What’s the best thing you’ve ever found randomly on the street?
I don’t know how many of you had this thought as a child, of one day going out there in the big, beautiful and magical world and discovering something special, a treasure, it could be anything, for me as a child it usually was a toy or anything that could connect with my imagination.
Now that I think about the time, there used to be many children who came out to play in the park with their toys. They would come with their parents and grandparents, now when I see the parks in the present, only grandparents are there.
So back then I did come across small toys, whole, broken, chess and ludo pieces, small cars, tennis balls, stickers, etc Like I said back then many children came to play in the park with toys and all variety of things so one could actually find a lot of things in the park. Once I remember finding this beautiful Mickey Mouse miniature figure, half the average size of an adult index finger. I used to keep it hidden, because I was afraid it would be taken away by my maternal grandmother like the other things that I brought back home. I did my best to hide it, but it was found and it went straight to society’s lost and found.
As I grew a little, not much, I found joy in coming across random bird nests, another something one could find very commonly back then even in metropolitans. My maternal grandfather had always told me not to touch bird eggs, so I didn’t, but I loved to watch them. A bird’s nest with eggs, there is something about it I still find very beautiful, like it speaks a lot about the life that is coming and thriving in this world, and nature welcoming it in its own way.
What came next was not discovery, but I did not know that at the time. We used to live in an apartment so there was a designated place where all the letter boxes were on a wall placed in rows. They were rectangular with the shorter sides in up and down. A space was there near the upper edge from where letters could be put in the letter box. While most letters would go in wholly and only the person with the particular letter box’s key could access it, but the magazine and monthly and weekly newspaper, they could never fit in with some of them coming out of the opening and if the letter box had lots of letters, then same thing happened to letters as well.
So, guess who was often going there and picking out any magazine, newspaper and letter with an interesting envelope within hand’s reach. Well, I did try to put them back later though, but I never remembered which letter box I had picked them from. I just left the habit when I realised on my own that maybe they weren’t there for everyone to pick and read.
I have found a lot of things, courtesy of an observant mind and it would take a lot of words and most importantly time to bring them all here, so I will get to the best one, I was still a child then. It does sound like I regret growing up and given all the people absent in present, I actually do, part of life or not.
So, the best find was a car, parked and forgotten, a convertible, tyres inflated, a coat of dust, cherry red colour, banjo-style steering wheels, shining silver on everything, the most comfortable fading brown colored, well-cushioned seats one could sit on and fall asleep and the best part about the thing was that the car’s roof was open. It was an old collectible even for its time back then, today I can only imagine, if maintained, how much a collector would pay for it. But back then, an open roof meant open invitation to us children.
We all sat in the car, turn by turn taking chances to turn the steering wheel, talking, later on bringing snacks just to eat there and also looking out for any adult who might pass by. It gave wings to our imagination and as soon as we stepped in the car, it was magically a different world. It was a good time.
I had forgotten about it, and years later, when I had grown up much above the magical world, into an adult, I walked by the place just out of curiosity. I knew the car wouldn’t be there, but just maybe what if, but it wasn’t there, some boring expensive modern sedan stood in its place. I didn’t go back there again, but I think I will now, since I have reconnected with the thought just now writing about it. Writing the experiences is connecting me again to a lot that I had lost and forgotten. The past surely isn’t waiting for me there, but my memories are still intact and my imagination is strong.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 