Living in Paradise...

    The pre-teen years are supposed to be the rosiest of all, and that was exactly the case for me.  I was bout 10 to 11 years old, and living in one of the most gorgeous tropical places, I thought things will could not get any better than this.  Every day was a new adventure, living in Venezuela.  Baba got us bikes, second hand of course, we did not mind.  At least I had my own set of wheels now, and the freedom of whizzing around with the wind in my hair.  Oh, the biggest thing of all was, I did make a few friends.  My baba's company i.e. DCPL and an other compnay called M. N. Dastoor had few more deputed desis in that area.  I got to know some girls and boys of Indian origin and who were near about my age.  Many of them were Benagalies and some other languages.  We had frequent parties during the weekends, and small trips to nearby cities.  Every Friday we had a volley game which mostly the dads played and moms used cards or chatted.  We kids pranced around doing just about anything.  


  My best friends turned out to be two girls who were of latin origin.  One a was from Spain, Anna, beautiful and elegant; the other one from Mexico, Maria, tom boyish and the most adventurous.  Anna was about two inches taller than me, had a porcelain skin and looked like million bucks.  I always thought, God had taken time to make her and till date have not seen any one with such beauty.  I still remember her as clear as day.  In contrast with her was Maria.  She was a short cherub girl, with a ready smile.  She taught me how to eat and be happy with what you have.  She taught me how to live actually, and our parents became good friends too.  Although Anna lived in my neighborhood, it was Maria's house my family visited more. Her dad had the best taquilla, thats what baba used to say.  Life took a different pace and different color during all those days.


  Ma learnt how to drive, and when she used to take us to the near by grocery store, I kept an eye out for her, she had a very unique talent of parking on the side walk instead of the space allocated on the side of the road.  She said it happens when the care is too big, although I knew better, but never ever stated it.  I would rather take my bike and do her grocery for her, than drive with her.  But there were times when, Ma wanted to show her ability...and me and my sister were the perfect candidate to express it.


  Baba took us to the most exotic places during our few years of stay in Venezuela......beaches, mountains, falls and the best of all was the the trip on Amazon river....those few years made me open to all the wide variety of feelings and made me receptive about all the people and the varied amount of culture each of the place had ...