Couz Kahaniyaan

Me and 3P (a.k.a. Preethy), my cousin share an eternal bond built over more than a decade’s summer holidays (and countless other breaks) spent together.

Preethy wasn’t my style icon. But she was definitely fashionable, right from her childhood - always dressed up in well-put-together outfits. She earned the name ‘Style Miss’ from another of our cousins. Her 100-watt smile and model’s stance is a part of nearly every childhood picture.

Coming back to our childhood activities, here are some of the unforgettable ones…

When we were in Class 4, we pretended to be the wives of two famous movie actors at that time and played ‘house’. (She was the ‘wife’ of Rajnikant.)

One day, we were digging right near the stone steps in front of our house. After digging through several layers of mud, we thought we’d found the top of a treasure chest. Further digging revealed that it was the third step that was buried for long.

Our ‘greatest enemy’ was Eshwar, our neighbourhood kid who had quite an adventurous streak. We had plenty of fights, but we also played together sometimes. On one of those occasions (when he was all of 8 or 9), he reversed my Dad’s car out of the garage – I don’t know how I let him, and my Dad will, without doubt, get wild if he knows this!

(Are you rolling on the floor yet?)

We also came up with a ‘one-of-a-kind’ venture – The Sriram Parliament – named after
Sriram Colony, where I used to live.

‘The Sriram Parliament’ had three members – Me, 3P and her bro, Shyam, sitting on cane chairs in the garage. The chief and only political activity was snacking on biscuits.

We’d invited Eshwar to visit. He had a look and declared that he would hold an exhibition at his house the following week, where toy houses and buildings made of biscuits would be on display. (Obviously, he was inspired by our biscuits… lolz.) Of course, the exhibition never happened.

We also concocted a ‘magic potion’ in my backyard once – a complex formula created with leaves, twigs, mud and water. We then uttered some ‘mantras’ and made a wish. 3P and I wished that we should pass in our Annual exams. Shyam wished that he would get a bicycle. We passed (of course… we studied well), and he got a bicycle years later.

When we were about 14, we collaboratively wrote (I think, I wrote many of ‘em neways) about 72 short sonnets on various subjects – the chief one being infatuation. We threw that book away later.

We were also budding event managers. We planned and held 2 parties that were quite a hit among neighbourhood kids – a birthday party for Shyam, and a Christmas party. Too bad, we didn’t undertake more events.

Those were some of the most memorable things we did. Wait for more…