THE SCENT OF SUNABEDA OF THE 1980’S
Driving in the US can be a challenge when one is used to the left hand side drive ..
Scorching sunny weather , Got on the wheels today as I set of on an afternoon drive around Raleigh the place I live.. High speed roads , flashing cars had around me .. Parked myself at a lake and took a wide stretch and relaxed as nostalgic memories 15000 miles away from my friends and place flashed back …for a moment making all this life very bland and basic if I see in the macro outlook of my life ..as the value of life is much higher than short term happiness
Back in the 1980’s in this period at sunabeda we were bracing for the car festival of Rath Yatra. The grand chariot would cruise on the roads from AEF to Pandal
We were oblivion to global warming and so did our world . Month of June would have bought the first showers splashing across the zones of sunabeda .. As the day dawns the incense of the soggy soil caused by the overnight rains , the kaamwalis .. the lifelines of our homes made the way in herds ..the first siren at 0650 am blows off and swiftly sunabeda road traffic would see the scooters , bikes and cars zooming in one direction for 10 minutes and a deafening silence would dawn signalling the work day has eventuated
If ever we walked in our mini gardens in the morning , the velvet creatures would attract our eyes as we would hunt them to imprison them on matchboxes so would be the garden mushrooms spurting all around
Rejuvenated from the summer break , fragrance of new books , new clothes , new class new timetable and , the overdrive and zeal to study hard and the excitement of being in a new class ensured the serotonin and endorphins( happy feeling hormones ) of our body to escalate to the pinnacle as the adrenaline’s drove only temporarily till it faded away in few months
Memories are still fresh the sweet smiling rolly polly harjit with two plaits tied up ..would be cycling all the way on to Vsv and if Anila walked well ahead on time Gyanender would be huffing and puffing running with his loose pants on the Pzone lanes around 855 am to scramp through to be on time and KK cycling on his red mini BSA- SLR .. and all these friends assembling there
We had a hedonious mix of classes .. the characterisation was conspicuous – depending on the personality of the teacher .. one side we had the sweet interesting classes of Haq madam, Indu madam , patro Sir and other hand we had the stalwarts of subba rao madam, Jena Sir , chainulu Sir , Uma maheshwari madam etc
Life was pretty predictable but still we had the spark .. the lunch time goldspot game at the quadrangle ..or the last minute homework counterfeit copying or the sports week we had an assorted arrangement of bonhomie for ourselves and a rush of Morphine in our heads for our teams …
Evening would set in as the days sets to dusk, the parents would get on their eyes on us and then would began the mundane revisions before the dinner sets.. with interruptions for binaca Geet mala or a chitrahaar at 8 Pm Wednesday / Friday in and we head to our beds after dinner
Time flew , we moved on .. we faced life challenges we matured and reunited decades later in 2016 as we try to attempt to rekindle the glitter of the childhood life everyday ..
Those were the days that etched the signatures of my friends in my soul in the 1980’s . Time passed .. and reunited and memories rewinded as the dust of old years on the signatures dusted out only to see that those signatures are engraved deeply and are sparkling and highlighting neon lights in the heart !!
Time to drive back home and get on to mundane life .. Life moves on
Menon
