Tomorrow is Day 23200! Some memories from the past….

Sunday 22^nd June 2025          Day 23199

Tomorrow Monday 23^rd June 2025, when the day dawns & if the breath still remains in me, it would be my 23200^th day on the planet in this lifetime.

That would mean that more than 70% or more of my life has been lived.

And today, I pause. Take a look at the rear-view mirror of my Life and recollect whatever I can.

Early days and childhood. 1961 – 1974   Wadala, Bombay

• Life at # 4 Shankar Dham, Wadala, Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• The large mango tree that grew adjacent to our ground floor house.
• The Paarijaat tree (Pavazhamalli – a.k.a. night flowering jasmine) that showered its flowers every night onto the ground and its fragrance wafting in through the windows.
• Eager to get to school S.I.W.S every morning
• Being wary of the Leprosy hospital on the way and taking the side of the road far away from it while going to school and on the way back. While I was uncomfortable whenever I saw a leper, I also wondered why that person had to endure this.
• Char hospital was always something that I was in awe of, for some strange reason.
• The sports days at school and specially the lemon-and-spoon race and the 100-meter sprint.
• Buying Brittania bread at the corner Irani shop. And the rare ice cream in a plastic ball.
• Eating bread slices by dipping them in warm milk and sugar.
• Eating Ovaltine as a nutritional supplement.
• Dad getting us potato wafers on his return from Killick Nixon office. And us identifying the biggest one and keeping that aside for the last.
• Phantom, Flash Gordon and Mandrake comics from Indrajaal. And Chandamama too.
• The occasional bhel puri that dad would bring from near VT station on his way back.
• My poonal (Upanayanam) at home and the deer-skin tied to the poonal.
• My mom’s histrionics and how it left a strong memory in my mind about money.
• The music teacher coming home to teach my elder sister. And I too learnt for a couple of years.
• Singing in Carnatic music competitions. And winning some silver cups as prizes too!
• Visiting Shanmukhananda hall for Carnatic music programs.
• Dad’s work with Swathi Thirunaal Kalakshetram and Yesudas and Chembai visits.
• Tarzan movies at Aurora theatre.
• Walking to Five Gardens and having sheng (moongfali roasted)
• The stink of the dirty socks that my uncle left in the balcony after return from work.
• The severe admonishing that my elder sister got one evening from dad and mom. And I was clueless on what was right and what was wrong.
• The amazing smell of non veg biryani that was cooked just outside the window by the caterers for an event in the third-floor house.
• A fire that broke out in that third floor house because of a stray Diwali rocket!
• The open kuppa thotti in the corner of the compound.
• Cricket, lagori, hide-and-seek games in the compound. The pambaram that always amazed me. Carrom, board games and cards in the corridor during the afternoons.
• Washing the toilet and bathroom and making it spick and span.
• The monthly oil baths and the besan used at the end.
• The occasional PurgoLax tablets and the ensuing runs to the toilet.
• The trips to Ambernath by train early in the morning on weekend, to buy rice from farmers. A scarce commodity those days.
• The premonition that our Principal at SIWS had which led to the school being closed early that day. And there was a roof collapse later in the afternoon!
• Enjoying studies and doing well at school.  
• Wartimes. Sticking brown paper on windows. Sirens going on. Anti-aircraft flares. Lights out.
• Welcoming a younger sister in 1970.
• UNICEF truckloads of powdered milk and vitamin Biscuits through Killicks Nixon
• Polishing and painting a wooden shelf and slotted angles racks from Killicks
• Painting the steel grill in the balcony
• Grinding roasted coffee beans in the green cast iron hand grinder mounted on the edge of a table.

Next week I shall focus on the period 1974-1984. A very interesting phase of my life.