Once upon a time, (so begins my story), The year was 1957. The date was 20th April, and the importance of the date was that it was my 7th birthday. I used to study in St Anne's Convent School in Secunderabad and stayed in the boarding House. My parents lived in Nagarjuna Sagar about 100 kms. away. They had come to take me out to celebrate my birthday. I still have strong recollection of the small green traffic island and the shops around the island near my school. I was taken to a book shop there and asked to buy a book of my own choice. I selected a big hard bound book called "Elves and Fairies". It's cost was all of three rupees. Not very cheap, as one would imagine by today's standard. It was one gift that I remember to this day. The shop, the whole experience still is one of my strongest memories of my life to this date.
That book opened a whole new world to me of dreams, magic, fairies and elves, of castles and trapped princesses, of witches and kind fairies. I loved the book and the vivid doors of imagination that it opened for me were really gargantuan. I lived in that magic world until real life realities dawned on me and the pressures of life and living made me remain on Terra firma for eons and eons.
That was until the arrival of the year 2008.
2008-the year when Anurag's daughter Aaria arrived amongst us, spreading a lot of happiness in three continents. Kunaal won the scholarship in his school-'Eaton Manor' for excelling in studies. Aaliya also joined a private school Eaton Manor for Girls. She also had a ballet performance at a real theatre.
So this was the year when 1957 revisited me. As a surprise gift to Chaitali my daughter and her children Kunaal and Aaliya who were visiting Anurag, Jharna and Aaria in Nashua (USA ), we planned a trip to Disney World Florida, without breathing a word about it to anyone. This trip was disclosed to them on their arrival in Nashua by way of a jig- saw puzzle. They had come prepared to brace the cold -cold winter of Nashua and here they were off to Florida-the sunshine state. The look on their faces was a treat to watch. Except for my little grand daughter Aaliya, all of four and a half years old, who actually looked terrified. We coaxed her to come out with her feelings and found that she was actually very very scared, her imagination was running wild, she would burst into tears, and could not stop voicing one fear after another. She was scared the monsters would eat up her brother and grand father, as they were the adventurous type. The fairies, the princesses and all those terrible beasts and ogre and witch and all evil stepped out and every minute one fear or the other was having to be expelled, keeping in mind that her mythical world of fairies and princesses also should not be shattered.
We had to remove all her fears one by one and actually try to convince her that she would have fun. One doesnt realise how real these stories can get for little minds. I re- lived all my childhood fantasies while talking with Aaliya. With much persuasion she was happy, and we could go to Florida weather permitting. It was not to be, and our flight was cancelled, we did however manage to get the next day's flight, in the early morning and we set off. Florida was really beautiful, green and clean, and our resort was also very nice with an open air but warm water swimming pool, which also had a pirate's ship, now used as a diving board. The rooms were soooo comfy, more like a two bed roomed apartment, with all the amenities required, including crockery and cutlery, a jaccuzi in the bed room and what have you!!!
A dream which I had never dreamed of even in my wildest dreams actually came true when we went to Disney World. It is very different when one visits with children, for whom it was so very thrilling. Meeting all the Disney characters, standing in long lines to get pictures taken, get autograph books signed, the awe of actually seeing and touching those characters- words are not enough to describe that feeling. The joy of the children, their faces lit up like a 1000 watt Christmas decoration was indeed a treat to watch. The children were happy, happier and happiest!!!!!
The tiring walks, the long day, the little- little skirmishes between the brother and sister would dissolve into brilliant smiles as soon as they saw something straight out of the fairy tale book.
Not only the children, we too were dumb struck by the beauty of the castle and the fantastic performances that were put up. They were so very inspiring. the theme of "Your dream will come true if you believe in your dream", made me realise that indeed, we keep running after such perfunctory things of day to day living, while inside us, we all have that child like simplicity to be happy and make our own selves happy. "Believe, and it will come true". This has been the message of each religious leader. The only difference is that they ask you to believe in them and then they will grant you your wish, whereas the plain and simple truth is that it is all within our own selves to believe and see our dreams come true.
Meeting Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, Tigger and Pooh, Chip and Dale, Farukhi, was great. Meeting Mickey took the cake though. He is "Sir Mickey" so one has to meet him inside his house. One first went to the house of Minnie, which was so spick and span, beautiful, orderly, neat and all pink. Then one goes to Mickey's house which is a total anti thesis. Untidy, things all strewn around and the kitchen in shambles. Meeting Mickey was a treat though, quite worth the wait. We could not meet Minnie though, as she was away for a short break when our turn came.
