Chapter 1
“Each golden day of our summer vacation was cherish-able , for we had the feeling that each could be our last.”
Lately, I have talked a lot about my summer vacations at my maternal grandparent’s house. So, I thought I need to unleash my memories bit by bit to make a beautiful memoir. It is the tale of one little girl who use to live with her family in a small town which was part of a big country India.
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My grandmother use to live in a beautiful small village called Dhikuli near a teeny town called Ramnagar,Uttarakhand in India 🙂 This place is famous as one of the oldest national park of India. It was a big house having 14 rooms. For us this was a gateway from all the worries of city life.
On the onset of summers my parents use to declare time ultimatum for us to finish our holiday homework .And me and my brother like dedicated labors use to work on it day and night. Phew …as soon as it used to get finished, we use to nag our parents to start our journey towards our blissful heaven 🙂
My father use to work in a private company at that time which didn’t had the concept of 5 days a week (for him it’s still not there 😛 ) . So the first Sunday after we finished our allotted task, we use to go for our summer shopping 🙂 .At that time we use to get new apparel’s only twice a year once for our summer trip and another one for our birthday 🙂
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Now wearing our new dresses carrying the water bottles (because it was the only piece of luggage I can carry at that time 😛 ) with a 32 teeth smile on our faces we entered in a bus. The usual fight between me and my brother use to arise …..Who will sit beside the window 😛 without making a scene my mother use to settle the fight by giving us chance to change our turn every two hours 🙂
Once the bus left the bus station, I prayed to speed fast the traveling time. I use to wave-off my hand to all the tall buildings. After passing some time looking in and out of the bus we started making puppy faces, to get something from the hawkers entering in the bus on every bus station. From orange candies to orange packet juices … roasted peanuts to eating coconut our varied variety intakes use to make our journey more happening and beautiful 🙂
It was almost a 12 hour journey if we didn’t encounter any traffic jams 😛 . A 12 hour journey at that time in an Indian summer and non-AC bus was back-breaking but nothing absolutely nothing used to break our zeal. Landing their use to give us goose bumps. We could not believe that we have finally reached our most cherished place. Dumbfounded by the magnificent scenery that lay before our eyes, we got down from bus. Down from the bus my parents used to teach us to greet every one we met on our way…
To this day I find it quiet amusing that everyone used to be our aunt and uncle and everyone knew everyone else? It was like a very big family living under different roof but one sky 🙂
To be continued ……
NJ the way you describe your excitement to arrive at your final destination reminds me of my childhood summers too. Back then it felt like summer lasted forever 😀 Loved this first chapter ❤
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Yeah …that feeling is so indescribable 🙂 I just tried my hand to relieve some beautiful memories of my childhood 🙂 I am so happy that you feel connected with it 🙂 Thank you ❤
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You did an amazing job NJ, I loved it ❤ 🙂
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Thank you dear ❤
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You are most welcome ❤
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❤
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I have an older brother and we always used to fight in the car! This kind of reminded me of that, very nicely written. 🙂
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If my memoirs could take you down the memory lane that means I have succeeded as a writer 🙂
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It’s nice to revisit those old days from time to time thanks for the opportunity!
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🙂
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Very nice written……….me and my brother also used to fight for window seat 🙂
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Thank you so much roopu 🙂 Glad you find a piece of yourself in my writings 🙂
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our childhood were quite similar, we too used to get new dresses once a year (durgapuja) and that was the time when sometimes dad brought us to our ancestral home in burdwan from Tundla where we lived back then.
I have so many memories revolving around durgapuja!
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Yeah childhood of children born before 2000 had somewhat similar stories 🙂 glad that you could relate to it 🙂
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Really glad to read this , while reading it ,I actually can visualize every part of it except my grandparents, this is the best article I have read yet. it made my childhood days to come alive . Thank you so much for this one .
Also you should share it with our cousins it will real joy and refreshment of childhood.
😚😚😚
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Yeah this is part of our life ….that all of us lived 🙂 memories remain forever 🙂 yeah I think I should share it with them ….because all the picture credit goes to Rajat 😉
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Very interesting!
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Thank you 🙂
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very honest and interesting 🙂
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Thanks so much 🙂
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Chalo Dhikuli 😀 I love the way you have used so much smileys. Usage of more smileys means you mean what you write(of course, this is my theory) and I also use a whole bunch of smileys 😉 Waiting eagerly to visit to the 14 roomed destination 😛
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😀 Thank you 🙂 …For smileys I use them too much 😛 …They actually depict your emotions 😉 …Moreover I don’t have the photographs to create a picturesque 😛 that time people were not pic crazy 😀 ..but I am trying to gather some from my cousins to make the diaries more memorable 🙂
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Yes Yes share that also 😀 Me too.. May be our nicknames should be SMILEYS 😛 In office chat also, I use smiley in every line and my colleagues and team-mates even ask me not to use them but adadat se majboor 😛
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he he 😀 ..yeah office chats.. WhatsApp …Facebook chats and informal mails 😀 every where ..I know how I control to use them in my formal mails 😛
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Yes 😀 I use the smile wala smiley in the formal mails also beside my name 😉
Regards,
Darshith 🙂
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ha ha 😀 that’s quiet daring 😛
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Darr k aage jeet hai 😀 It’s just a smiley yaar and hamesha nahi karta 😛
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he he 😀
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yes, yes, yes…how much I love this genre….those tit-bits of nostalgia! Yes, I’ve begun the bus-ride Neerja…and I am eager to spend the summer hols with you in Dhikuli….! What a lovely beginning….Write sooner
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Ahhh….Finally ….I was waiting from yesterday for your comment 😛 … Thank so much …The journey has just begin 🙂 hope I keep it well till the end 😉 And yes don’t worry my soon will be sooner 😛
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Neerja… ❤ Awesome one.. Eagerly waiting for the next.. 🙂
Nostalgic.. 🙂 Back to my Childhood..
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Thank you so much 🙂 Will be back with a new one soon 🙂
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Such a heart warming memory. Grandparents are so special!
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ya ….in our country it said “asal se zyada soot pyara hota hai” that means ‘the interest amount being dearer than the principal amount’ to a money-lender …But the proverb is widely used to say how much more one loves the grand-children than the children themselves!
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It seems wrong, but that’s it exactly!
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Yeah 🙂
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Neeraja, I’ve posted on the Liebster Award 🙂 Check it out
https://deepikakumaaraguru.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/the-liebster-award/
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🙂 here i go 🙂
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😀
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❤
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Beautiful childhood memories last a lifetime. I look forward to the next chapter!
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So true 🙂 I will try to come up with it soon 🙂
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Nostalgic post and I am thinking of my bus rides to our grand parents place. Looking forward to read more. Read this when you get time – https://happinessandfood.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/meri-nani-aur-yeh-kahani/
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What a lovely nostalgia, Neeraja 🙂 And yeah, when we’re bursting to go to our favourite places, we won’t care about the discomfort the travelling experience presents. Your family resembles mine actually 🙂 Everyone is very close
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Yeah so true 🙂 every one of us had lived some special moments in our life that always make you nostalgic 🙂 glad you found resemblance in my memoir 🙂
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I have a feeling we actually have a lot in common 😉
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Ha ha 😀 me too 😉
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