One of those wonderful days!

Summer vacations were one of the best times during our schooling years, redolent with the right mix of story books and games. We did not have to do homework or go to tuition. This ' t ' word was unheard of at that time, wherein it is a dire necessity now a days, we all wonder why; when deep down we are all aware of the brutal truth. But back then, I remember vividly that my elder sister did organize essay and mathematics competitions. During one such impromptu activity I was declared the winner, much to the distress of my cousin who covered her misery with copious tears - a matter of much laughter later. Can you imagine that we have not seen each other for over two decades, she in los angles and me in mumbai.  Anyways we have had enough of unwanted digression.

One hot , North Indian summer afternoon, when elders of the family were enjoying the post lunch stupor or some of them relishing their forty winks, we cousins , all of us about eight or nine years of age, decided to discover our surroundings. In those days, especially in the cantonment area, we were ignorant of terms like concrete jungles and multi-storey buildings. What we were familiar with was bungalows with attached servant quarters and verdant greenery around us, that is big lawns in front of the house and huge vegetable gardens behind the house. 

Anyways, since, structured gardens were boring, all of decided to something of the James bond variety. We had convinced each other and ourselves too that we were detectives of the superlative kind, the boys were James Bond, all of them and the girls were Mata Hari. When asked about her antecedents, it was enough when one of us said that she had read that Mata hari was a female detective that did her intriguing work with elan, attitude and style, well good enough, no more details were necessary, her mystic nature was enough to ensure our childish fan following. Here I would like to mention that no one wanted to be Nancy Drew, it seemed downright purile. Our group was formed on the basis of the Famous five group, made popular by Enid Blyton. 

Now this eclectic group of detectives, armed with nothing, except small sticks meandered along the surroundings of the bungalow. Inane bushes were the enemy in disguise and aptly thrashed by sticks, not that the bushes suffered any loss but for us the wicked enemy was dead. At times instructions were whispered from behind the bushes, when one of the cousin had difficulty hearing them, he was warned of the consequences, nothing lesser than expulsion. That made him a better listener for the time being. After a couple of hours of this senseless activity carried out with childish passion, we all returned back home sun burnt and zapped of energy.

Back home, we, girls were admonished, not for roaming about, but for gallivanting in the sun which would surely spoil our skin and future prospects. What were they, we did not know or care at that time.

The next day we decided to visit the base library but that is another tale to be told another time.

Ajaya.