My First Home in Reliance Greens

If you come here after reading my first post on Reliance Greens, you will know what I am talking about.

If you are visiting for the first time, let me link to the previous blog so you don't have to go looking.

https://dsouzajennifer.com/inside-reliance-greens-township-jamnagar-the-place-i-call-home

One Year

I had the opportunity to stay in my first home for a year before we shifted to the new township address. Though I don't have any pictures from this time (you would know why when you read the previous post), all the memories are so fresh in my mind, like they happened yesterday. There were two major reasons behind this. Let's go through them one by one.

1. I made a BEST FRIEND during this time—a friendship that is still so close and precious to me. I can't imagine my high school without her looking back in hindsight. Meet Megha, who joined my school just a few months back in the same class and section as mine, and we had just started talking. Somehow it just felt so natural, as if we were meant to be friends—like we were soul sisters. We started spending so much time at each other's homes; from going to school and coming back together on our cycles to talking non-stop in class and long walks plus Pani puri eating sessions almost every evening—this HOME saw us laying the foundation of this friendship, which only deepened in the coming years.

   We even started a special ritual to mark our friendship. Every month we would mutually choose a dedicated day when we would make a 'gift hamper' for each other, and it would be given as a surprise at each of our homes, followed by a special meal cooked by our moms. The gifts would usually consist of accessories like necklaces, earrings, rings, pendants, or home decor items like a showpiece or a mug saying 'best friend'—more than the items; it was the intent behind it that mattered, and we both looked forward to this day every month.

2. I found my love for cricket and an idol in MS Dhoni, who was then given the first-time captaincy for the Indian T20 squad in the first T20 World Cup in South Africa. When I started watching the matches, more so because my mom is a cricket lover, I had no idea I would become one too. The time difference between SA and India was such that all matches were late at night and would finish early morning, and I had to go to school at 7:30 am. Did it matter? No.

   I would sleep at 3 and wake up at 6 fresh as a daisy! I started jumping with every boundary hit by the Indian batsmen and crying at every wicket we lost; I started admiring MS Dhoni like he was my elder brother and wished to meet him one day—I still do wish this, by the way.

   A mental time countdown to the next match was always happening in my head, and I started watching news, reading the newspaper with much enthusiasm just to know about cricket and the 'behind the scenes' news. This was the pre-internet wave era, so news on the TV and newspapers were our only sources for fresh gossip.

These are so special to me because, years later, both of these things are still important to me.

In 2024, my best friend is my closest, and so is cricket; the only addition to this is that the IPL started and Chennai Super Kings is a +1 pookie (as the generation today says).

It was time to move to the second home in Reliance Township, where I would spend more than 15 years until now...

To be continued in the next post...