Bachpan Diaries

Stories for Every Childhood

From lullabies and picture books to personal memories and nostalgic tales — stories that span every age of growing up in India.

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All the Stories We Carry

The Last Diwali at the Old House

Yaadein · 3 min read

The Last Diwali at the Old House

We did not know at the time that it would be the last Diwali in that house. These things are never announced in advance.

Manoj Rajput Jun 10

My Father's Radio

Yaadein · 3 min read

My Father's Radio

My father's radio was a Philips transistor — dark brown bakelite with a round dial and a little orange needle that moved when you turned the tuning knob. It sat on the shelf above the desk in his study, next to a bottle of Parker ink and a small brass Ganesh that had been given to him by his own father.

Manoj Rajput Jun 9

The Cricket Match on the Rooftop

Bachpan Diaries · 2 min read

The Cricket Match on the Rooftop

The rules of rooftop cricket were complicated, specific, and entirely our own.

Manoj Rajput Jun 8

Summer Holidays at Nani Ghar

Bachpan Diaries · 3 min read

Summer Holidays at Nani Ghar

It was always the same ritual. School ended, report card was collected (quickly folded and placed face-down in the bag), and within a week the suitcases came out from under the bed — the big brown ones with the brass combination locks that nobody remembered the combination to, so we just kept them open.

Manoj Rajput Jun 7

The Blue Bicycle

Kisse Kahani · 2 min read

The Blue Bicycle

The bicycle had been his father's before it was his — a sturdy Hero Ranger, painted blue, with a tiny rust spot near the left pedal that his father had never got around to fixing.

Manoj Rajput Jun 6

The Girl Who Collected Rain

Kisse Kahani · 2 min read

The Girl Who Collected Rain

Every year before the monsoon arrived, Meera would place her collection of empty glass bottles on the windowsill of her room — seven of them, each a different size, each saved from the kitchen over the months before.

Manoj Rajput Jun 5