Just Kidding around...

Taking a walk in the Kirkland waterfront on the 4th of July, unawares that the much awaited fireworks display on Lake Washington was what was pulling crowd to the lake shore, i stopped to ponder for a minute there. What a sight that is - couples all over the place, people with little kids holding their hands with their little fingers, nice orchestra performing in the open hall in front of which kids were dancing around like they cared about nothing - no thoughts, no worries, no cares about the future - it seemed to remind me of my own happy days as a kid - i had a good childhood i should say.

A big family it was - i had atleast a dozen kids of my age that were close relation, that i played with on a regular basis. We played all sorts of games - we chased around our great grandfather's big house, in the courtyard in front of the house, climb up the gooseberry trees pluck a bunch of gooseberries and eat and did all sorts of things. The house was so big it was a tough spot for hide and seek. My great grandfather was a very famous lawyer in our town, and he was in the electoral college from the town - just about everyone obeyed his command; people just respected him everywhere. He also had a home office where he would listen to the clients, and there was a big hall right next to it. As kids, we were told not to make noise while playing around that area. Well, i remember this - he used to have bottles of sugar candies in one of his cabinets - if we behaved, he would give us candies to eat, somethign we kids craved for very much.

Memory is very strange - while i forget something that happened a week before, i can still smell the candies from decades back. I can still remember those days when i too danced around worriless like i didnt have a tomorrow. It is going to take a lifetime to get back to that.