My Dad was working in a Government company in Hyderabad. All the staff were living in the company accommodation which were called ‘Quarters’. Each Quarter had four apartments in each building, two on the ground floor and 2 on the upper floor.

There were thousands of employees in this company and the families had no other option but to live in these Quarters. There were hardly any other residential areas outside of this township where people could rent/buy.

This was a manufacturing company and the Factory was at one end of the township.

The Factory and Township was designed by the collaborators who were from the erstwhile Czechoslovakia.

This company is 30km from the city of Hyderabad.

The township was self-sufficient wrt day to day consumables and groceries. We had several schools, one hospital, two recreation clubs, an open air stadium, an indoor community hall for various events, tennis courts, parks, temple, church, masjid and gurudwara.

This morning I was recalling my childhood days when I was less than 7 yrs old.

We lived in the upper floor and I always enjoyed looking out from the balcony. I always wanted to go downstairs and play with the girls who lived on the ground floor. They were of the same age as me and my sister. There were many other girls of my age in the neighborhood.

We lived in the same apartment till I was 7 yrs old . Dad was eligible for a bigger quarter and so we moved from this place.

I can’t remember sitting down and doing/learning something at that age.
I remember playing around all the houses in the neighborhood with a bunch of friends, .exploring people’s gardens and backyards…..going through the green fences from one house to another…collecting fruits , flowers ,leaves and playing with them…eating lantana fruits ….sucking the sweet honey from flowers, exploring rocky areas near our house.. collecting colorful pebbles there…..playing with butterflies, dragonflies and red velvet boochis.

These bugs come out during the rainy season. These were collected and placed in a small matchbox along with some grass as food.

Getting hurt during the play would then be followed by searching for leaves of ‘thatha pilaka tup’ flower. These flowers grew at the end of a long stalk. The leaves are thick and juicy.

A few of these leaves are squeezed between both the palms and the juice applied on the bruise. The juice is supposed to have medicinal properties and heals bruises . I cringe a little as the juice touches the bruise. In a moment I am back with the other kids and start playing again. We kids did this without thinking twice. I don’t remember how we learnt about the medicinal properties of these leaves. I probably watched another kid doing this and simply followed.

🙂

The only stuff that I remember from school is singing the rhyme ‘Sing, Sing , Sing , Sing Mother Sing ….’ from Nursery.

I was unable to recall the whole rhyme and some 10-15 years ago I tried searching for it on Google and was unable to find it.

I recently looked for it again and found the whole rhyme. Felt very happy.

Here it is-

The other thing I remember studying was to mug up the Math tables from 2 to 20.

I also remember taking Aluminum boxes to school. These were school bags. These bags were sturdy and the books stayed nice and stiff and I remember arranging all the books neatly. But it was a bit tough to hold the box with the hand. My fingers would hurt as the handle was hard. and the box was heavy Not everyone had these boxes and I felt good carrying this 🙂

I was 7 yrs when I was in Class 3 and I remember walking to the school along with a friend and usually got late for the assembly. I remember a few boys teasing us for being late.

I wish I could recall more memories, but that’s all I remember during the days when I was less than 7 years old.