....of cherishable memories....

"urey sarma!!!!!" a scream from my brother n i donno if it startled or frightened me....i gave him a look and asked him wat da matter was...he said in a tone which was a mix disappointment and disbelief..."dis time diwali is on sunday..."back then i dint show any expression coz i was da one who was supposed to be the one having a solution to my bro's so-called probs but now i confess......even dat came as a shock to me as we are not gonna get a holiday and also we have to go to school the very next day after diwali....but i was determined not to show dat on my face and gave a look of assurance and said "we are not gonna make that ruin our plans for dis diwali....and for god's sake dont ever mention dat again and let's enjoy...we've been waiting for this for 2 months..."


dis diwali gave me the fond memories when we were children and we used to wait for dis coveted festival with lot of enthusiasm....the wait for the festival used to be very long and we literally used to count the days to go for it which seemed to elude us for some two or three months every year.....our nights always had only one issue for conversation.....my bro used to say dat hes gonna start wid dis n procceed further with lots and lots of other stuff...i used to listen to him intently and suggest him various ways how bombs and other high sounding crackers can be fired with relative ease....the terrifeid luk on his face hearing the mention of bombs gave me a weird kinda feeeling and i used to feel like sum sort of knight in a battlefield...soon we would be allured into sleep....


not so soon but finally the day came....we were elated and cant stand on our feet...we pleaded,cried and even threatened to quit taking food coz my father and we were not on good terms for the amount to be spent for buying crackers...i even went to the extent of promising a first rank in halfearly examinations if he gave me the money which i asked him....i highly doubt if my father believed me then coz first rank was always a distant dream for me....witt some sorta support from amma we got the money and were ecstatic...we went out to purchase crackers....we thought that we had all the money in the world but that was not good enough for the vendors and we had to be content witt ourselves...


finally da night came.....amma was very busy with pooja..we were standing in the hall and kept all the crackers spread infronty of us...i took the initiative...started praising the crackers and estimated the height that would be attained by some of them wittout actually firing them.....we cannot wait till amma completes her pooja...my bro was given the duty to check and provide the updates of her pooja...he came back and gave us a luk which now reminds me of the luk sachin tendulkar gave on reaching 35th century in test cricket...
he was animated and was jumping witt joy and told dat it was finally harathi time......we were given sweets after dat but none of us were really interested in them and we cannot wait to start the explosive,bright and colorful action......


next 45 or 60 minutes would be absolute fun....no one of us kept track of time but then its the greatest advantage being a kid...u need not keep track of time...we used to burn each and every remain of the crackers and by the end of them we all made some sorta grim luking faces...we cant believe that diwali was finally over and it will take one more year to actually relive diwali...my parents had to drag us back into house witt occassional man-handling...we had to come back reluctantly though.....we were offered food but no one of us were really interested we were very dull and cannot help thinking why diwali comes only once in a year....


"wen i grow up i will buy 100 crackers of each and every type...."was my statement as soon as we got to bed....

"add a 10 video-games to that list" tipped my bro....

"are u kinda crazy.....how on earth can a man survive without a video-game.....no need to say abt dat....." was my answer...

"now go to sleep or else we'll be late to school tomm" my elder bro said.....

"urey sarma!!!!!" one more scream....

"no ....not again.. im not coming to drive that lizard away...u have come to 4th class now and u need to learn how to deal wid them...."

"no...im afraid its not a lizard annayya.....its something worse than that....."

"wats dat????"

"i dint finish my home work"...he started sobbing heavily....i felt bad but can i do sumthin abt dat.....no certainly not then....

"annayya!!! its girija madam....u know she gives us a hard time weneva we dont do our homework....."tears flowing onto his cheeks now....

"oh! stop it....dat u shud've thot of on friday...now wat can i do...u know very well dat im not the principal of our school to giv u mercy..."

did i sound rude....i donno but my bro thot so.....

"chi...im not gonna talk witt u again"


the next morning we had to go to school...it took us every ounce of our will power to get ready to school....we were walking our way to school reminscing the previous night....i strongly felt that a law should be brought which enforces schools to give a holiday the very next day after diwali...we were joined by our friends...grimace finding its place on each one of their faces...i shared my idea of a holiday after diwali with them...one of them was very excited...he said that he would contest as a politician and all of us decided that we are gonna make him prime minister for kakinada...and hes gonna declare holiday the day after diwali every year so that the kids of the coming generations won't suffer like us......wid dat thot firmly registered in our minds we stepped in our school on that monday morning....:((