kartik kannan's space on the web

A visit down Memory Lane

Rewind : Summer of 89



I was a naughty 6 year old kind on vacation in Chennai for a month.My grandfather used to take me along for a nice walk in the evening daily which included a daily pleasures that I loved seeing.Exactly at 4 pm. I used to see a dark Brown choloate coloured bus dropping Children home in the rather peaceful suburb of Nanganallur.I enjoyed the bus..envisioing and often wishing that it was a bus made of chocolate that dropped children,pretty much like the chocolate castle in the fable Hansel and Gretel.I also used to pester my grandfather in buying me,what these days for children was a status symbol...the BIG FUN brand of bubble gums which gave a small picture of a cricketer saying "x" no of points (of course in runs and Wickets).My grandfather very reluctantly used to buy that, fearing the bubblegum may end up gumming my throat.After that he used to pay a visit to his retired friends erodrome circle who were also living closeby.One such person was his contemporary, an Anglo Indian by the name of Mr Norton.A Visit to Mr and Mrs Norton's home used to almost fill my evening and I was at my shyest best there..pretending to be the goodchild who even said no to cookies.

Fastforward:

The next time , I heard of Mr and Mrs Norton was when my Grandfather Passed away last year,and the news was to be conveyed to them.It was then that it struck me that all through these years I never even bothered to go and see them.I immideately found their address and I found that they had long moved from Nanganallur and were now living in a Old Age home in a town called Perungalathur,which is stationed on the outskirts of Chennai.I tried visiting them,but couldnt see them, as they had gone out.Would I see them again? That was the question that occupied my mind ...and in my hectic work schedule those thoughts vaporised like Petrol in the hot Chennai Sun.A few dasy back when I watched a rerun of SWADES and BEING CYRUS...it was a sense of Deja Vu for me...as I could relate to what was happening in the movie with my life.

I lost no time in catching up with them last saturday...and boy it was a pleasant shock for them to swallow the reality that Kartik was no more the 6 year old 3 feet 2 inches tall kid...but was a 6 foot tall full grown adult.They must have been wondering how have 18 years passed by so quickly...and I was all the more pleased as they had no one to call of their own.No progenies and distanced relationship with the family meant just 3-4 friends who would regularly drop in....one of which was my grandfather.It felt good reliving those wonderful years and sitting and giving them the comfort that some one needs them also and some one remembers them too.Generally Old people just need some one to tell their stories to...and if they can just have that..they'd feel pretty ecstatic and contended with life.I was happy, in a small way I could make some difference to their lives.

When I came out of the place, I felt really satisfied and happy that I had responsed to this inner call of mine to go visit them.I had just started to dream in the train of those lovely days 18 years back..when life went at its own pace and people had time for everything....

To add to it was the music on my walkman echoing...Bryan adam's epoch breaking number which my mind customised to this format.(If u havent hear this song...then call me to hear this as my airtel caller tune).

Simply said, The Summer of 89,Those were the best days of my life !!