Childhood

Childhood is a man's most enjoyable stage of life I guess. At least so far it has been so for me. I have enjoyed my life the most till I was in 9th std. Not that I enjoy any less now but the fun I had then was definitely out of the world! I spent the first half of my childhood in a village called Balehonnur near Chikkamagalur. I tell you one thing- there is nothing like childhood in a village or a small town! It's just amazing. You can have all the gooseberries you want, all the freedom to go almost anywhere, everyone knows you and there is plenty of space for just any game you want to play. Most of all you have friends of similar mentality, without a thought about music or dance classes or evening tuition. We used to play from 4:30 to 7:30 in the evenings almost everyday. Of course, I have tatsed my father's stick plenty of times for trading marbles and chalks for other things and taking mangoes from a drunkard called Aithappa for free(he actually didn't give it totally free. You had go behind him for a few minutes shouting 'makkala geleya Aithappa' ,ie, Aithappa the childrens' friend!). But now as a youth I realize how amazing that time of my life was. Well may be it is that as you progress in life each stage past brings the same feelings but childhood!!! ah... indescribable.
I often see my childhood images in that Jagjith Singh song: 'woh kaagaz ki kashti, woh baarish ka paani....'