Koi Lauta De Beetay Hui Din

My only blogging friend Kusum Rohra has tagged me, again. This time she has posted about Ten (10) things she misses the most and I have to do a post about 10 things I miss the most. So, here I go ...

Ten Things I Miss Most

1.My School: I had studied upto standard X in Jai Hind Academy. Why my parents decided to put me up in this school, I do not know. Maybe the the fact that the school was situated near our home must have been the deciding factor. It was no-frills school. It still is there and whenever I walk pass the school, I think about my school days.

2. My friends: We use to play, what else but cricket, in the compound of our building. I really miss those days. Since our building had homes on the ground floor, we manage to broke, not records, but glass on windows of flats on the ground floor on many occasions. The speed with which we use to hide after breaking a glass on windows was hilarious. The unfortunate boy who was slow in finding the hiding place got all the gallis and all the blame. Oh those days. Vacation means cricket in the mornings and evenings, and badminton, with wooden rackets, in the nights.

3. Living my with parents: Before marraige I lived with my parents, like all good boys. But marriage changed all that. After few years of living with parents, after marriage, it was time for us to move. Fortunately we found a good place to stay, which is near my parents's home, so that I could visit my parents often. But living with parents and visiting them often are two different things. Maybe I miss living with my parents, because like most men, I am a mamma's boy. Maybe ...

4. My aunt: I had an aunt, who use to live alone. For some reasons, I had developed close affinity with this aunt of mine. I use to drop to her place quite often. We use to chat of this and that and she used to told me many things about Sindh. She expired a few years ago. May her soul rest in peace.

5. Living on Campus: Our Institue has excellent on-campus housing colony for the academic members of the Institute. A small portion of flats is kept aside for non-academic persons, like me. It was always my wish to live among the brilliant people of our Institute. Somehow I talked to my wife about advantages of living in campus, the main argument being `imagine we will be living in Bombay'. And luckily I managed to get a good three-room flat on the campus and also secure the admission for our son and daughter in a school near the campus of our Institute, that too after two months after the start of a new academic year, that is in August. Well we moved with all the enthusiasim and hopes for a new and peaceful life in the campus flat in August 2003. At first we all were happy, but my wife started getting disillusioned with life in Bombay, soon. She was missing Ulhasnagar, and also did not like the new school. I was quite happy living on campus, as office was just about 5 minutes walk away. And at the end of the academic year, that is April 2004, we decided to go back go Ulhasnagar. I miss living on campus.

6. Spam-free days: My spam I mean the junk emails which we receive every day. Just a few years ago, I use to get on an average 15 emails every day, of which 1 or 2 were junk emails, but nowdays 1 out of 150 emails is genuine and rest junk/spam. When I go for leave for few days, say tw days, on return I am greeted by 1450 emails, of which 1405 are junk/spam. It is real pain to sift the genuine emails from junk. Who is sending these junk emails and why we are sent these junk emails is a big mystery. I miss the spam-free days.

7. Watching movies in a theatre: Earlier watching movie in a theatre was fun, something to look forward to, an event in itself. But no more. Nowdays all movies are just unwatcable. No wonder the people keep away from the theatres. The last movie I saw, Being Cyrus, there were only 10 people in the theatre. And it was scary to watch a movie, pratically alone.

8. Saas-Bahu-less serials: I really marvel at all the K serials which are running on and on for years, involving a Saas a Bahu and rest insignificant people in their households. I wonder how can people watch these serials. If it is not a Saas-Bahu serials, it will be one-man-two-women or two-women-one -man serials. Oscar Wilde was right when he said that in a marriage two is crowd and three is company. This epigram has been literally taken to heart by the serial makers. Compare to these serials, Ramayana and Mahabrata were classics. I wish good old serials on telly.

9. Eating sweets: like all right-thinkg persons, I enjoyed eating sweets. But I am reminded by my children, especially my daughter, that eating more sweets will bring in diabetes. I wonder from where she, who is just 9 years old, come to know about diabetes. Ever since my son had some dental problem, we all are off the sweets. Since I had a sweet tooth, I miss eating sweets and chocolates.

10. Being myself: I miss being myself. When I am at home, I am dutiful father to my children, good husband to my wife, at office an honest and sincere worker, in train reading newspapers/books and adopting other people's thoughts and thinkings. I do miss being myself. While I blog, I am being myself.