Katti-batti

Childhood is undoubtedly the best part of life. Our lives are like cupcakes and childhood is the icing on it. Childhood is all about fun and friendship. Girl-boy, Hindu-Muslim, dark-fair, all were friends. We were not bound in the chains of society at that time and were like free birds flying around and expressing joy at every moment. Friendship was, or perhaps is, that pinch of masalas in a subji (our lives) that makes it flavorful. It is like amrit as it keeps the life in us alive. Our friends are some sort of superheroes who rescue us from the monster of solitude. Friends always give us a shoulder to cry, a reason to laugh and a suitcase of unforgettable memories.

My friends are my life. I love them a lot! So let’s dive into the world of friendship and discover the different stages of friendship we had as kids. So Annie, Pallu,Vidhz,Shapri,Gauri,Avi,Dishu,Maha,Madhu,Shreya,Srija,Soumya,Gullu,Tanu,Dibya,Isha,Sid,Ronit,Dhruv,Yash,Shreyash,my sad unicorn Shruti, Tina,Ila, Wagisha and my dear sis Stuti, this one’s for you.

1)    Stage 1: Mujhse Dosti Karoge? - This is the introduction to the new friend. As kids, we are usually very shy. So we talk in this shy tone and ask the new friend’s name. I remember how I met my bestie, Annie. Our society sandpit has a red slide. The environment was lonely. I was coming down the slide and Annie was coming up. She asked my name and I asked hers. We were really shy at that time so we reluctantly told our names. And that incident began a tale of endless friendship.

2)    Stage 2: Show off! - I made a new friend! Isn’t it exciting? I need to tell the world! As kids, making new friends was a big deal. So, if some kid made a new friend, they would make sure that the world got to know about it. To show off, we used to hold our new friend’s hand and roam the world with them. We would have this expression on our face which would signal the spectator to ‘see’ my new friend.

3)    Stage 3: Katti! - The petty fights during childhood led to katti-batti. We used to fight for any random reason. Friendship of many years, friendship that we showed off was broken in a fraction of seconds due to reasons unknown to anyone. As kids, if I and Annie were left in the same room, we would surely come out with a fight. I remember Avi used to take katti if we asked her to take the den during Hide-and-Seek.  Gauri used to cry like a kid every second minute. She took katti and used to cry even if a person forgot to say ‘hi’ to her. I remember once Gauri and Shapri had pretended to take katti for what seemed like forever. Me and Annie went berserk and forced these dramebaaz to lift the curtain from their naatak. All this definitely sounds stupid now, but that’s how we were then.

4)    Stage 4: Batti! - A smile bloomed on our faces during this stage. A while after katti, we used to take our index and middle fingers, put them together kiss them and join them to the other person’s fingers so that we would break the curse of katti. Avi used to take batti when she was told to hide instead of seek. Stuti, I and Annie were like 3 idiots during childhood. So the system was that when Annie spent more time with Stuti, I’d take katti. When Annie would spend more time with me, Stuti would take katti. And when Stuti spent more time with me, Annie would take katti. So due to this system, it was really rare that all of us took batti.

5)    Stage 5: Always!- This stage comes after a series of katti-batti incidents, introduction to new friends, etc. If you can survive all the previous stages various times, you reach this stage. This is a stage of true friendship which will last forever, how much ever we fight, we remain friends forever.

I hope you enjoyed this article and could relate to all the stages. I am sure you must have experienced them.