I still remember my almost a century old ancestral home, where I spent most of my childhood at. The creaky wooden floors, the foldable wooden ladder to the attic, the beautiful little verandah that wrapped around the house and the numerous rooms. Ah, it was such a delight! I can still recall those days where I would be up in the attic all day playing with my uncountable made-up friends, hosting tea parties and acting out fairytales. My house was always filled with the hustle and bustle of the big joint family we had. There was never a moment of silence in the house. Something was always waiting to happen. I had always been a restless and energetic kid, something which I have carried on to the present. There was never a moment when I could sit still, I was always busy doing one thing or the other. One such day, before I could put my thoughts into words, I was roaming around the house as usual being the rambunctious child I was. I ran into the kitchen and pried open the refrigerator door. Poked my head into the fridge and stood there as if it were an air-conditioner. Hearing my squeaky high pitched giggle and laughter, my mother came running into the kitchen followed by my brother. I ran from the kitchen squealing, giddy from the excitement of being caught in the act. I ran outside and was sitting in the verandah when I saw something black and fuzzy lying on the floor. Me being me, I had to check out what it was and slowly crawled to it, picking it up. It felt warm and fuzzy. In the excitement of having found a new plaything for myself, I ran to the kitchen to show my mom, my latest treasure. Hearing the rapid creaking noises of the floorboards, she guessed that it was me. She turned around as I came running into the kitchen with my tiny little strides. She was inspecting my face and saw this proud look of achievement on my face. Knowing me, she knew I was upto something. She came near me and that's when she saw I had something in my hand. She asked me to hand it over to her and me being so proud of my finding, I didn't hesitate a moment to give it her. But to her horror, as soon as she took it from me, it flew away from her grasp. What she thought was a dried up banana peel, turned out to be a

baby bat

, which I randomly picked up thinking it is a new toy. Seeing it fly away, I was awestruck and started clapping whilst rolling on the ground laughing. To this day, this is that one memory that cracks me up, every single time I recall it. Punya Raj Panicker St. Teresa's College, Ernakulam