The Days of Walking

I miss my days of walking. Those days were at their peak when I was in high school. Me and those I called friends back then, we spent a lot of time in this neighbourhood walking our way around with conversations which wouldn’t have ended had the time not kept moving.



We all had our bicycles but bicycles made conversations difficult and it would eventually lead to us getting down the bicycle and conversing while dragging it along with us. But we certainly used them to travel what a kid calls a ‘long distance’.



Conversations are not the only thing that I recall when I think about those days. It’s the entirety of it, the interaction with life itself and everything that was occurring. What do a few kids not good at studies and average in sports have to talk about? Apparently, the entire world and about almost everything happening in it.



I remember the roads, the houses, the shops, the less cars and people and definitely more space to breathe in the comparatively cleaner air under the Sun which we associated more to the warmth of comfort. Our pocket money was less but then nothing was quite as expensive as the present. We could afford more than occasional fast food.



In the present, I need a reason to ignore my vehicle and walk, the primary of which being fitness. Many shops have closed down, a cost of advancement. The society has certainly drowned in more complexity; the roads are itself a sign of it; the once completely open roads to all, are guarded by gates and the gates are guarded by guards who are further guarded by the cameras and suspicious eyes of the people living within those gates.



The biggest change I would say is that most from the group of friends have moved on to other places and found a different life to be happy in and I am happy for them, even if years have passed with no exchange of words. I have found another life myself. Now, when I think about the past, none of us ever wanted these days of adulthood, but look at us all busy in our lives. It’s a beautiful thing, all these moments, days and phases connecting to form the life which we have lived and will live.



I will admit though, there are moments when I would give not everything but maybe a lot to feel once more like the days of walking.


On Tue, 8 Jul 2025 at 11:00, Anuran Chatterji <anuran.com@gmail.com> wrote:
I miss my days of walking. Those days were at their peak when I was in high school. Me and those I called friends back then, we spent a lot of time in this neighbourhood walking our way around with conversations which wouldn’t have ended had the time not kept moving.



We all had our bicycles but bicycles made conversations difficult and it would eventually lead to us getting down the bicycle and conversing while dragging it along with us. But we certainly used them to travel what a kid calls a ‘long distance’.



Conversations are not the only thing that I recall when I think about those days. It’s the entirety of it, the interaction with life itself and everything that was occurring. What do a few kids not good at studies and average in sports have to talk about? Apparently, the entire world and about almost everything happening in it.



I remember the roads, the houses, the shops, the less cars and people and definitely more space to breathe in the comparatively cleaner air under the Sun which we associated more to the warmth of comfort. Our pocket money was less but then nothing was quite as expensive as the present. We could afford more than occasional fast food.



In the present, I need a reason to ignore my vehicle and walk, the primary of which being fitness. Many shops have closed down, a cost of advancement. The society has certainly drowned in more complexity; the roads are itself a sign of it; the once completely open roads to all, are guarded by gates and the gates are guarded by guards who are further guarded by the cameras and suspicious eyes of the people living within those gates.



The biggest change I would say is that most from the group of friends have moved on to other places and found a different life to be happy in and I am happy for them, even if years have passed with no exchange of words. I have found another life myself. Now, when I think about the past, none of us ever wanted these days of adulthood, but look at us all busy in our lives. It’s a beautiful thing, all these moments, days and phases connecting to form the life which we have lived and will live.



I will admit though, there are moments when I would give not everything but maybe a lot to feel once more like the days of walking.

Written by Anuran Chatterji

• WordPress
• Instagram