' ,it taught me to love each other,it helped me to know what is care'when one of us got hurt the others would run to get bandage' moreover I learned to forgive because tomorrow i played with the same person because of whom i fell today n bled my knee out.We never had the distinction of religion and caste.We were and are friends who met every evening to live a 'life' and laugh out together.We learned to adjust,by ignoring the fights and limiting it to words.Our call was not on the qwerty key pad.It was stringed by the cord of Love.Felt to be remembered.As i am at the end of this article i close my eyes to find my self " building k Neechay" calling out my friends"khelne ko aaa",Moreover i can hear them giggling,i can feel the laughter,i can sense the fights,i want to live it again.
But Alas,it's now an old chapter of my book which is indeed beautifully carved and I cherish each words of it every day.

-SSW
P.S:This post is dedicated to my colony friends who made my childhood awesome.Prajakta Andhale,Afreen Sayed,Sayali Panaskar,Snehal Chorge,Trupti Powar,Esha Yeddy,Vrushali Mohite.There were many others who joined us but these are the eminent personalities of the group.I Love u all.We had the best time together.Though we all are busy in our lives now but i am sure the memories of bldg 7 and 8 will be fresh always.