Mine

My Earliest Memory

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.  ~Elizabeth Lawrence

Sharing a precious childhood memory for,” My Earliest Memory”, a topic suggested by the members of Write Tribe, a group of prolific, creative and fun-loving bloggers. I have been tagged by Pixie’s Take On Everything. Her lovely Post can be read here http://mytakeoneverything9.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/my-earliest-memory/

 myearliestmemory     

In childhood, we press our nose to the pane, looking out.  In memories of childhood, we press our nose to the pane, looking in.  ~Robert Brault

My Childhood Memory

And when I press my nose to the pane and peep into this magical garden of fragrant memories, I see an abundance of joy, love and affection. There are so many happy memories I would love to share with my friends, but will curb my enthusiasm and recount this particular one that brings a smile to my lips every time I recall it.

I was born in a middle-class family and though we had all the necessities of life, luxuries were another matter altogether. When I was studying in class three I’d wanted to learn to ride a bicycle; but we had a sturdy  Atlas cycle at home, nothing fancy like the ones my kids had growing up and I  wasn’t as heavily built as I am now, so balancing its weight was another challenge.

I don’t know if many of you would be familiar with the way kids used to cycle when they couldn’t sit on the seats. We would slip our right foot from under the bar and cycle, standing tall on the pedals. It required acrobatic ability and skilful manoeuvring. We used to call it the scissor style cycling (Kenchi).

My father didn’t discourage me from riding his big bicycle even though I was barely tall enough to reach the handle bars. That was the first lesson I learnt from him, no challenge is tough enough and if you have the will, you can meet your goals. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”, was another of his favorite quote.

He held on the seat of the cycle while I stood on the pedals and ran with me the first few steps, instructing me to focus on the road ahead and pedal at an even pace. Knowing that he was with me and had my back, gave me the confidence to speed up and reach the end of the street I was cycling on. On reaching the end I found out that he had stopped midway after making sure that I had control of the cycle.

The memory of that day has stayed with me and helped me meet many goals in life. The confidence instilled in kids at an early age moulds them into responsible adults and fills their lives with positivity and self-belief. Thank you dad, for holding my bike steady and showing me how to move ahead in life.

By Sulekha Rawat

Sulekha Rawat

33 thoughts on “My Earliest Memory

  1. Aha! Kenchi!! Heard and read and thought about this style of cycling after ages!! And this brought such a big happy smile. Yes, I remember riding a bicycle that way too!! As you rightly mentioned, it certainly required certain skill to ride that way 😀
    Thanks for adding some smiles this side 🙂

  2. They say learning to ride a bicycle is the first lesson in independence. Beautiful post.

    I never learnt how to ride a bike and that's a story I guess I must share too sometime 😉

  3. I have a very similar memory of my dad teaching me to ride a bike. "You can do it!", he would say, each time I wasn't able to peddle properly. 🙂 Very fond memories indeed. And they sure bring on a smile. <3

  4. Lovely Sulekha…this brought back such fond memories of me and sis learning the cycle and then the Car…taught by daddy! Yes, a father’s ‘ you can do it’ stays with us for years and helps is to achieve even the impossible!

  5. This one memory remains with each one of us. That moment when the parent leaves the bicycle signifies so many turning points in our life..

    Richa

  6. Yes I agree with Richa … all of us have this moment in our lives when parents just let go..hoping and praying we wont fall..and i feel that takes more courage for them than the kid sitting on that cycle

  7. You reminded me of my childhood and my dad. I too had the good fortune of riding his bicycle again an Atlas, in the same 'kenchi' style. It was super fun. My sister and myself would run to grab the cycle when he returned from office.

  8. I never learnt how to cycle having lived in a small hill station where everywhere I could go by walking or had my dad's car take me…But I so wish I had learnt!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *