Lost and Found

I found it on the middle of the road on a lazy saturday afternoon. It was a single marble, standard green colour, perhaps dropped by a kid with a full pocket and too busy to miss the one. When did I last see kids play with marbles? When did I last play with marbles?

I remember playing cricket in the streets, in the garden and even in the small room inside the house when it was raining. When did I last see kids playing gully cricket? I miss the clamour and the chaos of the young boys roughing it out in the sun. The sun did not hurt and the rain did not matter. We would swim in the pool for hours lazily playing with the Ball. Swimming was still a sport and not an exercise.

"We need an indoor bike to keep fit", says my wife. Reminds me of the green coloured sports bike of the school days used for racing up and down the hill with friends. Our most prized possesion for outdoor activities, for going to school and returning back, for running small errands for Mom from the nearby market. And on days when we we got lucky, the opportunity to drop a lady friend home in the front bar of the bike with her hair blowing in the wind and throwing the beautiful scent of her shampoo into the nostrils.

"I am arranging funds for a vacaton abroad with you and need to spend longer hours in office", I explained to my wife selling her the dream of visiting Europe on a romantic holiday. "Do you remember the most romantic time we spent? ", she asked. We were in college and did not have the funds to watch a movie but plenty of time to stare into each others eyes in the garden close to the girls hostel. The hostel gaurd would announce the curfew hour and we stole a extra few minutes with me not letting her hand go while she made mock protests teasing me about hostel rules. When was the last time we held our hands and went out for a walk in the garden, I tried to remember.

The noise of the car engine broke my reverie and I stared at the marble wondering what I had found and what was lost. I threw it back on the road for someone else to find the loss.