🔄 6 Decades, 2 Six year old girls and 1 Hula hoop

While going through Mom’s (Monisha Choudhury) old photos, I came across this little gem on her Facebook. 

^{(L-R: Anima Basu, MK Basu, Monisha Choudhury, Pronoti De, Biswajit Basu)}

“With my parents, brother and aunt. Bangalore 1959.

This house was special and beautiful . It had a solid teak round door opening into the balcony on the first floor where we are standing in a curved corner. The grill...partly visible had a silver paint and was quite unique in design. 2/1 Broungton Cross Road just off Mahatama Gandhi road was a house in then a serene suburb. On A bread nut tree across the road where Bush babies..Loris who were spotted rarely!”

Added by Biswajit Basu, May 2021:

“Our address in Bangalore was 2/1, Brunton Cross Road. It was parallel to the Mahatma Gandhi Road and between Brunton Road and Primrose Lane at right angles. There lived an old English couple in a sprawling house in front of ours and the Manekshaws. It had breadfruit, jackfruit and silk-cotton trees. The lovely forested environs is completely built up now and our house is an ad agency office!

The English gentleman treated us as Mr Wilson treats Dennis! 😃. I walked two miles to school from home.”

(There’s a little more about Brunton Cross Road neighbours in this post as recounted by Ma, just three months back)

In Mom’s inimitable style, she could recall every detail in every old photo or memory, and layer stories and stories on them. I wished I could run to her with this photo and ask her about it. The photo did spark off a story of my own. 

February is the best season here, and we spend a lot of time in the garden. One such day was February 24, 2019. We were in the garden and the children were playing with hoops. My younger daughter, Aria, wanted to learn how to hula hoop. But I had never played with it. Then, we discovered that Mom had been an avid hooper in her childhood! She was instantly roped into the hooping madness! 

She talked of hooping with different body parts, and demonstrated with her arm (the only one she could do without having to get up from the chair!) Much hilarity ensued as she tried to teach the technique to the children. 

A sunny February morning spent in fun and games. No, Aria did not get the technique of hooping down at that time. But, the next year brought the Covid 2020 lockdown. Stuck at home, she tried it again late summer. 

In August 2020, she turned 6, just as old as her Dida had been in the 1959 photograph. By October 2020, she had the technique down and was hooping away till she got tired! She even started hooping to songs. And all along, her Dida was there - to cheer her on, and watch her skill rekindle in her granddaughter.  

6 decades, two 6 year old girls and one hula hoop.