A HAPPY MEMORY

It was a long time back. The details appear blurred at times.

- NEELAKSHI BANERJEE

Nonetheless, it was the best summer I have had and has made an indelible impression in my mind. It was the summer of 1995-96 when I was in the 2nd standard. My father got posted in Bolpur, Shantiniketan returning to our home in Calcutta only on weekends.

During summer vacation, my mother and I joined him for a month or so in that little quarter in Bolpur amid the quaint natural setting wrapped around by mother nature far, far away from the din and bustle of daily life.

It was no luxury holiday, or an opulent foreign trip, but the simplicity of it accentuated by the close proximity of nature and the cultural exposure which we felt still brings bouts of joy in my mind whenever I reminisce about it.

I had the fortune of spending two summers and one winter in that idyllic place and during that period, I witnessed the famous Shantiniketan Dol Utsav, the coveted Poush Mela, and a proper Santhal village. Although the intrinsic details may be a little obscured I will try to give a fastidious account of my experience.

My father’s township was situated in the outskirts in the heart of the fields and luckily our quarter was the farthest one from the entrance, almost in the lap of the open horizon. Our balcony overlooked the vast expanse of undulating fields lined by the faint silhouette of trees meeting congruously with the horizon.