The memory of my boyhood is full of happy incidents. I can recollect everything vividly as if it happened yesterday. We lived in a district town on the banks of river Padma now in Bangladesh. My father was the Headmaster of the local school, and was a highly respected man. Our family consisted of six members; parents, my eldest twin sisters, and the elder brother. I was the youngest of them and the lion’s share of affection was bestowed on me. Ours was a very simple happy family. My mother had an inexhaustible store of fairy tales, which she used to open up every night before our going to bed.
My next recollection is of a small park near our house where the children of the Locality were taken out every afternoon. I become intimate with some I met there and that intimacy continues till now.
The next experience worth mention was my first day at school. When I was five years old, I was one day taken to the in fact class of my father’s school I was initially very nervous and could hardly feel, free with the other children. But soon the smiling face of my class teacher and the warmth with which my classmates received me dispelled all my fears. As I was promoted to higher class, I could feel a strong bond growing in me for the school. I began to take a keen interest in my lessons and won the admiration of my teacher.
I was never a goody-goody type of boy. I learnt swimming at a very early age in a big pond near our house. When I grew up a bit more I often accompanied my elder brother and sisters to the Padma to swim for hours in the river. The current was often very strong, but we were good swimmers and we enjoyed swimming against the current. Then there was Bharat Sevasram Sangha. Where I learnt the tricks of playing with lathi and knife for self-defence. My other friends also joined m often. We also played hide and seek in the nearby abandoned Nil Kuthi.
What a time the boyhood was! Everything then appeared to b charming and life was as happy as anyone could wish to be.
