BY BAREERAH
Many of us say that we have already passed the stage of being kids, while some of us say that we haven’t, because we truly don’t always stay within the bounds of childhood as the books and norms describe it.
Childhood is a tangled subject that needs prolonged sessions of pondering and brainstorming (as per me) or a simple concept of belonging to a certain age (as per someone else) or a meagre concept that doesn’t need thinking. Who thinks about such things? Right, that is exactly what the brain says first hand after listening to the phrase.
However like many other concepts of the realm of living, childhood is just one deep and interconnected topic.
A phase which connects everything starting from joy, personality, experience, passion, love, trauma to life.
How would each one of us describe it?
Where would we start?
Would we recall the times when Mummy and Boba bathed us fresh placing us in the lap of love brushing our hair?
Would we recall the times when Daddy and Bade Papa took us on tours to the orchards explaining the view as a landlord would to the buyer?
Would we recall the tea parties held under the open blue sky in the lovely month of July?
Would we recall the times when we: Hudda, Ibrahim, Huwaida and I drenched each other to the skin in October and ended up having a cold?
Would we recall the ‘fire cracker incident’ from the Eid some 6 years ago?
Would we recall the scars from cycling all day long?
Would we recall the ‘sleepover’ when the illusion of a bright eyed ghost on the stair leading to the hall scared the souls out of everyone of us?
Would we recall the times when we put lipstick on our faces and sat in open drawers like aliens smiling brightly at the camera?
Would we recall the times when we bathed with our clothes on and ran from Maami like thieves?
Would we recall the times when we climbed the painter’s ladder leading to the second floor balcony, being rescued later?
Would we recall Mami’s slaps which Ibrahim and I responsibly received after fleeing away from home?
Would we recall the times when we prepared sweets leaving all utensils in ruins?
Would we recall how we threw them in the field nearby letting no one know? (well now they know)
Would we recall the times when we put makeup on each other’s faces using sketch pens?
Would we recall the times when we played doctor and Huwaida got stuck in the table and we ended up rolling on the floor laughing?
Would we recall the times when we thought of our future which now does not seem as exciting as only the discussion about it sounded?
Would we recall the times Daddy told us stories of his daring adventures and encounters with the Rantas and we would lie cosily within the blankets?
Would we recall how we screamed when Mama entered the room afterwards?
Would we recall Mama’s scolding when we called out kid’s names playing nearby from the third floor balcony?
Would we recall Baba’s laughter at every lame joke?
Would we remember how Baba slept peacefully in that Pahalgam meadow while we all melted away due to boredom?
Would we remember how Moja and Boba gossiped and laughed together?
Would we remember Puffi and Ranu’s chats in the shade while we all played around?
Would we remember the road to Faizah ma’am’s tuition in 2014?
Would we remember the jokes we cracked on our way home?
Would we remember the time when Ibrahim hid in the laundry basket while we watched 1920?
Would we remember how we played the beggar game in the corridor of the second floor?( you guys know what I am talking about).
Would we remember the pranks Hudda pulled on us?
Would we remember the times Sanniyah, Aneeqa, Alima and Huwaida got attacked by ants?
Would we remember all the plots?
Would we recall the times we lied and felt like we broke a sacred promise of God?
Would we remember the sneak outs with friends on every Eid to spend every penny we got hold of?
Would we remember the times we fled to the river by the countryside?
Would we remember how we managed to go to the river, eat the snacks there while sitting on a large stone under the blue September sky, and get back home within half an hour, how it felt like a marathon!
At this point of junction, let us stop and ask ourselves this question:
Is our childhood only about the times confined within the binds of the memory book written some ten or twenty years ago?
Did we lose it all or does it still live?
Within you revealing itself every now and then when we attack the bowl of popcorn on a rainy day, when we rush out to shower everyone around with snowballs on snowy days, when we meet old and new friends, when we giggle like there is no doom, when we listen to stories each one of us has to tell?
We all live different lives.
Some of us have given in to the fact that childhood is a word not enough to define our lives as adults anymore.
Some of us hide it for society’s sake and reveal it every now and then.
Many of us still cherish it, not only as a signature of childhood but as an interpretation of life and innocence.
The stroke of our childhood’s colour still beautifies the canvas of how we lead lives.
None of these ways are absolute because everyone has the freedom to choose how they want to live.
The absolute fact being that anyone of us who dares to imagine possesses a child of zest within themselves
Bareerah, Science High Schooler
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.