Love 86

It was year 1986. I was probably in class 3. We were having a yearly ritual of going to my Nani Maa’s place during the summer vacations of our school. And this was something which I was always waiting for. My maternal grandparents were living in “Madhepura”, a small and beautiful district of Bihar near the border of Nepal. My maternal grandfather was working for Government of Bihar in its irrigation department. Since he was holding a good post in the department, he had been given a big bungalow there.


That bungalow is still in my memory. A big 4 bedroom bungalow with a big waranda in the back side. A kitchen garden adjacent to the waranda and a big garden at the entrance of the bungalow that is being guarded by a little grilled Iron Gate. The entire premises was having boundaries of mordacious wire instead of bricks and some tendriled herbs with beautiful pink and white flower was covering those barbed boundaries. Some mango and papaya trees were there skirting the bungalow. The bungalow was outlined with beautiful orange and yellow colored marigold plants and some red roses.

I was the first kid of first daughter of my grandparents. That is why I was the most loved one in my Nani Maa’s place. And I was totally and completely in love with these whole experiences of Madhepura.

No, but this was absolutely not the Love 86 that I am remembering today.

So, that was year 1986. I was probably in class 3. And it was again a long awaited summer vacations. It was almost a month long holiday for me. My dad used to come with us and leaving my mom, my younger sister and me there; would go back to Patna after spending a couple of days with us in Madhepura.

That one month of the year. Actually the blissful month. The month of full enjoyment. It seems like even everyone of my Nani Maa’s place used to wait for this month when I would be there. Apple of everyone’s eyes. I was sleeping while getting myself transported to the story of my Nani Maa in the night. My nanaji was taking me with him for a walk in the morning. A divine walk when I was walking with him holding his finger asking a lot of questions to him and he was very patiently answering all my questions in a very dramatic way with an example attached in the form of story. After coming back from that divine walk, my masi was giving me horlics mixed in milk with again a story of some animal. It’s like everybody were swotting stories in the rest 11 months of the year to tell me all in that month.

That's not all. While I would be finishing milk, the kids of neighbors comes to our house and then our non stop play of hide and seek, house and doll and other games starts. So it’s a life full of joy.

The favorite pastime of my mamas' in the evening was telling me to narrate the dialogues of movie “Sholey” infront of his friends which I had mugged up at the age of 7 by listening the dialogues of this movie in the audio cassette mama was having. There in that group of audience was a boy whom I liked the most because of the fact that he always was carrying some candies that he was giving me for every dialogue I was enacting. After my grand performance during the evening tea, he always was taking me to the market or some garden of the city. There in the market or in garden, a nice girl of the colony where my Nani Maa's house was, coming to meet him. She was nice girl because she always was carrying some really sweet guava or litchi for me. They both use to talk with each other while I would be enjoying those guava and litchi. I really did not understand what they were talking nor do I remember today. That time, I was more interested in the fruits she was bringing for me. I was like their shield for them to meet. Sometimes that boy even was taking me to that lady's house. They probably would be studying in the same class and same college and this would have given them opportunity to know each other. Sometimes my mama was teasing this boy regarding that lady. What I was seeing was some giggle of them whenever they were talking about this lady but was to much a kid to understand what they were black-guarding about.

This all I experienced something 3 years. After that my nanaji got transferred to Kunauli, another village near to Nepal border. This all the group of people were left in Madhepura, but the enjoyment remained same for me even in Kunauli.
Now after retirement, nanaji has made his house in Gaya, another nice district of Bihar. A couple of year back, I was in Gaya for some of the reason. One day while I was with one of my mama into the market, suddenly a girl from behind called mama with his name. We both turned back to see a middle aged lady standing there with a teenaged girl. My mama and that lady talked with each other for a few moments. My mama introduced me with my name. She smiled, “Oh you became a man now. Do you still remember Guava and Litchi of Madhepura?” and saying that she moved.

I asked mama, “Who this lady was?”

He said, “Do you remember that there was a girl who was giving you guava and litchi when you was going with one of my friend in Madhepura.”

I stressed on my memory and finally recalled,”Ah, yes, yes. She was coming to meet one of your friends. I think they were having affair kind of thing. Is this the same lady?”

“Yes.”

“So finally they married each other. Was that teenager her daughter?”

“Yes that teenager is her daughter but they don't marry each other.”

“Means”

“Means, they both are married but with different partners.”

“But they loved each other very much, right”

“Yes they were, but who said that if you love someone, you will have to marry that person.”

“Which kind of question this is?”

“They both are settled here in Gaya. They both meet each other sometimes in some common parties. But they are not married with each other. This is as simple as that.” Said mama with a glitter in his eye.

So this is how an intense love relation ended and an affection relation developed between two persons. And they lived happily ever after...