Soaring Wings

By Mimi Hrahsel*

“I miss my childhood, where the hardest decision was picking a crayon”.

The days of little feets

I came across this line just when I was thinking about my childhood days, and man! How I miss those days. Looking at my nieces and how eager they want to grow up, reminds me of myself back then. How I wish I could tell them that childhood will be the best days of their lives.

Since all my brothers were schooled somewhere far from home, I was quite alone back then. I remember being a great fan of Mithun Chakraborty , and right after school, mom would rent a Mithun movie from the video parlour nearby, and I’d watch it after I had done my homework. “Disco dancer” was a hit that time (hehe). I wasn’t allowed much to play outside with my neighbours. Yeah.. being the one and only girl in the family isn’t so cool sometimes!

But when cousins Prissy and George visits during exam holidays, and when my brothers come home for the holidays, those were “the” best days. I could play outdoors. We’d climb the mango tree near my late uncle’s place, tell stories, chase after lizards and play in the mud. We’d steal and smoke my uncle’s mizo ciggy (vaihlozial) in the unused piggery nearby, that is, when we get lucky. Most of the time, we’d roll up some dry leaves on a paper and smoke (haha).

And sometimes we’d do a short play with my very talented cousin ‘U Nunpari’ where we would laugh our a** off. The story of the play was ‘on the spot’; I guess that’s why we liked it so much. My brother Sangtea was like the ‘boss’ for me, Prissy and George. Whatever he says, we’ll do it. That was the rule. We’d stay under the blanket, switch off all the lights, he’d hold a torchlight, and tell horror stories. And to scare us, he’d suddenly switch on the torch, right under his mouth with his tongue hanging out, and we would scream our lungs out. We knew he was gonna do that, but we would still scream any way

And in the nights, when we pay a visit to my aunt’s place, we’d play while our mothers and aunts watch the great tv soap opera “Dynasty” with the other women-folk. And since we missed each other so much, we’d play a trick and pretend that we had slept off. If it was only mom, she’d let me sleep over. But if any of my brothers came along, they’d carry me home anyway, and I had to pretend that I was asleep throughout!

One winter, when my cousins came to pay a visit, I was so eager to play with them. But mom bathed me first, right after school. My nick was “Te-sawii” back then, all because I have a somewhat triangular shaped face I guess. I remember Mom saying while applying pure glycerine all over me, “As soon as you meet Prissy and George, tell them to call you Mimi instead of Te-sawii”. And ta da! I was called Mimi ever since, mostly by my mom’s side of the family. It’s Mami on dad’s side

Sigh! I miss those days. To have no care in the world. To be so free. To have no worries. I hate growing up. I hate having responsibilities. I hate being scared of making the wrong decisions.

But, life goes on…

*About the author: Mimi is a biotech research scholar from Mizoram. She puts down (ahem! puts up) her feelings on her blog Clarie