Some of my favorite things

The words of the title are taken from the beautiful movie 'Sound of Music'. This is a classic movie and I grew up hearing the songs of this movie. 

These are some of the favorite things I enjoyed as a child. 

Near my house where I grew up, there was a lawn on a slope. I used to love rolling down this lawn, smelling the grass all the way down. Then run to the top only to roll down again. And repeat it several times. It was fun with a side effect. My entire body used to itch and the first thing necessary after reaching home was a good bath. 

On the edges of the same lawn were palm trees with weaver bird nests. It used to be a wonderful thing for us how these birds used to build nests shaped like upside down jugs. 

There was a group of trees that had bright red seeds. I remember spending hours collecting these in jam bottles. 

Those were times when there was absolutely no traffic. The township was a maze of well tarred roads crisscrossing on a hilly terrain. Cycling to the top of the hill and then riding down the slope was a mind blowing experience to feel the wind on the face. 

Monsoons used to be a time for playing engineers creating dams to divert the flow of water. Puddles of water were meant to be stomped, splashing water all around. I remember catching tadpoles and taking them home in bottles. 

The place was full of dragon flies. We used to call them helicopters, tying their tails with strings and running behind them as they flew away (boys will always be boys). 

These are some of the little things I was fond of as I grew up. Little things that I look back and feel the grass, the wind in my face, those bright red beads in little jam bottles and the puddles of water. So many reasons to smile for the rest of my life.