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Friday, June 10, 2011

A New Beginning...

I remember I was 4 years old. I’d just returned from my first day at school. It was a dreadfully hot afternoon in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. But nothing could deter me from rushing to my friend, Beejal’s place and having a ride in her giant garden swing. Usually, Falguni didi kept an eye on us. But she was out to run some errands. And something went terribly wrong. The next thing I recall is lying in a pool of blood on the garden steps and my mom screaming for help…

It’s incredible how some childhood memories are so clearly etched in our minds. Especially those that give us prominent scars on our foreheads, not unlike Harry Potter’s! It’s as if the incidents happened just yesterday…

Twenty years have passed since that fateful day. And today, when I look back, I see some glorious years, followed by terrible tragedies; some heart-breaking failures, followed by miraculous achievements. What a journey it has been! And it has brought me here and now- my last day in my home of 14 years. Tomorrow I head to Mumbai. Next month, my family heads to a new place…
I see my room that I once shared with my sister. I see our garden which was tended to by my grand-dad when he was still with us. I see a house which my dad built with his savings and which my mom made into a home. And I feel this lump in my throat…
But only just. I am sad, but not quite. For tomorrow is the time to make new memories, do new things, and forge new relationships. All of us look back occasionally, wishing to be children again, with not a care in the world. But instead we must look ahead. For there is much left to achieve and much left to experience. A whole lifetime ahead… Cheers to a new beginning!