Mohit and an Escalator

Today I went to a nearby shopping mall. I am not very comfortable in these shopping malls. There is a feeling of claustrophobia in these places in spite of the large expanse they occupy. (This in an urban landscape is a crime). I always have to stop and take my breath to get accustomed to the closed space. On one such 'breather' I was watching the series of escalators going up and down. Quite a sight. Quite awe inspiring.

Suddenly I remembered Mohit (for Mohit was his name, I think). I was in College and it was generally assumed I was always at a loose-end. Anybody who wanted any work done from a bill-payment to a dentist trip employed me. Neelum had this little cousin called Mohit visiting the city for the first time, and I had to entertain him most days. He wasn't too bad, and I really did not mind Mohit tagging along. One of the most exciting things we did was to have rides on the RBI escalator. In those days, there were no shopping malls, and to the best of my knowledge the RBI was the only building with an escalator. We went up and down the escalator endless number of times and never tired of it. In those days it surely would have been termed "awwwesome".

How naive we were with such innocent tastes. Escalator rides, tram rides to Joka amidst the Maidan greenery, walking in Dalhousie Square looking for the Old Fort Wall (we did find the plaque), double decker bus rides to the outskirts and back. All such simple and completely marvelous acts left us "awestruck".

Today when I saw a two-year old smartly stepping on to an escalator with a large Coke and a packet of chips in her hand, I thought of Mohit. All of 10 years. Me about 16 years. Having a whale of a time on the RBI escalator. That escalator had us spellbound !!!!!

Today's kids need a Gold ticket to an Inox Harry Potter show. In the 1970's Mohit and Neelum and I needed very little. An afternoon breeze on College Street gave us a high.