At the Traffic light

Today i was in a horrible mood cos i was late for class and the friggin auto guy was slow. We stopped at Koramangala IV block traffic light and i saw two kids - a brother and sister pair. The brother who was older was helping his sister wear her earrings properly. I couldnt resist a smile. In fact i didnt stop smiling till i got to college. It reminded me of my childhood.
My bro n i used to go to the terrace (where another floor was being built) and used to pretend-play Tipu Sultan. One part of the terrace was the summer palace and the other the winter palace. My bro was Tipu and i used to be Hyder Ali or the british (depending on his mood!). We used to take the caps off whiskey and scotch bottles and use them as our pretend wine glasses by fillin em wit water and drinking from em..
i loved it wen ther was a bday in my bros class...cos i used to get the chocolate his classmates used to give him..hee hee...my bro used to bring them home in such a dedicated manner!(i was such a spoilt kid!)
oh hee hee v wer such weirdos..he used to carry me piggy back n sing 'phoolan ka taron ka'...ooof i hated playing, weightlifting champion wit him. he used to carry me pretending to be a weightlifter champion and would chuck me onto the bed, like the weight lifters. i once lost consciousness cos he threw me down with so much force! and he once made me believe gold was silver and silver was gold!ooooooooooof!
bitter-sweet.........
hmm every summer we had this ritual of making Rasna (mango or orange) as well as puddings, cakes and ice creams. c that was the only time my mum was free, cos lookin after two kids a 24 hr job.
One week before the school closed for vacations mum used to buy Rasna and hide it. And on the first day of our vacation bro n i used to sit in front of a a huge bowl of sugar and water and stir it to dissolve it. The exciting part of course was wen mum added the juice concentrate and we watched the water turn yellow or orange depending on the flavour.This was stored in a huge transparent borosil jug and placed in the fridge. We were allowed only two cups in a day.
It was the same for cakes. We would sit and mix the cake batter and get really antsy waitin for the cake to bake completely.
Summer meant early morning walk to the milk booth in indiranagar II stage at 7 in the morning wit a milk container. It was so exciting to take the token and put them thru the slots and watch the cold milk flow out through the nozzle. During winter vacations my bro would blow into the fog and say - 'look im smoking!'
Summer meant jumping over the fence of the II stage park. And running away when the owner came. It meant playing cycle catch and makin paper pellets to hit people with; using the rubber band on the cycle handlebar...hee hee...
Summer also meant poori-palya and channa bhatoore for breakfast (a break from idlis and dosas!)
I used to love going to Catholic Club. Three families used to go together and then meet up with other families. I loved the ballroom there...i still do...I used to wish i could dance there (cos it was restricted for kids), the way the grown ups did...
Now i can, and theres no one to dance with!!

Phoolan ka taaron ka, sabka kehna hai
Ek hazaron me meri behna hai
Saari, umar, hame sang rehna hai.....>