Summer of 72

 Once during the summer holidays.. visiting Delhi as a young boy .. visited my Paternal Aunt .. in Pratap Bagh near Delhi University..

Her son who later was ordained to become a granthi (priest) in a gurudwara .

He was then an unemployed youth and he had set up an ice cream stall/ shop in the market .

So all afternoon on a summer day we toiled in churning ice cream out of fresh cream,  milk, fresh fruit, tutti-frutti and cherries to make this wonderful ice cream ..

Then loaded it to to the market and vended them all evening and late into the night ... with nothing to eat or drink and counting our earnings and feeling good about it ..

Many  lessons learnt in enterprise, hard labor, rewards in selling the fruits of your labor at a very young age .. besides memories are invaluable..

Boys to Men

 My First Flight Day : Boys to Men

Coimbatore... to Bangalore in a Dakota... felt like a grown up all of 13... accompanying my mother ... we made friends with other passengers at the lounge in Bangalore..

I got them snacks and and drinks in the lounge..

We were then routed to Hyderabad in a Fokker-Friendship.. oh I saw the billowing cotton fields of clouds .. felt like a dream...

Reached Hyderabad.. parted with our new friends...

Left from Hyderabad to Delhi in a massive Airbus ... remember the full elegant service .. soup , salad main course.. and coffee.. and yes sweets and most importantly collecting eau de cologne laden hand and face freshners..

With that one day , escorting my mom and new experiences made me grow up in a day ..

Landed at the airfield of Palam airport of Delhi .. at midnight on one of the coldest nights of 13 January 1979 ..wearing beige denim flares and a single front buttoned rust colored cardigan ... it was the coldest night ever.

Cheerfully received by my father .. who was  warm and friendly and very smartly announced .. WBG 8920 driver Kanhaiyalal ..on the PA system to call his driver ... I was so impressed with the moment and the day ... 

That day and the bunch of flights on a first flight day will forever be etched in my mind ...as an everlasting memory