“I miss my childhood, where the hardest decision was picking a crayon”.
I came across this line just when I was thinking about my childhood days, and man! How I miss those days. Looking at my nieces and how eager they want to grow up, reminds me of myself back then. How I wish I could tell them that childhood will be the best days of their lives.
Since all my brothers were schooled somewhere far from home, I was quite alone back then. I remember being a great fan of Mithun Chakraborty :-), and right after school, mom would rent a Mithun movie from the video parlour nearby, and I’d watch it after I had done my homework. “Disco dancer” was a hit that time (hehe). I wasn’t allowed much to play outside with my neighbours. Yeah.. being the one and only girl in the family isn’t so cool sometimes!
But when cousins Prissy and George visits during exam holidays, and when my brothers come home for the holidays, those were “the” best days. I could play outdoors. We’d climb the mango tree near my late uncle’s place, tell stories, chase after lizards and play in the mud. We’d steal and smoke my uncle’s mizo ciggy (vaihlozial) in the unused piggery nearby, that is, when we get lucky. Most of the time, we’d roll up some dry leaves on a paper and smoke (haha).
And sometimes we’d do a short play with my very talented cousin ‘U Nunpari’ where we would laugh our a** off. The story of the play was ‘on the spot’; I guess that’s why we liked it so much. My brother Sangtea was like the ‘boss’ for me, Prissy and George. Whatever he says, we’ll do it. That was the rule. We’d stay under the blanket, switch off all the lights, he’d hold a torchlight, and tell horror stories. And to scare us, he’d suddenly switch on the torch, right under his mouth with his tongue hanging out, and we would scream our lungs out. We knew he was gonna do that, but we would still scream any way :-)
And in the nights, when we pay a visit to my aunt’s place, we’d play while our mothers and aunts watch the great tv soap opera “Dynasty” with the other women-folk. And since we missed each other so much, we’d play a trick and pretend that we had slept off. If it was only mom, she’d let me sleep over. But if any of my brothers came along, they’d carry me home anyway, and I had to pretend that I was asleep throughout!
One winter, when my cousins came to pay a visit, I was so eager to play with them. But mom bathed me first, right after school. My nick was “Te-sawii” back then, all because I have a somewhat triangular shaped face I guess. I remember Mom saying while applying pure glycerine all over me, “As soon as you meet Prissy and George, tell them to call you Mimi instead of Te-sawii”. And ta da! I was called Mimi ever since, mostly by my mom’s side of the family. It’s Mami on dad’s side :-)
Sigh! I miss those days. To have no care in the world. To be so free. To have no worries. I hate growing up. I hate having responsibilities. I hate being scared of making the wrong decisions.
But, life goes on...
15 comments:
Smoking dried leaves, on-the-spot drama (not to mention the fashion shows, LOL) and undiluted glycerine on our dry, chapped skins... I miss those days..
But when you think about it, things have'nt really changed. We still inhale smoke albeit from different sources like petrol fumes etc, drama unfolds all around us as we parade Aizawl in our latest fashions.. and we need saturation, not for our bodies, but for our dried up souls..
Huis, zingkar ania, am in my semi-serious mode. Lung i tileng, lal mimi.
Te-sawi... i've completely forgotten about that...ohh those days.
remember when u came to Lunglei and we taught u how to ride a bike.. and then Pi.Puii drove the tawlailir and sat on the back and we had an accident.
good ol times ehhh...
@Ku2: "your semi-serious mood"? are you ever serious? haha.. just kidding pal.. yea, your'e right. Things haven't changed much, but I guess the freedom from adulthood miseries made it more fun and memorable. Great interpretation btw :-) Ka English thiam thiannu nge2 :D
@Priscilla: I know!! haha.. That was the first time I ever rode on a 'tawlailir'. I still wanna do it today.
It reminds me of my childhood days:).I too hate responsibilities!!!Nice blog...Ka blogroll ah ka lo link ve che o:)?
@Clio: sure sure. that would be an honour :-) thanks for visiting
hahahaha so that's how you got your name...i thought it was after maimom(spider), maybe you looked like one when you were small... i think it was around that time that they started calling him mithun dada lolzzz. how can i forget disco dancer and those laser sounds chiu chiu chiu every time he struck a pose, pointing his finger to the sky...those grotesque costumes. childhood memories are indeed priceless aren't they, thanks for bringing up such an unforgettable subject.
'Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.'
hey there, thanks for the welcome.. hope u dont mind me following ur blog.. i can explain.. u see, i wanted to start following so as to have a few reading lists and i seem to have stumbled upon urs and a few others while in the process of it all.. but for wat its worth m really glad that i did. Please keep on visiting coz i'm kind of like the new kid in school still a bit 'zak' n all while at the same time trying hard to fit in ..hehe
@ice-man: lolzz.. and 'mimi' is 'fish' in tamil? I sawi tlatin ka hria, hehe.. my late uncle used to call me "do re mimi" :-) "Laser sounds chiu chiu" hahahaha.. sawi thiam tawp!
@dr_feelgood:so true.. we should cherish every moment..I guess that is from a song?
@dean: lolzz.. your most welcome, and I don't mind at all you following my blog. Don't be 'zak', just write what you feel :-) I've read your other posts already, your'e goood :-)Best of luck
Yes its a song by Mary Hopkins, which was very popular in our days( a bit before yours ) It used to come on the radio,especially Sunday afternoons.
Hey, Mimi (Te-sawi) It's a really nice post, it reminded me a lot of my childhood :-) I miss those days, chapped legs, dry-chapped lips... apllied undiluted glycerine on them... sigh.. climbed on trees... make a tree-house or club house with a Treasure Box in it... :-D swing on a rope attached to a tree.... make a hole and cover it with sand and let someone walk on it... we even used to put poo inside the hole :-P sigh.... wish I could spin the Earth into reverse at least for once... :-( I really got a teary eye while I'm reading this.... :-P sniff sniff nothin' I can do to get me back... I miss all my cousins, they are my only childhood friends... most of them are already married with kids... Please write more.. let's exchange each other childhood stories.... :-P
"How I wish I could tell them that childhood will be the best days of their lives".
How absolutely true! Oh, childhood days! They sure were the best days! Whenever I happened to meet any of my childhood friends, we would spend hours reminiscing about those wonderful childhood days! Once I visited the old village after 20 years' absence. Four friends, all married, spent the whole night together talking about childhood, and later slept together on the floor, just as we used to do during our childhood days!! Amazing!
Once again u remind me of those forgotten memories... Yep,its true that those days were the happiest moments in our lifetime.. Nothing worry us and we are in a world of our own, shape and size by ourselves...
I miss the Mithun Disco days, smoking Iskut kuang ro, but Glycerine! One of the good things about growing up is leaving Glycerine behind :)
@dr-feelgood: I think I should youtube it :-)
@Alejendro: thank you :-) Why dont you blog your childhood stories? would love to read them.
@dinasailo: thank you for visiting. Those were indeed the best days of our lives
@Jesse Saiawi: so true..
@Jerusha: haha.. right! Thanks for dropping by..
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