Meeting the princesses and fairies was a bit difficult, as it should be. There were long queues, where one waited and waited, in anticipation. Once inside the room of the princesses, it was again very fascinating. There was Cinderella, Beauty(of Beauty and the Beast)and the Sleeping Beauty. The characters were straight out of the book, extremely beautiful with the same gown and hair style as in the book. The way the princess spoke was also bewitching. They were REAL. They spoke ethereally, they were dainty and demure. Cinderella taught Aaliya how to wave like a princess. Beauty asked Aaliya if her brother Kunaal had gone to slay the demon, as he was not with us then. Sleeping Beauty being Aaliya's favourite got the biggest smile from Aaliya. I dont think Aaliya will forget these experiences ever.
The Fairies line was next. That was even longer. Once at the entrance the usher took us aside and put a little wrist band on the hand of Kunaal as we were all to shrink to the size of the fairies-as they are very very small and to see them one has to shrink to their size, once leaving the chamber one returns to normal size. It was delightful going into that dreamlike garden, so beautiful and so pastel and so dainty. The fairies were REAL again. What beautiful memories and what lovely recollections for all of us.
This experience of visiting Disney World, the world of MAGIC and dreams coming true, will remain etched in my memory forever. I will have to thank Jharna for this fantastic idea of the surprise trip.
It was a lovely trip Down Memory Lane, going all the way back to 1957-where my tryst with elves and fairies started. I will never let my dreams die now. I will never let my childhood go away. It will remain with me - my world of elves and fairies, forever and ever. I know I will live happily ever after.
That book opened a whole new world to me of dreams, magic, fairies and elves, of castles and trapped princesses, of witches and kind fairies. I loved the book and the vivid doors of imagination that it opened for me were really gargantuan. I lived in that magic world until real life realities dawned on me and the pressures of life and living made me remain on Terra firma for eons and eons.
That was until the arrival of the year 2008.
2008-the year when Anurag's daughter Aaria arrived amongst us, spreading a lot of happiness in three continents. Kunaal won the scholarship in his school-'Eaton Manor' for excelling in studies. Aaliya also joined a private school Eaton Manor for Girls. She also had a ballet performance at a real theatre.
So this was the year when 1957 revisited me. As a surprise gift to Chaitali my daughter and her children Kunaal and Aaliya who were visiting Anurag, Jharna and Aaria in Nashua (USA ), we planned a trip to Disney World Florida, without breathing a word about it to anyone. This trip was disclosed to them on their arrival in Nashua by way of a jig- saw puzzle. They had come prepared to brace the cold -cold winter of Nashua and here they were off to Florida-the sunshine state. The look on their faces was a treat to watch. Except for my little grand daughter Aaliya, all of four and a half years old, who actually looked terrified. We coaxed her to come out with her feelings and found that she was actually very very scared, her imagination was running wild, she would burst into tears, and could not stop voicing one fear after another. She was scared the monsters would eat up her brother and grand father, as they were the adventurous type. The fairies, the princesses and all those terrible beasts and ogre and witch and all evil stepped out and every minute one fear or the other was having to be expelled, keeping in mind that her mythical world of fairies and princesses also should not be shattered.
We had to remove all her fears one by one and actually try to convince her that she would have fun. One doesnt realise how real these stories can get for little minds. I re- lived all my childhood fantasies while talking with Aaliya. With much persuasion she was happy, and we could go to Florida weather permitting. It was not to be, and our flight was cancelled, we did however manage to get the next day's flight, in the early morning and we set off. Florida was really beautiful, green and clean, and our resort was also very nice with an open air but warm water swimming pool, which also had a pirate's ship, now used as a diving board. The rooms were soooo comfy, more like a two bed roomed apartment, with all the amenities required, including crockery and cutlery, a jaccuzi in the bed room and what have you!!!
A dream which I had never dreamed of even in my wildest dreams actually came true when we went to Disney World. It is very different when one visits with children, for whom it was so very thrilling. Meeting all the Disney characters, standing in long lines to get pictures taken, get autograph books signed, the awe of actually seeing and touching those characters- words are not enough to describe that feeling. The joy of the children, their faces lit up like a 1000 watt Christmas decoration was indeed a treat to watch. The children were happy, happier and happiest!!!!!
The tiring walks, the long day, the little- little skirmishes between the brother and sister would dissolve into brilliant smiles as soon as they saw something straight out of the fairy tale book.
Not only the children, we too were dumb struck by the beauty of the castle and the fantastic performances that were put up. They were so very inspiring. the theme of "Your dream will come true if you believe in your dream", made me realise that indeed, we keep running after such perfunctory things of day to day living, while inside us, we all have that child like simplicity to be happy and make our own selves happy. "Believe, and it will come true". This has been the message of each religious leader. The only difference is that they ask you to believe in them and then they will grant you your wish, whereas the plain and simple truth is that it is all within our own selves to believe and see our dreams come true.
