Sundays Way Back Then!

Way back then, Sundays used to be a different affair altogether. Mornings used to start with ‘Chitrahaar’ – old classics were aired and I would be often left gaping as I found my very serious uncle or very reticent Baba (father) humming to these lilting tunes. As for myself, I liked the dance numbers better – and unseen by others, would occasionally break into a jig à la yesteryear star Mithun, at some nook of our sprawling house.

And then there were some Sunday mornings when I would travel all the way to the marketplace with Baba where, among other things, he would buy fish. This, somehow, fascinated me a great deal. I would stare at the fish with all my might, and at times, when Baba was not looking, touch their scaly bodies gingerly. My curious mind would come up with an avalanche of questions. I would pelt the fishmonger and Baba in turn with these questions – why is ‘this’ fish different from ‘that’ one, why does that one have a bigger ‘tummy’… and the list would go on till they would beg me to stop.

And the special breakfast menu was something which actually made Sunday my favorite day of the week. Luchi – the deep fried bread that can make any Bong go moony-eyed, served with spicy ‘alur-dom’ (I wouldn’t even try describing this one – but it is not just “some potato curry”!) was something I would literally hanker for! And I would manage to tuck in ten ‘Luchi’ at one go – which is saying something given that I looked pretty anorexic back then, and couldn’t manage to finish off even a single helping of rice on other days.

Sunday afternoons were the time when I would wait, with eager anticipation, for ‘Someone’. That someone used to be a pot-bellied sweet seller – the man would flash a toothless smile whenever he saw me and at the sight of him, I would rush inside and implore my grandma to buy those creamy sweets that would just melt in the mouth!

Come evening and we would all go to the terrace to enjoy the cool breeze wafting by. Elders used to talk their hearts out while I used to dream, wide-eyed, about how I will own a big house someday where Luchi will be an everyday breakfast affair and creamy sweets will be available aplenty!

Those dreams might have changed, but the girl who used to dream those dreams still remains the same – those memories still make her smile a wide smile, and…she still asks too many questions when she is in the mood for it!