My Favorite Childhood Memories

Let me tell you a little background first. I am an early 90's kid ( now adult :p). We are three siblings. I am the eldest one and have two younger brothers. My father used to work in a very big company on a good post. That company has it's own residential area, far from the hustle bustle of cities. It was a very peaceful, well- maintained, highly secured town. That place had its own life, where every one new almost everyone. All children went to the same school. There were total two schools (high standard) in the town that provided education until FCS or A-levels. Community events used to take place very often. Everyone used to take part in those. Since, the place was secured and environment was really good so we were allowed to play outside whenever we wanted. But in those times, parents were really strict so we had to be back home before Maghreb or at the sound of Azaan. At night, we could still go out but for that we needed special permission from father.

I have numerous memories so I was unable to decide which ones to share and which not. I think I will share general memories with which all Pakistanis and early 90s kids can relate.

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Let's begin with Eids...

A week before Eid, me and my friends used to gather in the evening in playground. Everyone used to bring stationery items like charts, marker, colors, glitters, scissors etc and we all used to make Eid cards. We all had to finish the cards 3 days before Eid. I still remember the excitement and nervousness to get the work done and worrying about making Eidi packets for friends. Then on chand raat (night before eid), we used to go to the most talented baji (elder girl) in the neighborhood and request her to apply henna on our hands. I still remember once I slept at baji's home while waiting for my turn and she still applied it on my hand while i was sleeping. The next day on Eid morning I had henna printed hand on my face. That was very ridiculous.

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Due to my father's job, he usually didn't get holidays on Eid so we spent almost all our Eids with friends instead of relatives. On Eid day, me and friends used to visit everyone's home in hopes to get crisp Eidi notes. We used to visit one friend's home in particular at any rate because her sisters used to make yummiest french fries and doughnuts. We had to have those delicious snacks must on every Eid no matter what. And we never showed them that we came there only for food.

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Then there was Eid-ul-Azha. The excitement used to be on another level when my father used to bring goat to sacrifice on Eid. Me and my brothers took turns to take the goat to a nearby bushy area with our friends so that it could eat. Then we used to make our goats race with each other. And there was always a deadly pahari bakra ( mountain goat) bought by one of our neighbors whose rope was always so long that it always made us feel that it was free and is running after us to hit us with his horns.
Then there was always a story of a cow that ran away on Eid day and kicked two uncles.

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After Eids, the highlight of my childhood was independence day. On every independence day there used to be a competition among streets. Whichever street was decorated best used to win. On 1st of August, our local market shopkeepers used to fill up their shops with flags, jhandiyan(buntings), ribbons, fairy lights and many decorative stuff. We used to rush to the market with our pocket money to buy best stuff for our homes. We came up with different ideas to decorate the front of our houses. Then at night we used to get on our bicycles and sneaked around the other streets to check what they were upto.

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^{Me and my brothers}

I was about to end this post but then I remembered how could I miss the day my father brought a Computer home. It was year 2000 if I'm not wrong. I was in grade 3. My younger brothers were in grade 1 and prep. It was a big news because at that time computers were not that common in households. All our friends used to come and check our computer which we happily showed off. But those were old times when parents used to be strict and children actually were afraid of them and listened to them. Computer was at home but we (me and my brothers) were restless. We weren't allowed to use it for more than 3 hours. So one hour was allocated to each of us. At 59 minutes, whoever got the next turn used to bug the first to get up and if the shifting got late even by milliseconds, the next one used to add those milliseconds in his shift. We used to play Need for Speed 2 and Mortal Kombat 4. We weren't allowed to exchange CDs with our friends because that way parents couldn't keep a check on us. Although we only wanted to exchange game CDs. We weren't allowed to watch movies at that age. Only cartoons and that too passed by parents.

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There are so many memories that I can't possibly pen down in one single post. There are paranormal stories of how we used to scare our cousins when they visited us. There are plenty of school stories as well. There are fond memories of parents. How my mother always had a solution to every problem and how my father taught me English Grammar at the age of 6 and I was a pro in Grammar by the age of 7.

I miss the times when I was carefree. The only problems in life were to get hold of the tv remote to watch your favorite show. My brothers loved Samurai Jack and I wanted to watch The Power Puff Girls. They liked Batista and JohnCena and I liked RandyOrton. Yes, I used to watch wrestling and football matches with them.

Now it's been a decade, we all are in different cities. We hardly get together once or twice a year for few days and cherish those times. Life goes on but the time spent with parents and siblings can never be forgotten. Those are the best years of ones life.

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