A Day in the Sun- The ISBF Gazette_Issue II

I am somewhat over 18. It is an age where I have started to get a detailed rendezvous with the pressures of life that lie ahead. The issues (I still call them issues with respect to my age) of career development, its eventual establishment, and of course family’s hopes and aspirations are no more matters, that can be ignored frivolously and have now become far more substantial in nature. Today when I look back at myself being 11 or 12, I am immediately struck by a few words that my grandfather used so repetitively that it became much more than a cliché. He always said to me, ‘Son, these years are probably the best years of your life.’ At that junction, it was no

more than a mere statement which I had heard so many times that it had remained of no value to me, personally. But now, as I start my journey into the supposedly ‘big bad world’, those words come back to me like a lightening strike, which is more thunderous and powerful than ever. The words are followed by images, images of a run and a jump and images of a day of having only fun! A day in the sun, just like any other normal weekend back then, was a time to rejuvenate, a time to play. Yet, it means so much more now that I reminisce. It was an opportunity to let the spirits fly free, to be with friends and yeah! Bask in the spring sun. Back then, the sun was very comforting and even friendlier. It was a time when we used to play for hours (we actually had the time to play for hours!), share lunches, laze under the shade of a tree, laugh on innocent jokes, while the cool breeze brushed our faces and tangled our hair. The dirty ball, the perspiration, the stained clothes and empty bottles of coke were all witness to my slumber and a feeling of utter bliss. A coat of sepia has already been firmly glued to the images as if it shields all the innocence and purity of those pictures. Pictures I can revert back to as solid memories for, William Wordsworth illustrates it as "For oft, when on my couch I lie, in vacant or in pensive mood, they flash upon that inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude". However, the best part is I am not old enough yet! Still, as time passes by and my life changes dynamically, my day serene yet joyful remains just the way it was, a great day in the sun.