The Perfect Life..

26th Jan , don’t precisely remember the year – may be 1992/93, woke up to a morning of coal field chill, which by the way for people who are not aware – can give a run for their money to many places across India in winters, a small town in eastern India - Dhanbad (small town in Jharkhand)

Slowly came in a low din from our black and white Murphy television – ‘ rashtrapati ka quaafila ..salaami manch ki taraf badhte hue’ . Pushed myself out from under the quilt and walked towards the living room – an old man , getting down from an a beautiful car, surrounded by a big group of army person on horses, he shook hands with few others in a queue. He walked up a stair on a deck towards our Tricolor..all happening in our National capital , Rajpath, New Delhi. It was the Republic Day parade on one and only TV channel DD National.

Like many of you, Republic day in my hometown was synonymous to Annual Sports Day. Crisp sunny winter morning and sports , for me its a nostalgia. The memories i have additionally are of a muck laden semi pot holed road that leads to the big football field – where we use to organize ‘Annual Sports Day’ every 26th January. The air was filled with the essence of from the early morning mist, the dust from the ground and intermittent smell of breakfast masala from some house all mixed together in right proportion ; this had a lasting impact in me so precise, that i can still feel it. Kids and adults from all families and stature, clan , used to walk in freely to participate in the event. The event was topped up with the cacophony of local vendors, hawkers, local chai wala..everyone in an eventful mood for the day.

What a carnival atmosphere it was.

The reason for penning this down was, there’s another small event that happened that day, which left a deep impression psychologically and physically.

In all of fan fare around and my excitement for the day i ran towards the sports field , because the event was about to start. I suddenly stumbled in one of those potholes & i tripped and fell hard on the half tared road on a dump of sacred droppings …oohhh!! It was bad, really really bad, my eyes got blurred, my knees were bleeding, my elbows scratched.. and I was on the road crying out loud for help. I was 7 years old, & remember clearly , a scooter stopped, asked me to hop on the scooter, told me he knows my dad , don't worry son!!?? OH !! he knows me , thought i. I had no idea who this man was , but someone who took me to local clinic. I got immediate attention and given proper first aid and the dressing required for my wound

Well, my 26th January that year ended before it could start. Not, that otherwise I would have won the 100 mts sprint – but, that’s what I hoped at least. This accident left me with two things , one off course an everlasting mark on my left knee, second a deeply routed sense of care, concern and helping anyone in need. Its so deeply in me, and I’m personally proud and thankful for it.

What this small towns teach us is innumerable and has a lasting impact, and to really think how it has helped us grow – so, many experiences from Sports to Cultural – Music to theater, Elocution to debates, Art to painting competitions , flower shows to science exhibitions and endless small and big activities.Some of them were thrown at us, pushed on us to participate & with extreme displeasure sometime we use to do it. But, what happened in the bargain, which I realized much later. We learned to participate , we learned to accept failures , learned to accept embarrassment, win sometime, enjoy others winning too. We were evolving as an individual. We were experiencing nature, science, literature, art & social values in parallel. Think about when was the last time your child, would have experienced the same. I know most will say, in cities like ours, we can only do as much. I agree, but what i also believe is to give these experiences to our children in small packets, as these are the most precious experiences for us, which makes us unique. Which will make them a good citizen tomorrow.

We who all were born from 1950 - 90 , must realize ,what all we have experienced will never be there again - we used to ride fearlessly on streets, those innumerable cricket sessions with stumps with makeshift wooden sticks, drink from the nearest water tap available without any fear of germs, gaining weight with sweets not a chance, our summers were with friends on the fields, making elastic propelled paper rockets, we went exploring farthest distances on our bikes, rainy day holiday in schools was such a welcome, no call , no smart phones but yet we were always on time to play in the evenings.

We were an incomparable generation, and in a way its my duty to return whatever is essential to the next generation. Few of these are by gone, but few we can still hold dearly and pass on. Let us search for those valuable experiences for our generations next. We owe this to them.

Between, Ambition and being connected to our roots, here we are in search of 'the perfect life' .