when i was a kid...

• i used to give my ear to the wall n listen to ants talk as they trailed along the edges of the wall... (when anyone wud ask me wat am i doing, i'd say, "jus listening to the ants, they meet n talk na?")
• i wud talk to the plants growing on my road from school to home... (i wud walk back home in the evenings and wud pick up leaves and flowers of different wild plants tat grew along the edges of the fields and by the time i reached home, i had a bouquet of wild flowers n leaves)
• dad wud drop me to school on his bike... we had to cross a small wooden bridge on the way... one rainy day, the wooden bridge broke and dad fell into the stream below along with the bike and i stood on the banks n cried till neighbours came to dad's rescue :)
• i wud eat the sour fruits of wild plants tat grew near my house n fall sick and then swear not to eat it again n yet end up eating those sour fruits once i got well ;)
• i wud talk to the cows n dogs in my granny's house!!!
• i wud empty the pickle jar in the kitchen... i love mango pickles!!!
• sheesh! i wud cry in school during recess coz the big boys of my class wud eat up my tiffin :D
• once, while playing frog race with cousins, i fell n bruised my nose... and got laughed at in school for a week coz of my red nose ;)
• i wud eat cashews n raisins for "dinner" literally every nite!!!
• i wud call my uncles and aunts with some of the funniest names i hav ever heard!!! (i lived in a joint family) One uncle was called O-b Chikapa coz he wud show me different insects and scare me off (O-b was short for insects in my childhood vocabulary), one grandpa was called 2 Ajja coz he was the second grandpa in order, one granny was called Ari Ajji coz she used to grind all day long in the kitchen, one more uncle was called Citi-piti Chikapa coz he wud teach me how to make dosa using my hands as pans ans my feet as stove!!!
• eerrr! i wud get beaten by dad for not doing homework before going out for play... and get shielded by all uncles n aunts when dad wud chase n hit me ;)
• i wud eat raw mangoes from the mango trees in our garden, with salt n red pepper powder...
• i had a boy-cut as a kid!
• and many more things...

childhood was beautiful, will all its innocent dreams n desires and all the love i got from my uncles n aunts and grannies n grandpas...