Childrens Day reminds me of all sweet sour childhood memories which still manage to plant a smile on my face. The child in every individual is always awake and never dies, it nourishes in abundance on the joy of innocence, art of sharing and a world full of smiles and laughter.

My most memorable childhood memory is the moment when I had created a ruckus on my first day to school. This episode was officially responsible for branding me as a “prankmaster”, “drama queen” quite famously known in my family and friend circle as “Wind-Pipe Choked”episode of my life. It was a bright sunny afternoon and a Sunday to add. The blazing sunlight peeped into the nook and corner of our house and my sister was using an old UK edition dictionary to learn a new word which was her homework for Summer vacation. The dictionary was one of its kind, brown paper, old, with a quintessential smell of old paper with pictorial representation of each word. We were lying lazily on the grass mat greedily looking into the dictionary. I was simply amazed at the thought of a book which  in my sister’s own words ‘had all the words in the world’. She said this book is called a Dictionary. I was barely out of my Upper kindergarden. The next day would be my first day to school. I was very excited and had butterflies dancing in my stomach. I asked my sister gently playing around with the Dictionary, “Is School nice? Do they give Lollypops to eat?”

“Yes. If you are a good girl, they surely do. But be careful about this monster called Homework. You get kneel-down, sit-ups as punishment if you don’t finish Homework” exclaimed my sister.

“Hey. What is this Wind-Pipe?” I asked her quickly, pointing to the page in the W section of the Dictionary

“It is a pipe in our neck. It passes the food which we eat down below to our stomach” said my sister proudly gesturing with her arms. She pressed my neck gently and tickled me and we had a great laugh.

“What happens if the Pipe gets choked?” I asked demanding for a quick explanation with my eyes gazing and waiting for a reply with  a baited breath.

“You die” she said.
I smiled and winked at her.

Just then we heard Mom screaming at the top of her voice from the kitchen.

“Please come and have your Complan” ordered my Mom.

My sister used to gleefully drink Complan and lick her lips to get the last taste of the 'yummy' drink in her own words. I used to always find zillion reasons to bunk my daily drink.

“Mum, my throat is paining. I can’t swallow” I said with a sheepish grin.

“Stop giving excuses! Drink it now or else no Playtime with Monty (our neighbours pet dog)!” said Mom with a high pitched tone good enough to scare the hell out of me.

“OK!” I obediently listened to her. My mind was still lingering on the word “Wind-Pipe”.

Next day was an exciting day. I woke up early and had a bath, recited my prayers. My mom forcibly made me wear Red woollen shirt and matching trouser. Even today it reminds me of “Beta, Sweater Pehno Ad”. I was very angry that on my first day to school I had to wear a woollen shirt and trouser much to my disappoinement making me look like a mini eskimo. She got me and my sister ready and fed me porridge, quickly wiped the food which was clinging to my lips and gave her lecture.

“Don’t talk with strangers & don’t accept chocolates from anyone”

“Yes Mom. We are good girls” we both nodded in agreement.

We hurriedly rushed to School. For some strange reason, after some time Mom followed us to School. I think she presumed that I would have pangs of fear  knowing that it would be my first day. The bell rang. My Mom said bye to me.

“Come home soon after school gets over. I am preparing Chalki today”(A Namkeen Maharashtrian delicacy) whispered my Mom from the window.
I nodded and made a sad face. She smiled and left.

I think the only topic which I could think of thereafter was Wind-Pipe and Chalki.

My sister marched to her Third division class. She hinted to me through the window of my class that she would meet me during interval.

The Teacher looked very strict. She said her name is Ms.Dias. I immediately pretended to have a breathing problem. I held my neck very tightly. Ms. Dias came running to me and asked me if I am ok. I told her that my wind-pipe is choked. She could not understand. They immediately asked my sister from the other class to come over. She came running and took me to the Headmistress. Headmistress asked me “What do you mean by Wind-Pipe choked?”
I said "This is my food pipe with which I swallow. But now for some reason I just cannot breathe forget about swallowing”. Tried dramatizing my voice to the meekest level and pointing my finger to my neck and clasping it tightly.

She immediately called for a vehicle and asked my sister to drop me home and come back to school.

As soon as we came out of the school campus I started jumping with joy. My sister was angry with me. She promised she would not tell Mom about this. I bribed her to do so by promising that I would not pinch her any more. No sooner I reached home Mom was worried and she asked me to sleep and gently patted lot of Vicks on my head.

After some time I was enjoying the aroma of sweets wafting from kitchen. I jumped from my bed and went to the kitchen and asked Mom for hot helping of Chakli. She quickly figured out what a brat I was and tapped on my head asking what excuse I gave to bunk school and I proudly flashed my winsome smile saying “Wind-Pipe choked!!!”