I had good time in college.Now I can c my children in that stage and feel how charming were those days. After completing college I joined a primary school as a teacher. The
principal was Mrs. Zahana. She was a very dignified lady. I taught there for about 4yrs until I gave my resignation in June 1974 June as I was getting married.
I was getting married to the man I had met four years back and was in love. I fell in love during the last year of my college and it got confirmed when I started working as a teacher. Those days love meant direct translation to marriage and it was considered always serious and matured irrespective of your age and wisdom. We called it 'matured love' (though my children beg to differ but thats because they belonged to a different generation). He came on a holiday and we lived in the same city for 8 months. Our romantic moments mostly meant meeting at a relatives place, going out to the market as a family with other friends and then pretending to run into each other, or planning not so planned visits to each others house, or going to the near by shot to buy groceries and catch each others glimpse. The four years and 8 months passed by quite smoothly as family friends till we decided to get married since my not married husband had to return to his city (Kolstantis) to give his final year Engineering exams.
He topped the Engineering Exam of his college with a 1st class. We took refuge to letters to convey our emotions and communicate our feeling after he went back. First few months my letters use to come in my school Add. Invariably my letters used to land in my friends hand and I had to give them a treat to rescue my letters from them. One or Two letters a month used to be the only way to communicate. Yes, we belonged to a much slower generation than the present where my grand child sends sms to his girl friend(s)! But it was nice to wait and go through those letters again and again hiding from my parents morning, evening or afternoon, for the rest of the days of the month. Those letters were named, marked and preserved for quite sometime by us as 'love letters'.
Those letters gave us the faith, trust and strenght to be together for the rest of our lives. When I look back all I knew then holds truth even today. I love him and He loves me, and we want to be there for each other. My grandchild says, he met his first love at a day care, :). Now he has a 'Kindergarden Girl Friend'
Back to my letters. Three/ four times I used to read my letters.I use to send my letters to
one of his friends, Suman Gupta's, house. Same was with my unmarried husband. Three/four times he used to read my letters. My old husband these days does not remember or talk about these things. As he feels shy and embarrassed infront of our children. But those were the most beautiful days of my life. Evergreen happy memories. I remember once he sent gulal (during holi) along with his letter and mentioning the crimson red color he wants to present me before next holi. He had his own way to communicate his affection and care. I don't remember how and when all those four years disappeared and we were about to get married, i.e 29 th. June 1974 in my homeland, in the foothills of Himalayas, a small town called 'Dhanaulti'.
At the time of our marriage my husband was posted in Delhi in E.I.l co.He was accompanied by his friends from Delhi, Dehradun, Kolkhana along with my in-laws from Kolkhana. Oh, I had for got to mention my inlaws were not in favour of our marriage. It took them a year to get convinced as my adamant unmarried husband then had given them the last warning to accept, happily or unhappily was the only choice he gave them. Finally after a year of hards work they were convinced and we were getting married.
I came to Kolkhana for the first time only after my marriage. I saw such a big city for the first time. I traveled in a train as well for the first time. It was my first long journey by train. We were accompanied by his freidns and my inlaws. Among the new sights were the long row of coconut trees, Supari trees, Palm trees ,Banana trees along the railway track and road and big ponds infront of the house. Its was really interesting to see all those. I had never seen such things before. And most interesting were the 'jhal moori wala's.
After two and half days train journey we reached Gowraha station at about 8'0 clock in the morning on 31st June 1974. I was totally surprized and amazed at the sight of the big hanging 'Gowrah Bridge' on the river Banges. We were received by his friends at the station. My husbands friends were his primarily family. It took me some time to realize it. But they were. They gave him the love, affection, respect and care, everything the word 'family' is supposed to convey.
Back to my journey, his friends came to receive us. I was already known to his close friends before marriage. They had seen me in the photograph which he had with him. I will write some other time about the only B&W picture we had of each other and that which gave us company for the essential two years of separation. But we did have ONE B&W picture of each other, that is now 40 years old !
His friends screamed out of delight as soon as we got down from the train. And one of them said, we thought you went to marry a girl but you have bought a bamboo along with you!! Where is your wife? In their words "Pankaj ki bepaar tui to ekta bansh ke Benaroshi saree porrie station a nabali". (You have draped a Bamboo with a banarasi saree). Those friends (Zapan, Zbhijeet, Zihar, Znup, and Zubir) are there in our lives even today, exactly how they were many years back. I wittnessed uncompromised friendship for the first time in my life.
After few hrs. we reached my in-laws house. My mother in law did some rituals before I entered the house. All of us became fresh & I had nice lunch along with many new relatives, new family whom I had never seen. After lunch we had nice sleep in separate rooms. We were kept separate until our reception, i.e 3rd ,July,74. That was the first day I kissed the grand father of my grand child, in our four years of togetherness. During those days, we did not even hold each others hand until we get married. Yes, it was a slow, in my daughters word, a caterpillar or goods Train, generation. But it was nice, slow and steady. We were born in a Goods Train, hence were naturally aligned to the nature of a good train unlike my children who were born in a 'Bullet Express', in Japan a year later.
Back to my marriage, so we went for our honeymoon to Miigha. There we stayed for 4days. I saw sea for the first time. We stayed there for 12 days and enjoyed a lot. We came back to Kolkahana and my then married husband returned for his job to Trombay.
PS: Name of places and people are changed to maintain privacy
principal was Mrs. Zahana. She was a very dignified lady. I taught there for about 4yrs until I gave my resignation in June 1974 June as I was getting married.
I was getting married to the man I had met four years back and was in love. I fell in love during the last year of my college and it got confirmed when I started working as a teacher. Those days love meant direct translation to marriage and it was considered always serious and matured irrespective of your age and wisdom. We called it 'matured love' (though my children beg to differ but thats because they belonged to a different generation). He came on a holiday and we lived in the same city for 8 months. Our romantic moments mostly meant meeting at a relatives place, going out to the market as a family with other friends and then pretending to run into each other, or planning not so planned visits to each others house, or going to the near by shot to buy groceries and catch each others glimpse. The four years and 8 months passed by quite smoothly as family friends till we decided to get married since my not married husband had to return to his city (Kolstantis) to give his final year Engineering exams.
He topped the Engineering Exam of his college with a 1st class. We took refuge to letters to convey our emotions and communicate our feeling after he went back. First few months my letters use to come in my school Add. Invariably my letters used to land in my friends hand and I had to give them a treat to rescue my letters from them. One or Two letters a month used to be the only way to communicate. Yes, we belonged to a much slower generation than the present where my grand child sends sms to his girl friend(s)! But it was nice to wait and go through those letters again and again hiding from my parents morning, evening or afternoon, for the rest of the days of the month. Those letters were named, marked and preserved for quite sometime by us as 'love letters'.
Those letters gave us the faith, trust and strenght to be together for the rest of our lives. When I look back all I knew then holds truth even today. I love him and He loves me, and we want to be there for each other. My grandchild says, he met his first love at a day care, :). Now he has a 'Kindergarden Girl Friend'
Back to my letters. Three/ four times I used to read my letters.I use to send my letters to
one of his friends, Suman Gupta's, house. Same was with my unmarried husband. Three/four times he used to read my letters. My old husband these days does not remember or talk about these things. As he feels shy and embarrassed infront of our children. But those were the most beautiful days of my life. Evergreen happy memories. I remember once he sent gulal (during holi) along with his letter and mentioning the crimson red color he wants to present me before next holi. He had his own way to communicate his affection and care. I don't remember how and when all those four years disappeared and we were about to get married, i.e 29 th. June 1974 in my homeland, in the foothills of Himalayas, a small town called 'Dhanaulti'.
At the time of our marriage my husband was posted in Delhi in E.I.l co.He was accompanied by his friends from Delhi, Dehradun, Kolkhana along with my in-laws from Kolkhana. Oh, I had for got to mention my inlaws were not in favour of our marriage. It took them a year to get convinced as my adamant unmarried husband then had given them the last warning to accept, happily or unhappily was the only choice he gave them. Finally after a year of hards work they were convinced and we were getting married.
I came to Kolkhana for the first time only after my marriage. I saw such a big city for the first time. I traveled in a train as well for the first time. It was my first long journey by train. We were accompanied by his freidns and my inlaws. Among the new sights were the long row of coconut trees, Supari trees, Palm trees ,Banana trees along the railway track and road and big ponds infront of the house. Its was really interesting to see all those. I had never seen such things before. And most interesting were the 'jhal moori wala's.
After two and half days train journey we reached Gowraha station at about 8'0 clock in the morning on 31st June 1974. I was totally surprized and amazed at the sight of the big hanging 'Gowrah Bridge' on the river Banges. We were received by his friends at the station. My husbands friends were his primarily family. It took me some time to realize it. But they were. They gave him the love, affection, respect and care, everything the word 'family' is supposed to convey.
Back to my journey, his friends came to receive us. I was already known to his close friends before marriage. They had seen me in the photograph which he had with him. I will write some other time about the only B&W picture we had of each other and that which gave us company for the essential two years of separation. But we did have ONE B&W picture of each other, that is now 40 years old !
His friends screamed out of delight as soon as we got down from the train. And one of them said, we thought you went to marry a girl but you have bought a bamboo along with you!! Where is your wife? In their words "Pankaj ki bepaar tui to ekta bansh ke Benaroshi saree porrie station a nabali". (You have draped a Bamboo with a banarasi saree). Those friends (Zapan, Zbhijeet, Zihar, Znup, and Zubir) are there in our lives even today, exactly how they were many years back. I wittnessed uncompromised friendship for the first time in my life.
After few hrs. we reached my in-laws house. My mother in law did some rituals before I entered the house. All of us became fresh & I had nice lunch along with many new relatives, new family whom I had never seen. After lunch we had nice sleep in separate rooms. We were kept separate until our reception, i.e 3rd ,July,74. That was the first day I kissed the grand father of my grand child, in our four years of togetherness. During those days, we did not even hold each others hand until we get married. Yes, it was a slow, in my daughters word, a caterpillar or goods Train, generation. But it was nice, slow and steady. We were born in a Goods Train, hence were naturally aligned to the nature of a good train unlike my children who were born in a 'Bullet Express', in Japan a year later.
Back to my marriage, so we went for our honeymoon to Miigha. There we stayed for 4days. I saw sea for the first time. We stayed there for 12 days and enjoyed a lot. We came back to Kolkahana and my then married husband returned for his job to Trombay.
PS: Name of places and people are changed to maintain privacy
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