Townships or Govt quarters, have their own way of life. Something most of us who grew up in 70s, 80s or 90s, would identify with. With apartment complexes, gated communities becoming the norm, most of today's kids would not have much idea about these.

I spent close to 30 years in Govt quarters only, with my father working for the Vizag Port Trust. In fact he stayed in those quarters only till his retirement, only after which he moved out.

Like with any other place,these quarters, had their own way of life, or living. The bonding here was much closer, kinda place where every one knew every one. To date most of my close friends have been from these quarters.

Both in my childhood and younger days, always used to have a great circle to hang out. With no Internet, Social Media, just used to hang out till late night in the colony discussing everything from cricket to movies to politics.

For starters the homes in most townships, or quarters were pretty simple. In fact pretty drab looking, unlike the very snazzy homes you see in apartments or gated communities.

But what these townships or quarters had was ample space to cycle, walk around or play. Cricket was very much a default, more often than not with those cork balls, that could cause real pain, if it hit you.

Apart from cricket, other popular sport, was badminton, quite often long rallies. That was the best part of growing up in these townships or quarters, and quite often we had outsiders coming in too

Watching cricket in those quarters was another experience by itself. Typically would gather in some one's home, and that would become a mini cricket stadium by itself, with full cheering and shouting.

Remember watching that 1986 Sharjah match, with all the colony residents, crowded around TV. Cheering and shouting till the end, then Miandad hit that last ball 6, all of us just went totally off.

And we had our movie binges much before Netflix. The good ole VCR was our Netflix, and the video shop guy was our own IMDB those days. And again we used to gather in some one's homes, indulge in movie marathons.

Of course we had our groups, English movies with "scenes" were only for younger guys. All those heavy senti family movies, were strictly for Aunties. Kiddos only cartoons or kid movies.

The other best part about being in a colony/township was the festivals. The celebrations were something else, though the most we enjoyed were Ganesh Puja and Deepavali. Sankranti/Dussehra most used to go off to other places.

Ganesh Puja, used to start a week before, planning for the event, we had comittees, and then getting the murthi. And the whole night before setting up the pandal, and then the evening puja, with all the colony residents present