26th January! Republic Day in India.!!
Today as we celebrate the 62nd ( or is it 61st considering we became a republic in 1950) Republic Day, could not help but recollect some memories which revolve around this day! Memories which are mostly from the childhood and some in the later stages of my teens.
As a child, I, like most of the children used to look forward to Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti & Children's Day. However the reasons were far from being patriotic or any other such feelings. At that age, the reason was plain and simple- a day off from school!! As a child then and i guess even as adults today, we never feel the need to question why are we getting a leave as long as we are getting one.
As a child, I dreaded getting up early in morning to go to school. (This habit has still not left me. And no, I am not saying that I still go to school, i was referring to the getting up early bit.). And used to look forward to a day where I don't have to feign stomach aches or anything else to get a holiday from school. (wow, am sure I am coming across as a role model student). But the funny part is that on Republic Day, when dad would wake me up, I would get up without any qualms and plonk myself in front of our royal black and white Crown TV. And then the magical moment would come when dad would come and key in and open the shutters of the TV ( yeah man. the tv used to come with a shutter which had a key. Inspiration for child lock for channels. Man, would have loved such a TV today), and we would get to see the parade and the various tableau from different parts of the country.
Suddenly shouts of " Keralam, Keralam" from mom and dad would make me realise that I was doing what is called in today's corporate world as " Power Nap".( I always had a futuristic vision :) ) Those cheers would get us prepped up to see what is it that Kerala, my home state, has to offer on the Tableau for that year. And they were consistent in the boat, Kathakali and Kalari payat show! Consistency is good, but boring! hmmmmm.
One of the memories which is not so pleasant is of 26th January, 2001. This was the time when we were in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It was on this day, that nature took a fancy to do a rock and roll early in the morning at around 8:45, which resulted in what is called Earthquake. This rock and roll would have helped nature take some pressure off itself, but it was not a great day for the people. Epicentred in Bhuj in the western part of Gujarat, it was a massive earthquake which lasted for approximately 2 mins. I was working part time at that time for a call centre and had taken the night shift to prepare for my exams. I had finished my night shift on 25th night and reached home at around 8:30am on 26th morning. When I was untying my shoe laces, I suddenly saw the TV cabinet moving towards me and the speakers of our new Philips Powerhouse(yeah, the double cassette player with 800 watts PMPO, the loudest at that time) drop down from the walls where it was placed. I convinced myself at that moment that I am already asleep having not slept the last night at office( or did i??). Suddenly mom and dad came out and asked me to go out. My bro who was around 12 years at that time was asleep and refused to get up as he was enjoying his hard earned Republic Day holiday. Finally, mom, dad & bro were out in the open. And where was I? I had rushed back into the room to hold the colour TV from falling. It was not even 2 months that we had bought it and did not want anything in the world to deprive me of watching images in colour. The next thing I remember is dad shouting at the top of his voice asking me to get the heck out of the house. And I did so without a whimper and a small prayer on my lips that nothing should happen to the TV. Thankfully, it was one of the very few times, when my prayers were heard and actioned upon, in my favour.
The rest of the details of the days that followed 26th Jan 2001 are too depressing to convey at this point of time. Maybe in a later post.
Today it is 26th January, 2011. I am 33 and i still look forward to the holiday which comes in the middle of the week! The parade has been given a fleeting glance and yes, Kerala is still consistent! News channels try to raise the patriotic fever by trying to do one upmanship over the other. Strangely everything will be quite tomorrow. But this is a topic on which I want to write at length some other day!
In case any of you have been brave enough to reach till this line, without taking the Power Nap, let me wish you all a very Happy Republic Day!
Love,
Social Recluse
Today as we celebrate the 62nd ( or is it 61st considering we became a republic in 1950) Republic Day, could not help but recollect some memories which revolve around this day! Memories which are mostly from the childhood and some in the later stages of my teens.
As a child, I, like most of the children used to look forward to Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti & Children's Day. However the reasons were far from being patriotic or any other such feelings. At that age, the reason was plain and simple- a day off from school!! As a child then and i guess even as adults today, we never feel the need to question why are we getting a leave as long as we are getting one.
