Childhood memories die hard, so also our imagination from childhood days. The legendary English Poet William Wordsworth once say - "Child is the father of man". During our young days we imagined and fantasized a lot in different hues and the those given a shape could make dreams come true. Sometimes creative imaginations can lead to innovations.
I spent a good part of my childhood and youth in the government quarters in BJB Flats in Bhubaneswar. Every afternoon we played gully cricket and gathered near a culvert to solve all the problems of the world. It was called GULLI KHATTI (Light hearted nonsense gossips) culture in the city, where boys would cluster around culverts (cemented structures on the cross roads of drains, originally meant for drainage of storm water, later clogged and ending up being youth activity centers).
There was this guy in our neighborhood who used to be a champion in "Killing Gullis" (telling make believe stories) whose imagination was way ahead of the time. He once told us in the summer of 1984 about his elder brother - "AMA (our) so and so BHAI (Bhai) whistles once to start his bike and twice to stop it. Apparently he imagined keyless, remote operation using audio signal in an age when use of remote control for operating vehicles was strictly fantasy. We heard it patiently, challenging ourselves from erupting into laughter.
But his GULLIs went way too far when he boasted about the "thief catching trap" his brother invented. One night his genius brother fitted the trap to his bike and slept peacefully. Next morning he found someone who came to steal the motorcycle stuck to it like a fly stuck on the glue, or a mouse stuck inside a mousetrap. His benevolent, broad hearted brother let the thief go, but not before punishing him to do 100 sit ups by holding both his ears cross handed and then extracting a solemn promise from the burglar to steal again.
It didn't stop there. He had enrolled himself in NCC (National Cadet Corps) which was also alluded to as National Singada Kangali (National Samosa Salivaters) - for many joined NCC for free "SINGADA" provided after a rigorous session of parades. But because of his excellent march pasts and high decibel utterances of "SAABDHAAN" (Attention), "BISHRAM" (Relax), ( "Left, Right, Left... Left, Right, Left..", his instructor decided to take him to next step - to teach him flying using a single engine plane.
He boasted of flying past the top of the Lingaraj temple, the tallest object within several miles of radius of our locality. As his time pass, he touched the flag atop the temple every time he passed by. (There was no apartment buildings in city of Bhubaneswar those days to challenge the height of Lord Siva's abode). He promised us that one day he will land his aircraft in the middle of cricket field, but our dream of seeing him doing that never came true.
We couldn't but admire his confidence as an impromptu "Gulli Killer". He had this uncanny ability to coin one story after another and narrate them to us. Now that we his imagination on remote starting vehicles come true, one day we will see a "thief trap" to catch car thieves - vindicating his imagination.
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