Dear Readers,
After ages I laid my hands on a brand new bicycle today that I can now call as mine. The whole experience of going to a cycle store, selecting a model and then finally owning it sent me back to my childhood. Twenty years ago, my father and my mother took me on a similar shopping spree and purchased my first mode of transport for me.
As soon as I entered the bicycle dealer's shop, that strong smell of bicycle tyres and tubes and other accessories rung a bell in my head. I remembered that evening when my parents fulfilled a promise that they made to me on my birthday. On the day we were supposed to go to the market, I was in my best behavior and had become a paragon of virtue and discipline looking down upon my 'disobedient' brother who thus, stood vindicated for not deserving any such similar gift.
After finishing off my homework dexterously ( along with flaunting the 'V. Goods' in my notebooks awarded a day before), I hopped into our car's rear seat fully aware of the fact that one awry step may scuttle me away from my prized gift. By God's grace, all went well and we reached the spot. There I got lost in the world of shining metal, nice smelling rubber, a shimmer of colors, imported electronic horns and memory of TV commercials which glorified the same machines that stood before me.
India in those days was quiet different from what it is today. Liberalisation was about to yield its results and we were living in an economy which was still, by many standards, closed. Cash was not free flowing. I had set my eyes on a very expensive kids bike but had to ultimately contend with a lesser option because my parents said they could not afford it. On our way back home, my papa and ma taught me to be happy with what you get and forget about what you cannot obtain. While they were delivering this lecture, I was least interested and was holding on to my new steel firmly but today, I realise that the dint of their lesson guided me through many lows of my life.......
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