Memories

Have you ever felt a familiar whiff of aroma of tea from your favourite tea stall, when all you were doing was walking by the streets minding our own business? Have you ever felt the air and remembered a breeze many seasons ago, when you had wrapped your shawl a little tighter, hugged yourself and smiled..perhaps for no reason at all? Has memory ever sneaked up, walking behind you like a naughty kid all along only to appear suddenly, taking you by surprise?

That's what memory does ..you know. Every single time. It catches you unaware and all you can do is slip into its warmth, reveling the moments gone by. Remember those lunch boxes in school, which were opened together and every bite was shared? Did you go running to you mom saying, "Mummy, Minali's mom makes the best aloo ka parantha's in the world. Please take the recipe from her!" ? Well I did! Remember those bus rides home, or the sunday morning breakfasts with everyone and sometimes even with the neighbours bringing in their pohas and upmas?

The first day in college or the first time you met the people you now call the best of your friends -- what they said the first time, your first impression -- they are all lovely conversations over coffee .. that go and on and on. The jokes still crack you up and the secret pet names are still fresh in your minds. You go through the photo albums, look at your professors and in a jiffy, there you are ... in the same class, at your seat , doodling at the back of our note book , trying your best to control your laughter or maybe , even listening to the lecture?

Memories -- they make you laugh, they make you smile and more often than not , they make you cry. They also bring along regret. You want them to stay , you want them to hold your hand and take you back once again to the days of carefree laughter and worries that hardly mattered. Be careful, they may fly away if you don't look closely ...leaving you with a hazy foreground. Hold on to them .... these days , it is difficult to make memories.