As a child, I dreaded getting up early in morning to go to school. (This habit has still not left me. And no, I am not saying that I still go to school, i was referring to the getting up early bit.). And used to look forward to a day where I don't have to feign stomach aches or anything else to get a holiday from school. (wow, am sure I am coming across as a role model student). But the funny part is that on Republic Day, when dad would wake me up, I would get up without any qualms and plonk myself in front of our royal black and white Crown TV. And then the magical moment would come when dad would come and key in and open the shutters of the TV ( yeah man. the tv used to come with a shutter which had a key. Inspiration for child lock for channels. Man, would have loved such a TV today), and we would get to see the parade and the various tableau from different parts of the country.
Suddenly shouts of " Keralam, Keralam" from mom and dad would make me realise that I was doing what is called in today's corporate world as " Power Nap".( I always had a futuristic vision :) ) Those cheers would get us prepped up to see what is it that Kerala, my home state, has to offer on the Tableau for that year. And they were consistent in the boat, Kathakali and Kalari payat show! Consistency is good, but boring! hmmmmm.
One of the memories which is not so pleasant is of 26th January, 2001. This was the time when we were in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It was on this day, that nature took a fancy to do a rock and roll early in the morning at around 8:45, which resulted in what is called Earthquake. This rock and roll would have helped nature take some pressure off itself, but it was not a great day for the people. Epicentred in Bhuj in the western part of Gujarat, it was a massive earthquake which lasted for approximately 2 mins. I was working part time at that time for a call centre and had taken the night shift to prepare for my exams. I had finished my night shift on 25th night and reached home at around 8:30am on 26th morning. When I was untying my shoe laces, I suddenly saw the TV cabinet moving towards me and the speakers of our new Philips Powerhouse(yeah, the double cassette player with 800 watts PMPO, the loudest at that time) drop down from the walls where it was placed. I convinced myself at that moment that I am already asleep having not slept the last night at office( or did i??). Suddenly mom and dad came out and asked me to go out. My bro who was around 12 years at that time was asleep and refused to get up as he was enjoying his hard earned Republic Day holiday. Finally, mom, dad & bro were out in the open. And where was I? I had rushed back into the room to hold the colour TV from falling. It was not even 2 months that we had bought it and did not want anything in the world to deprive me of watching images in colour. The next thing I remember is dad shouting at the top of his voice asking me to get the heck out of the house. And I did so without a whimper and a small prayer on my lips that nothing should happen to the TV. Thankfully, it was one of the very few times, when my prayers were heard and actioned upon, in my favour.
The rest of the details of the days that followed 26th Jan 2001 are too depressing to convey at this point of time. Maybe in a later post.
Today it is 26th January, 2011. I am 33 and i still look forward to the holiday which comes in the middle of the week! The parade has been given a fleeting glance and yes, Kerala is still consistent! News channels try to raise the patriotic fever by trying to do one upmanship over the other. Strangely everything will be quite tomorrow. But this is a topic on which I want to write at length some other day!
In case any of you have been brave enough to reach till this line, without taking the Power Nap, let me wish you all a very Happy Republic Day!
Love,
Social Recluse
Excellent Narration Vinesh, good retro thoughts and look forward to see some more interesting articles about your passion/Interest. - DC*
ReplyDeletethank you Dinesh. Glad to keep my date with my new year resolution. hope to sustain it! :)
ReplyDeleteA very honest and innocent depiction Vinesh. I loved reading it. Look forward to see many more posts. all the best and keep writing. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you Baishali. got inspired after reading your blog! hope to continue writing!
ReplyDeletemmm..so you arrive in the blog world. Nice lucid writing. Interesting. Made me smile / laugh out quite many times...But the comments made me wonder...
ReplyDeleteVinesh and INNOCENT in the same sentence. Wonders! Wonders! Wonder of Wonders!
Cheers Bro / Mukund
^ :-)
ReplyDelete@Mukund: Vinesh and Innocent was written because they look good together!! :D
ReplyDeleteNice one again.. but correction.. u are bad with dates.. earthquake was in 2001.. not 2000
ReplyDeletehmmm, oh was it 2001!! hmmm. thanks, will make a note. btw, thankfully at least got the date right!!
ReplyDelete