More of Gwalior stay

Apart from things mentioned before,life was interesting after the phase of schooling was over.
College was fun,freedom,fashion consciousness,and above all fanatasies.I would visit our neighbour,not for anything else,but to read 'Samaresh Basu'.His volatile books,laced with a bit of sex,were a major pull.Even before this,I had been reading teen romances,from one of my friends,who in turn borrowed them from her elder brother.They were mostly innocent stuff,all mushy and romantic,with a bit of smooching thrown in.One day,after having devoured a particular favourite,during lunch breaks,at school,I decided to further relish it at home.Little did I know,that my Father,would glance through it,come across the fleshier parts,and utterly forbid me to read them,he in turn did not know,that it was twice read already!!
I never liked the suspense stories,it was 'human relations'for me all the way,till date.I have never read most of the books by'Agatha Christie,Sherlock Holmes etc.,though I have enjoyed them after having been,made into movies.
But books were my friends,transporting me to wherever I wished to be, the moment I started turning the pages of a particular book.
I loved and still love 'biographies'mostly of men and women 'who made a difference to the world'.
So,by the time I was 15,I was in college,loved Arts,I could sing reasonably well,though I never learnt how,I suppose it was in my blood,I loved to draw,and wanted to learn painting,I loved the wilderness,loved animals and birds and nature,I loved to dream,of falling in love,actually I was in love with the idea of 'falling in love'.I even dreamt that the great Bangla actor'Uttam Kumar's' son,would marry me.I aimed high didn't I?The daughter of a clerk,in the Central Govt.whose only boast could be that we were erstwhile zamindars,of two villages on 'Jessore Road''Rangapur and Bijoynagar',had such dreams!!
Of course I was lonely,since my brother was young and sickly,i could not share my dreams with anyone,thoough by the time I reached college I did have friends,as mentioned before,but I used to end up listening,absorbing ,more than articulating,my thoughts.
Time to leave Gwalior behind,now I was 17,already wearing sarees,though at home it was still the frock or skirt blouse.