The street of poor and happiness

It was a night in the early 1990’s , When i had just started going to school , When i did not know What ‘poor’ and ‘happiness’ meant , When I had just begun to understand What ‘friendship’ and ‘love’ are.

We had come to this place 2 years ago , my dad had rented a 2bhk house and my school was a kilometer away from my home.Every morning was a serene & pleasant smile of a new day , I would wake up early in the morning to hear few religious songs (I guess my parents did it that way to make me to fear about ‘God’ , Which I realized a few years later) and a cup of hot tea.The Radio will be turned on just as soon as the waves of the Sun forcefully entered into the House , making the house, a beautiful photograph. I amazed radio very much at first, and even searched for people in and around it,to find the voices which came from radio , I wonder now Why I did not ask many questions about Radio to my parents then.I asked most of my questions only to myself, even in school, i did not ask questions. I will have breakfast in a hurry because i was always afraid that I will be severely punished and my parents will be penalized if I do not attend school on time.

I hated the oil that my mom applied on my head every morning before I started to school, She called it ‘coconut’ oil. The ‘Why’ I hated it is because , When i walk the distance to my school , the oil from my head will slowly come down to my face ,and the oil would make me to itch my head often.I don’t remember when i stopped bothering about it. I don’t remember What my mind thought when i walked to school. I never took anything from school to my home, not even the homework. I liked to play in the streets in the evenings after coming home. That was the everything i would have mostly thought then.

At School, I listened to What the teachers had to say. Then, We called everyone ‘teacher’ , with no special distinction to their gender. I was more afraid of the female teachers than the male teachers.Female teachers, I thought was ‘rude’ and ‘harsh’. I liked the classes under the trees than under the roof. I liked the fresh air and the opportunity to watch the world , to watch the other kids play , to rush to home in short time.Trees were nearer.There were questions of ‘Life’ at times when i walked back to home.I used to think – will i just hang as clouds in the sky after i die ? If so, Why am i not seeing people at the sky now ? I thought they were at a very high distance and were invisible.

Karthik was studying second class and I was studying third class. We will walk together to get back home in the evening.He was strong and little fat ,had a very white teeth and a charming face. He was my first friend. We played together in the evening after coming home. I felt bad and depressed every time i lost a game of any kind we played.Thats when i started comparing me with others.We only compare,Only when we lose .

I liked everything about Karthik,I liked his home , his parents, his Sister “Poorni’ Who was 2 years old , I never saw her cry and that changed my notion of “Babies and small kids cry often”. She never cried for anything. Poorni will always make me smile and her smile always made me happy.The things that used to keep me to walk fast to home are : Food at home , Poorni. I , Karthik , Poorni were friends.We played together every evening.

The particular night , I described in the opening of this thought , is What i remember as a pleasant and beautiful memory.It was a friday evening and we played for a long time that evening.The street that was separating our houses was just 2 meters wide, and about 30 meters in length. Thats where we spent most of our evenings. I would rank that street as number 1 ,If i have to rank the things that made me happy in Life.
We were playing that friday even after the sun was set, The street lights were working that season , So it was helpful to play even without sunlight. The Housewives met at the corners of the streets and exchanged words often.Few old men sat and watched us playing.We used to carry Poorni on our shoulders and run, she will laugh. Whoever carries her and runs will make her laugh more and louder. I and Karthik tried to make her laugh more. We measured the length of the street many times. Whoever walked on the streets did not yell or shout at us though we disturbed them.They just gave way for us to play this game. I think , everybody liked Poorni’s smile and everybody kept quiet to hear that loud laugh.

That was the last time, We played together.Karthik died on a sunday.I don’t remember when exactly he died.Was it on the sunday following that friday? Or was it few weeks after ?I don’t know.Why I don’t remember anything between that friday and the sunday he died?

I wish I never grew up , I wish I can ask Poorni who won on that friday and to hear that it was Karthik.