Meeting Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, Tigger and Pooh, Chip and Dale, Farukhi, was great. Meeting Mickey took the cake though. He is "Sir Mickey" so one has to meet him inside his house. One first went to the house of Minnie, which was so spick and span, beautiful, orderly, neat and all pink. Then one goes to Mickey's house which is a total anti thesis. Untidy, things all strewn around and the kitchen in shambles. Meeting Mickey was a treat though, quite worth the wait. We could not meet Minnie though, as she was away for a short break when our turn came.
Meeting the princesses and fairies was a bit difficult, as it should be. There were long queues, where one waited and waited, in anticipation. Once inside the room of the princesses, it was again very fascinating. There was Cinderella, Beauty(of Beauty and the Beast)and the Sleeping Beauty. The characters were straight out of the book, extremely beautiful with the same gown and hair style as in the book. The way the princess spoke was also bewitching. They were REAL. They spoke ethereally, they were dainty and demure. Cinderella taught Aaliya how to wave like a princess. Beauty asked Aaliya if her brother Kunaal had gone to slay the demon, as he was not with us then. Sleeping Beauty being Aaliya's favourite got the biggest smile from Aaliya. I dont think Aaliya will forget these experiences ever.
The Fairies line was next. That was even longer. Once at the entrance the usher took us aside and put a little wrist band on the hand of Kunaal as we were all to shrink to the size of the fairies-as they are very very small and to see them one has to shrink to their size, once leaving the chamber one returns to normal size. It was delightful going into that dreamlike garden, so beautiful and so pastel and so dainty. The fairies were REAL again. What beautiful memories and what lovely recollections for all of us.
This experience of visiting Disney World, the world of MAGIC and dreams coming true, will remain etched in my memory forever. I will have to thank Jharna for this fantastic idea of the surprise trip.
It was a lovely trip Down Memory Lane, going all the way back to 1957-where my tryst with elves and fairies started. I will never let my dreams die now. I will never let my childhood go away. It will remain with me - my world of elves and fairies, forever and ever. I know I will live happily ever after.
3 comments:
Wonderful thoughts. I can't relate completely cause maybe I still havent completely let go of that certain magical part of my childhood. Well of course, reality did strike and I also bid adieu to santa, cinderalla, enid blyton and so on...and turned into this cynical, suspicious, being; and at that point I did think that yes, this is life, its bitter but so be it.
But soon after that, life itself struck me again...with its little moments (of "happiness"- in reference to similar emotions- your photo album with the same name) and made me realize that despite the bitterness, its these small moments that one should look forward to, that one should live for. To focus on these and to let go of the bitter ones. Some might call it blindening (if thats a word) yourself to reality but then so be it.
And its okay. If dressing up fancy, bunking classes, sleeping till noon, running up the phone bill, planning a suprise midnight birthday for a friend 7 hours before a final exam, being impulsive, spontaneous, takes me away from all the lifes pain and gives me those moments of pleasure then why not? Some may call you an escapist, shallow, but then who cares what you are called as long as you know who are you within you. And thats the only thing that matters and that will shine through to the people who matter to you.
So maybe am not a "forgive and a forget" kind of a person. Maybe I am more of a "forgive and not forget" person. But at the end of the day, its my mind, its my body and I have to live with it. So if I'm comfortable with it and have found a way to still smile...then so be it.
At the end of the day, WE are in control of allowing the magic back in our lives. And magic is real. As long as you will allow it to be. We just have to choose whats Magic for us, our magical moments- like the ones you described the kids going through in Disney World. Living the magic with them. Through them.
"I will never let my dreams die now. I will never let my childhood go away. It will remain with me - my world of elves and fairies forever and ever. I will live happily ever after."
...Just change the "will" to present tense and you are done.
We all live happily ever after!
What a lovely blog Varsha!! I was visiting Disney Land along with you . Your 7th b'day present reminded me that as kids we were mostly gifted books for all occasions. And I loved every book. As we did not have any tv or internet the books were our only door to the world. When my Mama went to study in the US in the late sixties he used to mail me books every b'day. I used to bother the postman endlessly until the parcel arrived. And yes, I know what you mean when you say your imagination ran riot on the stories.......
Its great that we can now see these places not only ourselves but also thru the eyes of our grandchildren. It is a fresh and new perspective. Who was your favourite fairy tale character? And did that character live up to your dreams in Disney Land?
Btw, how was Uncle Donald? I just LOVE him soooooooooo.........
Thanks for taking me with you on your trip.
Very well written. Everything comes alive so beautifully. It also makes one feel nostalgic and makes one realize that having grandchildren is a great blessing.
Neena.
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