During the first flag hoisting of my life, my father was my partner with a camera, so when I saw the picture taken by that camera today, my mind was filled with memories, this is a different emotion that cannot be explained.
Sometimes old memories make the mind heavy and also help in re-pairing some broken relationships. Digging through old files, I found a picture that I took as a child when I was young and I lived at my uncle’s house as I mentioned earlier. That day was Independence Day but it could be Republic Day I am not sure because I was very young then. My father and I organized the flag hoisting, though being very young I did not know what nationalism was, but at that time there was a lot of feeling at work which makes me happy to think about it now. Raised the flag by arranging some bricks and using a basque but needed some flowers we couldn’t arrange flowers at that time so collected some marigolds from far away. I still remember the hard work my father and I had to do to collect those flowers. We had to walk a long way over empty fields and went far to collect a few flowers with which we hoisted the Indian national flag. We had a small camera with us though having a camera was considered a luxury at that time as people were totally dependent on the studio to get pictures from the camera. I still remember that Dad took my picture from far away from the side of the forest to cover as much of the area as possible. I don’t know why time goes by so fast none of us can tie it down if it was possible to tie it up and never let it go this feeling only those who get this feeling in themselves can understand once I got it.
Since I spent my childhood in my uncle’s house, there are so many memories that I can never get out of them. I feel like I can go back to those days. I still rush to my uncle’s house whenever I get time, although most of the things that are filled with memories are gone or have been changed in size, but still I try to find those lost days, which I once enjoyed so much. At the exact spot where I hoisted that national flag, a house has now been built, Uncle’s House. So I can’t find that memory anymore, so I keep looking at the pictures again and again as if I can go back to that time. I spent my life till 5th grade in my uncle’s house so half of my life is related to my uncle’s house so I can’t forget it even if I want to, maybe now there is a lot of narrowness between them that is normal with time but I don’t know why when I go there I don’t have any narrowness in me my mind is filled with generosity. Whatever I have learned in life, of course, the beginning of it started from that place, the most important time of my life, even though there was a lot of trouble, now I miss that time a lot. Uncle’s big face is gone now he is sick with time maybe he won’t live much longer there is a widow aunt with him though I have seen him a widow since my birth I don’t know when he became a widow. Time has changed them a lot now that generation is slowly ending new generation is about to start so sometimes I run away at least so that those generations don’t forget me at least once in a while if I can visit that land then I feel blessed I don’t want anything more in life. In the middle of life when all kinds of thoughts try to swallow me from all four directions, in a piece of land in the mind, all those memories live in childhood. I still feel like I can hear my father saying during the hoisting of the national flag, they did a good job of taking your picture, it will be a memory for the rest of my life. Yes, that picture is still a memory for me. I may not get back the time, but I will keep the memory alive.
