Written by Srinwanti Sen
Edited by Ananya Athaiya
“Nostalgia is an indefinable emotion - almost like happiness, a lot like sadness with a hint of longing thrown in for good measure. It is like the briefest moment of time travel. In that single instant, you experience all the memories, sentiments and feelings you once held for something in your past - like an emotional echo.”
Ranata Suzuki
Nostalgia. This simple and sweet word is the root cause for the mixed emotions that we feel suddenly while listening to a song, looking through old photos, visiting our ‘special’ place and so on. It makes us happy, remembering how amazing and joyful those times were when we were our unapologetic, silly, crazy selves with others. Sometimes, it also makes us sad, and fills us with longing for those times to come back so that we can relive them once again. We experience nostalgia throughout our life at different points. The strongest and closest to our heart are childhood memories. The first birthday party, the first friends we made in school, the first fight we had with our sibling, the first school/family trip and so many more experiences that are so very special and unique to each one of us and mean a lot. Let us visit some memorable moments of our childhood through the experience of others, shall we ?
MY FIRST EVER BIRTHDAY- Multicoloured balloons. Confetti and foam spray that made a mess of the whole room. Pinata filled with streamers, chocolates and other goodies. Delicious looking cakes. Sometimes our parents even held themed parties where everyone dressed up as cartoon characters, Disney princesses, etc., or called magicians and face-painters- anything to make the party a grand success. It was so much fun, running and playing around with our friends, screaming at the tops of our lungs and having the time of our life! School birthday parties were a different kind of fun - distributing sweets to classmates and going around the entire school with our ‘best friend’ to give sweets to teachers as well; or being the ‘celebrity’ of the school and having the privilege to wear colourful clothes to school while everyone else was in uniforms. Those days were really the best, weren’t they ?
MY FIRST EVER DAY AND FRIEND IN SCHOOL- This situation usually went in two different directions - either we were so scared and intimidated by so many new people that we refuse to let go of our parents’ hand and cried the entire day, or we thoroughly enjoyed our first day, making new friends, meeting new people and exploring our new surroundings with utmost excitement. Friends were made randomly on this first day too - while playing games during break, doing group activities in class, shyly asking for help from classmates and so on. Some of them ended up becoming our best friends for the longest time, always hanging out together, walking around school holding hands so that we don’t lose each other, asking the teacher’s permission to go to the washroom together, etc.
MY FIRST EVER PICNIC- Picnics with family and friends were always chaotic and exciting. Playing games like Antakshari, Ludo, Housey, Hide-and-seek, Charades, Cricket, Badminton and Football, going for fishing and swimming incase there’s a lake nearby, making a fire as evening approaches, sharing horror stories and exciting events with each other, and finally ending the day on a tired but happy note- these were few experiences that defined picnics. The delicious foods, the happy chatter and hyped up mood made picnics a very memorable childhood event.
MY FIRST EVER SCHOOL TRIP- Like picnics, school trips were also an exuberant occasion. Be it an amusement park, zoo, museum or movie theatres, the thrill and excitement of knowing that we get to spend an entire day having fun with our friends and playing with them instead of sitting in classrooms studying, made us all so full of energy and joy. Wearing colourful clothes instead of uniforms was the added benefit! Clicking silly pictures, talking at the top of our voices, not staying still for even a second, just exploring new places with friends and playing games was all that we could’ve ever wanted and we wished such days could come more frequently (or rather, everyday).
MY FIRST TIME ON STAGE- Nerve-wracking? Scary? Thrilling? Performing in front of our parents or relatives for the first time was a cocktail of many emotions, whether it was the school annual function/concert/sports day/school carnival. Remember the cute and awkward performances we put on, wearing all those brightly coloured and sparkly costumes and make-up? Remember the loud cheers of encouragement at the end even if we forgot our steps/lines or just stood at the stage, blankly staring at the audience? Pretty sure the photos and video cameras store all the evidence of our fabulous performances!
Hopefully, some of these above-mentioned experiences brought up some bittersweet emotions and happy childhood memories! These are moments which will be forever etched in our minds and we cannot let go of them so easily. The smiles, the tears, the laughter, the cheers, the sobs, and more, connect us to our past, and allow us to find an escape from the present by getting lost in our yearning for the past.
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