Little Thrills

Growing up in Mumbai and the old heart of it, meant that one found and made friends and categorised them according to either where they met them, interests & hobbies groups, good friends and just friends or well, anything else fit.

As a child living in Mumbai - a bustling city, made for getting immune to, accustomed to, passing days with and or without simple things that are usually taken for granted. Meaning which, in Mumbai , and further right uptil now, alot of residential areas faced and face , rather alot of good residential areas faced problems of lack of proper water supply, lack of cooperative housing, noisy neighbours etc. Most places have their own sets of issues for people living there to deal with, which is why, our own closer to home issues, became soon , a part of daily living. Something, we fretted over but accepted eventually and worked our days around it so that we could live with it.
So anyway, coming to the actual point of this. Commonly for kids who had parents born and bred here... we had our parents homes and then their parents homes to visit and have play time during school off's and summers.
My maternal grandparents who live in Mumbai and their homely house was the quickest and commonest get-away while growing up. Every once in a holiday season we wound up there. And breathed in and enjoyed the simple living in with our grandparents and their life styles, visiting their friends, visiting their friends kids and their kids and going to the local shopping centres to enjoy and feast on local delicacies, being pampered and loved , to the core.
It's around this time that i made the set of "friends from the grandparents house".
So, my grandparents house, had one thing that i appreciated alot in it. 2 rest rooms instead of the 1 in my own home and 24 hr running water supply unlike in mine where it was dominated by hourly supply (read: Mumbai's Living issues).
This simple fact made me glow with glee when i knew i'd be staying there for even a short period,
When they say that nothing beats a parent's love, they should've also said that nothing beats the warmth of a grandparent's hug. Cuddling up to my maternal grandmother's saree and laying in her lap was the warmest most cosiest feeling i remember as a child.
Anyway, so, to tell one the truth. In my own housing society, i never made many friends. More so cause the area we lived in leant more toward the traditional & conservative lines of living. And we, i, dealt with a mix of traditions and modern day living. We understood the importance of our own culture, yet, meshed it with others alot. Which meant that my own outlook was alot different that others in the neighbourhood, which ultimately resulted in me making more friends outside of my home;
3 girls.. including me. Summers at my grandparents house. Winter holidays and diwali holidays at my grandparents house, 3 girls. All around the same age group.
I can't remember how to entertained ourselves to the exact point of narration, but i do remember that our days just flew by...
One thing we derived a very great thrill from was, ringing on random people's doorbells and then running away and hiding! What pleasure a growing child can find from doing that is one only a child would totally comprehend.
My grandparents housing block had about 2-3 short little sweet buildings laid around a single compound. All of which were not more than 4 storey's high. The ground floors were of course our usual targets. Due to the having of a couple of short buildings around each other, our hiding places were always in abundance. We use to just ran up randomly to a house unknown to us, ring the bell with a straight face and scram! Then, once hidden from view, we use to listen to the door opening and the innocent non suspecting inhabitant going, "hello, who's there?".
Our efforts to stiffle our upcoming giggles at this simply yet giddyheaded thrill gave us another joy altogether.
How innocent and foolish, one would think. But , it was fun, Think as you want!
Laughing out loud without inhibitions , without a care in the world, with just the feeling of being us, being me, being free, that's a good childhood.

Common in Mumbai, or maybe anywhere in the world is to loose touch with old friends.
I don't know where my "friends from the grandparent's house" are, i don't know what they do.
If i looked hard enough, i'm sure i'd be able to find them again and reestablish contact, but right now, my heart just wants to hold on to the old memory of these little thrills without meeting their grown up versions. Not just yet at least!

Today, i was at work. In the building i work at, is a lift. A special lift in the stairway corridor for higher level seniors.
As i walked up the stairs, the yearning to press the lift bell and run was felt, hard!
If only....