Down the Memory Lane!!! ;) Dedicated to Dilu and my Dad!

Dad, Mom and I travelled to many places including Egypt, Kenya, France, London and few others...but alas...I was just a baby!!!! So I've got no memories of all that except for photos and souvenirs... However, I do remember being ridiculed in my early days of schooling (LKG and UKG as it was known those days) in Kerala at St. Josephs (known as kapallpalli school in Malayalam), for not able to communicate in Malayalam...and for speaking in English fluently...I was a complete stranger, an alien among my little peers... God, coming to think of it now...it does seem bad....with no friends at all...and to remember coming back home and crying to Dad that I wouldn't go to School again!!

I used to wait for Dad to come home every evening from his work..and thats when my day really began... We ate..and he'd teach me numbers, I'd proudly take out my slate and coloured slate pencils and show him off whatever I learnt new that day....He'd teach me rhymes, alphabets, numbers....and did make sure I was good at them..I still remember him putting me to sleep with stories of beauty and the beast, cinderella, red riding hood, of wolves and foxes, hare and tortoise and so on..I never used to tire of his stories even if he had had to repeat a story more than thrice...;) cos thats how I like going to sleep.....but yeah whatever, it did not make my life easier at school... But then a miracle happened, Dad got his most awaited job as a Physics lecturer in IIT, Chennai and my life changed!!!!

Chennai...is the place I had my first happy memories.... We initially stayed as a joint family with my mum's sister's family....Thats where I met my cousin's son Dilan or Dilu how I call him...we had our first fights, first games ...you could call it sibling rivalry..even though we weren't actually siblings...He was my nephew I take it...but then again he was just a year or two younger......and to complete the gang we had Abhinav... Oh my God, How we fought for toys...Dilu's cycle and so on!!! Every other day we used to stand next to each other and compare who was growing taller...initially the person growing taller was ME!!!! And am glad that at least for that short time it was ME!!! Even though I remember our fights and tears...I still feel those days are still the most cherished days of my life.... Dilu and I still share that bond..an inseparable unspoken bond... How he has grown....he towers over me like a bamboo stick...but he's still the most charming guy ever... He was nicknamed Ummarkissan (He'll kill me if he reads this)...and why he was named so is so darn obvious if you knew him.... However.....the fun didn't last that long..just for two years if I remember correctly, cos Dilu and his mom (my cousin) had to join their family back in kerala..so we basically met once a year during our vacations either in Kerala or in Chennai...

Oh, Did I mention, I and Dilu shared the same initials and went to the same school (Shri B.S.Mootha Girls Senior Secondary School, but boys were allowed till Class 5)???? Well, I was in my third class, and Dilu in his first, and everyone at school assumed he was my little brother, the one who always sleeps in the Rickshaw!!! Now I am certain he's going to kill me when he reads this!!! I am however, very proud of Dilu, he's a handsome pilot, most annoying nephew and my first best friend!!!! We have both come a long way in life...faced many ordeals....but its all part of life...and I'd always love him.... And I can never hate him no matter how much he annoys me and makes fun of me... He was the first memory of a friend, a brother and a nephew I have!!!!

With more later,

Adieu!!