The Backdrop : My oldest memory

I have often thought about my oldest memory of my hometown. It's actually quite vivid as the occasion was quite momentous. I was sitting in the window of our spacious guest / meeting room of the house. It was rightly called "baithak". A designation not used at all these days. This large room had an appropriately large window that faced the road outside. Mind you, I call it the road and not a street, as our house was on the side of the main artery entering the "shahr". In fact, it was really the first house as you entered the town. As I must have done this often, I sat in the window on this afternoon too. It was a big big event, there was a procession or "jaloos" passing right in front of our house. It was not often that we used to have these jaloos(es). Lots of people, lots of naarebaazi. I suddenly spotted this one person that used to impress me a lot because he was soooo tall and he was a friend of my oldest brother who was also very tall. His name was Soami or Somi. Of course, he had both his hands up fully stretched in a victory gesture. He was leading the naarebaazi with chants of Lala Dev Raj, Zindabad.... Bau Dev Raj Zindabad. As the procession moved, I got a glimpse of the garlanded man in the jeep standing loaded with garlands of flowers and rupee notes. That moment is the earliest memory i have of my father. As I got excited seeing my dad and his public persona, something even more memorable happened: My father also spotted me, by now standing holding the grill of the window. I was so excited. And wow !!! At this point, he gestured me to come out. I don't know how I went to the door but someone just lifted me to my dad. My dad then did something that, i am sure many others would be envious of. He tore off a TWO RUPEE note. A two rupee note in early 1960s and gave it to a boy barely 2 or 3 years old. In those days a boy my age barely got "kharchi" of one or three paise or a takaa or may be 5 Naya Paise. I don't know what happened thereafter but it surely was a beginning of me getting many of those notes as time went by. I my dear readers never stopped feeling that I was the privileged one !!!