Memories.....

"There are memories that time does not erase....

   Forever does not make loss forgettable, only bearable"    - Cassandra Clare

What is the Terminal definition of Memory? 

        Memory is the faculty of the brain by which data or information is encoded, stored and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information overtime for the purpose of influencing future actions.

But what are Memories for us? They are the small moments of joy or sorrow we share with a person we love or acquainted at some point of time.

Do you remember the First day when you started speaking or walking? You might not remember that but it is one of the best memories your parents have. 

Do you remember the day you won the first race? I do remember that, and it was when I was in Kindergarten. There was a Jalebi (Indian Sweet dish) race, and I being fond of Sweets was having a kind of mouth watering situation and to have that Jalebi I ran and ran so Fast that I won the First place. Classic sweet-tooth me and I am still fond of sweets.

Do you remember the First big fight with your siblings when you were a kid? I remember one incident it's not the first one nor is it the last one definitely. I still have fights with my cousins ( FYI - I am a single child). It was my birthday which one I don't remember but Yes my brothers were teasing me for something I didn't like. Those days I use to cry if such things happened and if I would get too angry, I would bite too. And I did bite one of my brothers so bad that he was in mood to beat me up. Now I can say, "Oh my God, yeah that was a blunder."

Do you remember having a fight with someone in school? I had only one ugly fight from kindergarten to class 12. And that fight was in Kindergarten. There was a guy (I don't remember his name) in my school who used to disturb me like hell. He would not let me write, would eat my food, would hit me on head and all other tricks he could use. But yes, he would them and not allow any other student to do them with me. One day he disturbed me so much that I hit him with my bottle and he got injured on his lower lip. He was bleeding and I understood that was wrong. But I felt happy to it coz I felt I punished the guy who use to disturb me and no one use to pay heed to my complaints against him. I apologized for that day but he had to say multiple sorry for his misbehave. After this incident in a month I changed my school so I don't know his whereabouts. 

Do you remember your school Farewell? Yes, we all do. But I don't remember crying for anyone as I was the one who didn't have friends of BFF types. I had normal friends with no such attachments. So, I did not cry or feel bad. Just that I had a few teachers whom I loved and respected a lot would be missed by me only. I still have contacts with all my school friends and teachers by Facebook and Instagram. Please, don't think I forgot them.

Do you remember the first full family outing to other city? I had a family reunion cum outing after I passed class 10. My maternal side family decided for an outing to nearby city. Since Kolkata was a nearby city, we all came here for an outing. That time only one of my cousins worked in Kolkata and the rest five of us were still school or college students. We had fun in Kolkata, so much so that it's hard to forget those days. Roaming around, trying out new cuisines, meeting new people and best was visiting brother's office in Salt Lake Sector -V. These are the moments with family I always cherish.

We all have too good memories from childhood. But my best memories, whom I still cherish have all been made during my college days. Yes, I found such people in my life who taught the meaning of love, care, friendship, commitments and a few taught meaning ex-s also in college. After my college days also I am building memories with new people but caring ones. So, let me give You all a ride of my college days.

My first day in college was the funniest incident itself. I had joined college late by 2 weeks. I don't like to be late i.e. I am punctual and thought that I would be punished if I was late to college and wouldn't be allowed to enter. Basically, I was just out of school and didn't know how college functioned. I was calmed by my dad. He explained me that day how college works. I was mentally thinking, "Seriously dad!!! I cried for half an hour over this and you didn't care to tell all this to me before I even started my new journey for college life". Finally, I went with a late face but the funniest thing was yet to happen. Class was supposed to start one hour later. I laughed at myself saying what a fool am I. In my first week I meet lots of new people from my state and few neighbouring states too, mostly from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. I made 2 near and dear friends in that span - Beauty and Debattama. The two were there for me in the first semester for any help I needed. But they were too boring kind of people according to me then. So, I made new funtastic (fun + fantastic) friends. I wouldn't name them sorry. Being new to Kolkata and just out of school I wanted to have fun and explore areas around. I got backlog in subjects then I got my brain back and decided to study. Kind of yes I did after that.

After the first semester the classes were revamped finally according to roll numbers. Then joined us a new person Piyali. So now we were Beauty, Debattama, Pilayi and I. There are two types of fest in our college mainly - tech-fest which we call "EDGE" and cultural fest which we call "Anakhronos".

It was my 1st ever being in crowd of my same aged people cheering for famous personalities. I enjoyed the endless dance and fun we all had. It was the best 1st experience of any event in my life. Else I had been mostly on stage and back-stage, dancing and changing my costumes respectively in events.

Now comes the fun I dared to do and I still don't know how I got so much of courage. I went to Nicco Park with 5 more people bunking college and was there from 1030hrs to 1600hrs. It was the best funday I ever had in my life. Name any ride, we had gone on all starting from bumping cars to cyclone (roller coaster), we tried out everything. I lied to my mom that I was in college and I was roaming around. It was a new experience and shhhhhh my parents don't know about it. Let's keep it a secret.

Next experience I had was quite fun because this time I went with the best people I have ever been with in my life. These are those friends who accepted the me I am. They are the most special friends in my Life. This time we went to Victoria Memorial. Oh yes..... My two constant buddies were there in it, Beauty and Debattama. Few others were there but let them be in shadow. We had a blast that day and these people taught me how to have adventure in life. It was also the first time after shifting to Kolkata that I had a Metro Ride.

The best experience with all these people was in my Final semester when I had full exposure to fun with no tension of marks. The final year photoshoot day and Farewell are the memories I am fond of the most. They will make me cry so I will refrain from the details of those days.

I have shared the happy memories above but that doesn't mean I don't have any bad memories. I do have a few. 

Worst memory is the time I had dengue. I was dying of pain. It had attacked my hepatic tissue due to which the tissue fluids had all come out and my belly was hell swollen. I was dealing with pain from tip to toe. I would literally get irritated by slightest noise. Couldn't sleep nor could I eat anything. It was so serious that doctors in Kolkata had said no. So, my parents decided to take me to Vellore. We had waiting list at 400+ but thankfully due to a verdict which could create Riots in India, nearly everyone had cancelled their tickets and we got confirmed tickets. But yes this was a life changing painful experience for me.

The accident my mom and me had when I was in class 6 was an incident which did not show it's effect then but it did later. My mom and me were in a scooty, I was the pillion rider. A bike came and went, I could only see that and then I remember my face on ground and people rushing towards us to help. I went through some minor and deep cuts. My mom also had those cuts then but the grave after-effect of it came into light after 5 years. Due to that accident my mom ruptured her vertebra discs and few of them had crushed so bad that they have caused more problems related to spine and spinal cord. But my mom has been strong enough and she does all to help me and support me.

I wouldn't make you all sad anymore by more sad events but yes if someone now asks what are MEMORIES? I would reply, Memories are those life changing lessons or emotions we have when we live them. We don't force our brain to remember them but the cells in our brain remember them. They are ones we praise or curse but they are the ones that teach us to live.

Hold onto your memories always, be it bad or good. Maybe someone broke your heart but that person might have given you good memories. Remember that him/her with those good memories. Why hold back the bad memories and repent over them and say bad about them? Forgive and forget is what I believe in. We all have one life, so live with the happy memories and yes don't forget the bad ones as they teach us more lessons than any teacher in our life can. 

"Memories are not built in a day,

Memories are not forgotten in a day.

Memories are the ones which keep us alive,

Love to respect and relive those Memories."