Snapshots of a childhood....

Theres a corner of my mind that I lazily drift into and settle down in, the corner wherein lies the downy comfort of my childhood, the place I go to whenever I want to give myself a soothing treat.......

Lazy Sunday afternoons..still and heavy with fragrances..a profusion of riotous colours splashed around, the fuschia pinks, whites, flaming oranges and magentas of the bouganvilleas which grew everywhere..wild and ever spreading..the burnt sienna savannah grass, tall enough to hide a young child playing hide-n-seek ! How many times had I run through it chasing butterflies or searching vainly for primroses hiding amongst them! Atop the tall grass perched tiny chirping sparrows, all under the sparkling bright azure African sky occasionally broken by wispy clouds. Sometimes there would be a burst of thunderous rain which would come suddenly and with such ferocity, leaving you soaked to the skin and vanishing just as suddenly and leaving behind a bright rainbow stretching endlessly and the lingering fragrance of wet soil......

There I'd be sitting in the window, looking outside, reaching out to pluck the 'Gul-mohar' flowers, from the branches which just about reached my window..and then, suddenly, I'd hear the sound I'd been so patiently waiting for all afternoon ! The tinkling sound of the bell of the ice-cream cart which the ice-cream man would be wheeling ! I'd jump off my perch and glance at my father and he'd look up and smile and off I'd be in a burst of energy..grab a shilling from my piggy bank and in a jiffy be next to the cart..ever so fast..!!!!..and there'd he be smiling, already ready with three ice-cream candy sticks in his hand..one for my aai and baba (mum and dad) each..and one for me...a sacred ritual almost..so special..so simple..and yet so magical, granting a life time of comfort and happiness.....

And today with a child, the exact same age as I was then, I so hope that he too would be granted the gift of happiness which he can burrow into whenever he needs it.....