Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar

Pehla Nasha,Pehla Khumaar..honestly this feeling in my life was gifted by certain other agents apart from the usual case of 'pretty faces'.Of course the highest common factor had its share,but thinking about childhood love,there are several others which come to my mind.So time for someconfessions,some of my earliest encounters with this sweet sensation,that world calls love....




CRICKET: I know I didnt start playing cricket,the first day of my life,yet its difficult to believe.Cricket has been my passion since time immemorial(for me).A mere thought of those cricketing days floods my heart with nostalgia.This love for the game had two aspects:playing it and other including watching and reading about it.As I mentioned,I find it difficult to believe that I didnt start playing the game the day I was born,on the other hand,I remember the roots of this 'watching aspect'.It started during 96 Wills World cup.Sachin's 127 against Kenya probably was the first century I witnessed.It was love at first sight and only a couple of years later,I was an expert on cricketing issues like half of the country's population.Michael Bevan remained my hero for the next 6 years that he played,and it was then that my weird habit of getting significantly attached to various people at the emotional level began.I cheered for Bevan every time he played well and when his career came to an abrupt end,I cried for almost a couple of hours.Indian defeats also often sent me into tears.'Cricket Samraat' became a must read for me,general knowledge for me meant remebering smallest of details about any cricket match that I saw or read about.Watching cricket matches was more important than most things, innumerable exams got messed up but cricket was the priority,after all it was my first love.The way it was all over my mind,I feel it literally qualifies to become my first crush.



Now to the playing aspect...however immodest it may sound,I will have to admit that i was gifted in some ways.My physique never allowed my shots to be dangerously powerful,still at an age when my age group was learning to have a proper grip on the bat I could play wristy shots.However much I hated Azhar,I loved the grace in his batting and tried to emulate it.Till the age of 10,I had no ambition part from becoming a cricketer.Strange though it may sound,there is almost no corner of my house where I havent played cricket.This is one among many things which make every nook and corner of my place so much special for me.Playing cricket,all by myself,for 4 to 5 hours at a stretch was a prt of my routine.Slowly sanity prevailed...mera pehla pyaar zinda raha,ab bhi hai...maybe it became more mature with time :)




RAJ COMICS: One thing which is common among childhood crushes is that you have incredible memory when it comes to matters pertaining them.I surprised myself a couple of years back while reading "Miss Killer" when I could recognise that this was the first comics I had read,again as a small kid.Reading comics started with Krook Bond and Bankelal actually which Papa used to bring for me,but I hardly have any recollection of those.Nagraj and Super Commando Dhruv were the ones who ensured that I fell in love again in my childhood.Soon Raj Comics were a part of my train journeys and my tender heart gave a special meaning to Raj comics in my life.I lost my entire set of comics once but such tragedies came and went,nothing could deter me.I remeber about certain journeys by the comics I bought during them.Super Commando Dhruva soon had an iconic status similar to that of Michale bevan.Well he wasnt a person,but as a child,I so much wished that he were.SCD comics maintained high standards for a long time and I followed the life of my hero very closely.My attempt to distance myself from comics began at an age of 13,but the bond was too strong.Present status: I have read almost all SCD comics released till date (Circus is one exception) and am still totally passionate about it.An year ago when I bought a comics from Ranchi station,after a significantly long break,I was in tears(yes actually),and since then whenever I buy a comics its a matter of sheer pleasure for me.Things have changed significantly,SCD comics arent as wonderful as they used to be,but I stand by it...after all its Mera pehla pehla Pyaar!!




RANI MUKHERJI: Ok so I did say that pretty faces had their share.I watched Ghulam as a 10 year old,and saw,what was the the most stunning thing of my life till then.Though I wasnt a complete novice when it comes to things one often feels for the oppositite gender,this was to be my first celebrity crush.It surprises me how I have been loyal to these childhood passions,those heroes that I had,and people I began to admire at a very tender age.Rani Mukherji has been my favourite or the past 10 years(and counting).She mostly acted in nonsense stuff earlier,but I didnt care much about that.For me she defined beauty,and was the most beautiful thing in the universe,the very thought of whose acted as a multiplying factor for my heart beat and adrenaline rate.Again the love never faded,but became more and more mature with time,and so did my favourite actress who went on to give some of the wonderful performances later.




HINDI: This was always coming,isnt it?Hindi,the language,is surely a part of very definition of my existence,something which makes me complete.The seeds for this life long association were sown a long time back and again without sounding immodest,will have to point that a latent talent was alwys there.In class 2,when we still used to practice improvement of handwriting in special booklets,and we were learning to build up proper sentences,I was writing stories,however stupid they maybe.Fantam and Fantama were my first heroes who were warriors that fought the devils."chattan fekna" was one of my favourite expressions.Udti khopdi and Khooni Khanjar were my earliest stories.I still swell with pride thinking about the fact that,as a 7 year old, I wrote a story about a knife taking revenge of a murder where it was used.During the "namaste" period of parties,my relatives used to ask me about my stories.Gradually my studies took over this mantle,people probably discarded the story writer as a childhood craze,but like most of my crazes of those days,this lived up to become my passion.For all those who know me,I dont need to mention that am still very much in love with Hindi,which again is among my earliest associations with love......


Thats it about Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar...it was great recollecting those best days of my life..and I do hope the readers are encouraged to do the same :)