Revisiting past

Try as I might, I cannot understand and relate to an urge to revisit places where one might have stayed and spent happy time.

I have had numerous chances to visit Kanpur, where I spent the first 14 yrs of my life. I have consistently found some or the other reason to avoid the visit.

Don’t get me wrong, I cherish my childhood and have fond memories of the time I have spent at Kanpur. But, it would have changed totally by now and wouldn’t be the same as my memory.

Would they have changed the color of the school building? Is Lal Bangla as crowded; does it still have Novelty store, Gandhi uncle's shop etc.? Is the garden in the back side of the school as beautiful as it used to be? Is the gate of the house I spent the best years of my life, as rickety as it used to be? And last but not the least, are the teachers in the school the same? Is Mrs Paul going to briskly walk down the corridor, trying to adjust her saree pallu with her right hand and keeping a sharp eye on the students at the same time?

Nopes, it goes without saying that it is going to be all different. Moreover, most of us have a tendency to glorify past and I am no different. Maybe the school ground was never as big as I remember it to be; maybe the roads in HAL Township were never as wide as I imagine them to be; maybe Kanpur is actually a dirty, filthy place and not at all a clean, nice place as it is in my memories…

I would want my memories to remain the way they are; so a visit to Kanpur is not likely to happen anytime soon...