Aug 25, 2012

When I was just a young girl, scatterbrained and sweet sixteen

Not too fond of text books though on the playground always keen

I rushed to do my homework when I got back from school

So I'd have time for other stuff I thought was super cool
 

Now I was into Mills & Boon and also into sport

Dreamt of being a rock star but often missed a note

I loved to go to movies and I guess those were the days

When the chapters of your life seemed like the greatest phase
 

Guitar strapped on my shoulder I biked my way around

Practising those F- Sharps till I heard the perfect sound

Sometimes with Dad's old Nikon I tried to take some pics

Or get caught with James Hadley Chase and end up in a fix 
 

Between my Chem and Drama Class my friends and I would try

Pretend that we were grown- ups though often we were shy

We walked past to the Cafe - our favourite hang-out place

To have some garma garam chai despite the waiter’s gaze
 

We loved to see the Jukebox list which always made us smile

We also read each song out loud which really took a while

And then we played the same old song which made the owner cringe

I still hear Rhinestone Cowboy with a wistful kind of twinge 
 

We used 8 packs of cards or more to play a game of Bluff

Followed by some Carrom till our parents said ENOUGH

We didn’t have all those gizmos like the X-Box and its kind

And enjoyed playing Gilli danda which helped us all unwind
 

We also coined nicknames for boys and spent a lot of time

Speaking in “P” language which I guess was no big crime

We loved Our Archie Andrews and thought he looked real cute

While teachers banned our comics saying our minds they would pollute
 

Those Kaala Khatta days for sure were filled with “time-pass” fun

Though sometimes I’m not really proud of all the things I’ve done

If you promise not to kiss and tell I’ll whisper in your ear

And tell you “something something”  which perhaps you’ll want to hear
 

We made this list of boys and all the girls we guessed they liked

And wrote love letters in their names which really got them psyched

When things got kind of out of hand and really quite intense

I did regret playing Cupid and my lack of common sense 
 
 
 
With tests just round the corner we sat up late at night

Trying to solve equations which gave us all a fright

Our tummies would start rumbling and we prayed to every God

And even blamed our parents saying they shouldn’t have spared the rod
 

We shared our Goli Sodas and all our dreams and hopes

The Crazy Five they called us while we tried to learn the ropes

30 years have gone by and it’s nice we stay in touch

And revisit those days again which really means so much

Anita Britto Archives:

• The Answer my Friends..
• Barack Obama - A Beacon of Hope
• Bittersweet
• Borders of Our Mind
• My Vikhroli - A Mini-India
• Happy Birthday, Mr Bachchan

• The India of My Dreams
• Poem: Mother Teresa
• Like a Phoenix from Ashes