Reminiscence

Standing at the window,

I gaze, I look around,

Lots of activity going on,

Combination of movement and sound.

Children playing,

And women chattering,

All that together,

It resembles a good fun gathering.

There return those days,

The ones I had gone through,

The moments I’d spent on the field,

As the years passed and I grew.

Cricket through the year,

Football only in the monsoons,

The days were pretty boring,

Spent watching Shinchan and other cartoons.

Playing was easy,

But winning wasn’t,

Seeing children play today,

Even slightly changed that hasn’t.

Height problems talked about,

Also trial ball said on getting out,

Not so sincere with the rules,

Players get into a severe bout.

Cheating on run outs,

Is not an uncommon event,

The batsman never walks off,

Unless with some words he’s sent.

Sledging on the field,

It’s a prominent occurrence,

You can’t walk away from that,

It holds certain importance.

Football is another matter,

Which needs other judging,

It’s a pretty tiring game, Which

Can’t be played without strong nudging.

A push in the back,

Or a tug on the shirt,

A kick to the shin is occasional,

To make the opponent kiss the dirt.

That’s what I see,

Standing at the open window,

Rather it’s the time I had,

When I was a little kiddo.

Those wooden bats,

And those rubber balls,

Girls may not have done this,

‘Cause they enjoy playing with dolls.

Breaking windows,

And denting cars alike,

It’s not our fault,

We didn’t make the number of cars hike.

There’s no space today,

Not for us to play,

Cars and concrete all around,

And “Kids don’t play” they say.

Is it our fault,

Is it our mistake,

We wish to play openly,

And space is all it takes.

Don’t talk about grounds,

They’re too far,

Why not have place in the building,

And make another place for the car.

I don’t know where I’ve ended,

But it’s not a plea,

You can also call it a rant,

And by now it’s my time to flee.

Here rings my phone,

And I’m off to enjoy the day,

Keep all the cars in the middle,

But we’ll still manage to play.