Golden Hour

 

There was this time in the evening when my Aaji (grandmom) would wake up from her afternoon nap and go make some tea. I would be just wrapping up my afternoon play and would be waiting for her to give me Tea and Parle G biscuits. 

It used to be around 5pm, the old neighbourhood which had gone quite for the afternoon has started slowly coming back to life. The neighbour is watering her plants, another neighbour has just come out to walk her dog. My uncle, steps out to turn off the building’s water pump. Since we lived on the ground floor, we generally ended up doing this task.

The feel was so different and the way I remember it now it makes me want to just travel back to that time, around 20 years ago.

The evening sun is streaming into the house from the window, I would sometimes play the shadow game in that stream of sunlight.

Soon, Aaji would give me my tea and biscuits and I would turn on TV and watch Pingu or Mickey Mouse. She would then, wash and powder her face, change her saree and then sit on the wooden chair and comb and braid her hair.

She had this routine, every morning and evening she would dress up to ensure that she is always looking perfect.

It was only during this pandemic, when we were all home for so long, was I able to experience this golden hour once again. When I actually realised after a long long time how my house looks in the evening.