And I finally managed to meet the guy who was one of my earliest friends in life – Arghya Sengupta!! We went to nursery (pre-kg) school together. In 1971. I was not five years yet!!! His son in the picture here is one year older than when Arghya and I started our friendship!!
His late dad used to give me company after school if my dad was late in picking me up! His dad passed away a few years later. That was my first real life understanding that if someone dies, I am not going to see him/her again ever! His mom was my sister’s as well as my wife’s teacher in primary school!!
After years and years of trying thru technology, social media and even running to his old neighborhood and then going door to door to see if anybody knew where he was – I had a couple of lucky breaks last year (including running into his late dad’s elder brother’s daughter’s husband !!!). Finally, today on my way from Durgapur to Kalyani, I was able to go to his home and see him (and his family and mom).
It was a very emotional 45 minutes. We meant a lot to each other early in our childhood. We caught up on so many of our old friends. It was simply surreal to be with somebody with whom a relationship started 42 years back!!!

Note the big black plug. It obviously did not fit either in the upper two holes in the socket or in the lower two holes. Somebody had the presence of mind to think out of the box and come up with a third solution – a diagonal fit!!!!!

Many an aspiring journey in my life started from this point…

That was a couple of hours of laughing over silly things – just like we did thirty years back in elementary school. We certainly missed the king of silliness- Avijit.

Weighed down by the load of life…
Yet he never ceases to look up….

(This picture was taken today right outside the house that I grew up in from five years old till thirteen years old)

Evolution of modes of personal conveyance. Apparently it happened anti-clockwise!! 🙂
Scene near where my brother – ironically – is getting his car fixed!!! 🙂

Found this while rummaging thru my mom’s kitchen!! This was my “tiffin box” (my daughters call these “lunch box”es) – in fact my only tiffin box in my entire life. My dad bought me this in 1972 when I was kindergarten. I used it till 1983 (tenth grade)!!!
The original bright blue color is all but faded off. Amazingly, the “Ranjit” sticker is still there – well, some part of it is.
This was my best friend from 10:35 to 11:00 am every school day. Lunch was invariably a boiled egg, bread and a banana. And on special days, a sweet.
Atish, if you are reading this post, you probably remember how often we used to exchange my boiled egg for your “lobongolatika” !!!
On some days, during after school hours, this tiffin box also doubled up as a cricket bat !!! A tree for a wicket, tiffin box for a bat and a “cambis” ball… and we would keep ourselves endlessly occupied till our pickup bus would come. The tiffin box still has pockmarks from some of those wicked shots!!!
That one really pulled me a few decades back… and I am amazed at our parents value system of not considering anything to be too old to be used!!!