happy feet

25 April 2012 
It seems so ominous now that the book of memoirs of dear Suneel that Aunty wanted compiled for his 50^th birthday would turn out to be a tribute in memory of him within just two years!

  

                                              Rest in peace dear Suneel…..

                                                   We’ll miss you here.

                          Thanks for all the fun and laughter we shared in Salem.

14 May 2010

A few days back Aloka received a call from Nirmala Aunty in Hyderabad requesting her & Papu to pen down their memories of Suneel as a young boy, to make a befitting book of memoirs on his fiftieth birthday. It opened up a floodgate of memories of our childhood together in a small, then non-descript sleepy town of Salem, in Tamilnadu.

The following reminiscences (in third person) are a joint effort of both Papu & Aloka, for, more than just Suneel, it was a bonding of the Purkayasthas and the Lakshmans as a family!

            The time period is between 1969 and 1973.

            Aloka-Papu-Suneel-Babloo-Bachoo-Praneel, that is how the gang looked when put in descending order. Ever since Aloka and Papu can remember, Nirmala aunty and Lakshman uncle were just there and with them was their package of two extremely naughty, roly-poly boys. While Suneel & Praneel took great pride in calling Aloka ‘Fatty’, they accepted the nickname for themselves with equal élan too! And so it was that we were in and out of each others’ houses in Fairlands almost every day, laughing at silly jokes, poking fun of neighbours just as all youngsters do (remember Paddu?), playing rough games trying to act ‘tough’ and generally having fun.

Suneel & Praneel went to Holy Cross School like Babloo and Bachoo; they wore identical clothes and looked more like identical twins except that they were five years apart in age. Both aunty and uncle pampered us –we were like the daughters they never had I think, and uncle always invariably made Papu giggle for anything and everything! She was his ‘girlfriend’ as he so affectionately called her. Aunty’s tasty food was always at par with Ma’s cooking –the taste of her soufflés, cakes, biryani, kesari and ice cream still lingers fresh on our palettes!

Ma, Baba, Uncle and Aunty were great friends too. We went on picnics to Yercaud and Mettur Dam and also saw many a movie together. Birthdays were good fun also. Since aunty and Papu share the same birthday (19 Feb), it was always a double celebration. Every birthday Suneel would be at our place early in the morning with a beautiful gift from the family for the birthday girl/boy. On one birthday, Aloka   got a beautiful yellow ‘top’ while Papu got a set of classics by Emily Bronte, and Suneel promptly told Papu, “Well, serves you right; you read so much so you get only books!”

Another time, uncle and aunty went out of their way to hunt for and gift an LP record of the film ‘Hum Dono’, to Baba, since he was so fond of the song “Abhi na jao chodd kar”. Baba was ecstatic and enjoyed listening to his favourite song for years thereafter!

Babloo & Bachoo left for a stint in Rishi Valley school and it was decided that all of us would drive down to drop them the first time. And so it was that all the children were packed in one car while the adults were in the second one. What fun we had! We cracked jokes, teased each other, stealthily ate up the delicious coconut barfi that was meant for Babloo and Bachoo and played games. In one of the games, we divided ourselves into two groups –‘Tata’ and ‘Fargo’ and for every vehicle of these two brands that passed by, we gave ourselves a point. Praneel, Bachoo and Aloka were in the ‘Fargo’ team while Suneel, Papu and Babloo were ‘Tata’. Now, when Suneel decided to call every ‘Fargo’ truck as ‘Aloka’ or ‘Praneel’ because of their humongous size, it was hilarious for us but nothing short of murder for the poor victims!

The fun was short lived for, very soon, Uncle went on a transfer to Madurai. We missed them greatly and kept in touch. One morning we learnt that uncle had suffered a heart attack and so we rushed to Madurai to look him up. Praneel very gravely told us that Suneel was the cause of his father’s heart attack. When we asked him why, he said, “Suneel is very naughty. He never listens to Daddy. When Daddy tells him to close the windows, he doesn’t do it. That’s why Daddy’s got a heart attack”. We promptly advised Suneel to please close the windows whenever his father told him to do so and save his father any further attacks!

On two occasions both Aloka and Papu spent their summer vacations with aunty and uncle in Madurai. When the family shifted to Hyderabad, they spent a few days there too.

Thanks aunty and uncle for everything you did for us especially taking the responsibility of looking after the four of us when Baba and Ma went to Delhi for the Asia ‘72 Trade Fair. We remember it was you who persuaded Ma to join Baba since his company was putting up an exhibit at the Fair. It was quite a responsibility cooking for six perpetually hungry children!

Today, Aloka is 52, Papu & Suneel are 50, Babloo, Bachoo and Praneel a few years younger – those beautiful memories of a fun-filled childhood are frozen in time. Whenever we speak to Suneel we always imagine him as he was as a young lad of 10, with impeccable manners in front of the elders but a brat behind their back, a bundle of mischief and pranks!

There’s still so much more to write but it’s just impossible to describe the affection and bonding that we shared. Life in Salem indeed would have been dull without our cherished friends. It still remains a mystery to us that amongst ourselves, the six of us never, ever fought or even argued! It was laughter and fun all the way!

Well, here’s wishing Suneel many, many more years of good health and happiness!