Childhood

Do you remember the times many years back when you were not scared of the rain? When you were forcibly deprived of an afternoon of showers and puddles and newspaper boats, so that you wouldn't catch a cold? Remember the times when you sneaked out anyway? And what about now? You have probably forgotten what you had once yearned for, and now that there is no one to stop you from getting drenched..... you stop yourself. And others too, if you get a chance.

I loved being a child.

In fact, I am often told that I am still a child. I think so too! I know that I can be overtly sentimental (ha ha ha... need I say more!), and very often most impatient, and at other times simply a pain in an intimate body part.

You know what I like most about children? You obviously don't and so I am going to tell you.

I love their honesty and the sincerity of their emotions and the fact that they are so very curious! Yep... I love their curiosity! I love the way that their minds are so devoid of prejudice and that they simply see things as they are... and definitely not as they should be! A little child will ask you such uncomfortable questions! She won't take it for granted that your maid should sit on the floor and not touch the furniture. She won't look away from the beggar on the street who's eyes you tactfully try to avoid. She will tell your best friend exactly what you think of her, so remember to keep your mouth shut when she's around. She will stare at the ugly and call it ugly in it's face and she will duly appreciate the beautiful even when she's not supposed to.

But then she learns to behave and to be polite (to the right people of course) and also to hold back anything even remotely spontaneous. And, she learns it all without knowing that she has. And then passes it on.

What if we could all be like children? Doing whatever we wanted, saying whatever we actually felt, and free from all preconceived notions. Wouldn't it all be a much better place? After all, every one of us was once pure, untouched and ignorant. We all once had our eyes wide open.

Bikes!

Don't you just loooove bikes!!!! Well, I know very little about them and have been on one only once (yes once.... spare me those incredulous looks... I've seen them already)..... and that once was only 2 days ago..... (yes I'm 21 and it was my 1st time)....... but I am so much in love with them already!

Well, you picture the perfect bike ride as one where you are hanging on to the love of your life in the most enviable way possible and whizzing past your more unfortunate friends who jealously tell each other how it won't last..... don't you? Sure you do! You just don't say so. Well, the good thing for you is that my ride wasn't anything like that. Being kind of chicken-hearted I had protested at the idea of 3 people and no helmets, but had obviously been overruled. I started off by making funny noises and holding on pretty hard for my life to the person in front. My whelps even convinced some street dogs that I was being kidnapped and they gallantly ran after us to rescue me (as interpreted by my 'friends' on the bike).

Half way around the campus, I started loving it!!! Totally!!! And that's when I wanted to go faster and faster! The wind just felt so wonderful and everything felt even more wonderful and I am sorry for my limited vocab because I would really like to use some other nice word in place of 'wonderful' but I can't think of anything right now. (Looks like GRE mugging was even more worthless than I had realized.) Thankfully our driver wasn't too wild and so we survived scratch-free. We had 2 'wonderful' rounds of the campus. :P

That's all I had to say about bikes. That's all I know about bikes actually. And thanks so very much for the ride!! :)