Some pleasures of childhood !

"Climb every mountain,ford every stream till you find your dream"

Beautiful signature lines that we used in school while writing slam books for friends.I often quoted it as I liked the nice rhyming words in it .The daydreamers that we are at that tender age we don't really read between the lines and take things literally.Like when I used to look at the skyline from the terrace of my house,I could see some far off mountains,remotely visible.And I would think if I climb all the terraces one by one that are there between my terrace and the mountains,I'll be able to reach that distant mountain some day.Thank God I didn't try that out.If I share these thoughts with my friends today they would relegate my ramblings to an inebriated state.

'Ford every stream' was little less absurd. For me it meant having adventures straight out of the life of Sindbad the Sailor.Infact, there was a very dirty pond close to our house.A drove of pigs inhabited it.They would bathe,lounge and get tanned there with dozens of mosquitoes aimlessly meandering over their heads, oozing extremely filthy smell.The swashbuckling explorer that I was, followed by an extremely enthusiastic pack of small kids, I would throw some small stones in the pond and then tiptoe on them to cross our version of the English Channel and squeal in utter delight at having crossed it without falling in the puddle.

My mom could never understand the ceaseless invasion of lice in our house.Maybe she didn't ford many streams in her life!