Memories of Rampurhat, a small town in Birbhum district, are still deeply ingrained in me. My father, a police officer, was posted there. Having been born there, I was fortunate enough to spend eight to nine years of my childhood in absolute idyllic settings.

What stands out among the myriad childhood memories spent in Rampurhat is a hillock, which is called Chandmari. One could classify it as a favourite clandestine meeting point for couples and a picnic spot par excellence.

Being a government official, my father was allotted quarters in a colony, where all houses were pretty similar. Roads were made of a reddish clay material and the railway yard across the road was an absolute magnet for kids.

Needless to say, with large, green fields, football was a perennial favourite. I really cannot remember a time when my parents allowed me to walk into the house without ordering me to clean up!

We stayed in a one-storey house that was built in the pre-Independence era. With almost 2,000 sq ft to call our own, we never lacked space for movement. Thick walls and high ceilings gave it a feeling of increased space as well.

We also did not have a bathroom inside the house. Rather, what we had was an outhouse. We had a choubachcha (storage tank), which was sufficient.

Every house had a garden. Roses and marigolds along with fruits and vegetables were just some of the flora grown in abundance in our garden by my mother.

Our house also had a large courtyard at the back. There was a huge mango tree there. As incredible as it may seem, I actually had no idea that fresh fruits could be bought at the market till I came to Calcutta as whatever we needed could be picked up from my garden.

Having lived in Calcutta all these years, I still look back at my childhood years in Rampurhat with a smile. I do have a fantasy of building my dream house on the same lines as my childhood home with a large garden in the front.

As for decorating it, I do have a fetish for dolls of all types, whether porcelain or otherwise. Being in a profession that provides me with opportunities to travel, I have picked up quite a few from different places. With a mixture of luck and hard work, this could turn out to be a feasible probability.