It still remains the fondest part of his childhood memories, its been a long time now and yet its so very clear, the road ahead all moist with the monsoons tiny rivulets of water crisscrossing merging into each other creating ever changing moving patterns and that crab hurrying across and he running along to try and catch it, it was a bright orange and made a perfect contrast with the green all around and the black wet asphalt of the road.
It was one of those moments, which make you feel so content so happy and self sufficient. Walking alongside his father both trudging along from the farm trying to reach the nearest railway station. They tried to make it to the farm whenever they could. He knew it was a dream his father had dreamt and was struggling hard to keep, the farm visits weren't easy and the time it took to travel to and fro was an expensive commodity in those days with the small business taking a lot of time and energy throughout the week and even weekends. But the kid realized and appreciated it, content with the time he got to spend with his dad.
Thinking about it now brings a realization that it wasn't a big farm, but back then from the viewpoint of a 10 year old it was HUGE, with the small cottage and a little pond and the water canal running alongside and the animals, of course the animals. They had goats, a pair of bullocks, hens and a bullock cart too. The fishing trips in the canal were the highlight of every trip even though they only yielded small fry caught using fishing rods fashioned out of bamboo but the excitement then did not match the big ones he caught now with his state of the art carbon metal rods.
Yes, it was a magical time and surprisingly the memories are so very clear even after a couple of decades, he never thought he would have such a good memory.
The farm a world in itself is long gone, a victim of hard times. It had to be sold to meet financial ends but the former kid realizes now how much fun it was and how much the time spent with dad meant to him, if only some day he can do something similar in return and make another dream come true.
Till then it's the kid and the farm living it up on the moist road of childhood memories.
The story is amazing.. and those who have experienced that kinda environment and excitement rather magic, in your words, of that weather can understand how it feels walking alogside dad in the farm enjoying the scene around... looking at the farm in 1o year old kid's perspective took me back too in my childhood to recollect all such memories of time spent with dad.. i used to try to help him with my tiny hands but most imp thing used to spend time with him... ya but the things have changed now and we are missing those short n sweet moments...
awesome story.. looking forward to read more sooner...
keep it up!!!
Vaishali...