Memories...once again.

Today, as I was going through my little, 4 month old, niece's (my sibling sister's daughter) photos, I could'nt help remnicising about the summer holidays we used to spend in pune at my uncle's and grandparents' place.
My mother has a younger brother, who's my uncle (obviously) just like my case, where I have an elder sister, who has a younger brother, that is me. Her daughter is my niece and I am her uncle, just like I have my uncle (I couldnt have made it simpler !! hehehe!!).
So anyway, its like I said, my sister and I spent almost all our school summer holidays at pune. My uncle was a fitness freak (still is, as a matter of fact.). He had played cricket for the state and the west zone. And he was into muscle building. He used to take us to the S.P college ground in pune. (S.P college is a famed college in pune and the organization which runs this college 'Shikshan prasarak mandali' also govern other colleges like Podar college in matunga, welingkar institute in dadar.). S.P college ground had a gymnasium, which was a typical 'old school' type of gym. The gymnasium building was old, and had a thatched roof structure. It had a side entrance into an open verandah which served as a sort of entrance gate to the main ground and doubled up as a pavilion. The building was at a metre elevation from the ground. Once you climbed the stairs to the elevated verandah from a side door, you could see the full ground from that position. A declining set of stairs led you down onto the ground. The amazing part about public ground or private maidans is that you'll see so many games being played, so many teams playing side by side, different people in different coloured clothes....some playing football in shorts and colourful jerseys, some very 'official' looking cricketers in full whites, some in just shorts and bare chested having a round of volleyball, some in tracks and sports tees jogging. It used to be fun just watching them, at times !! There was even a sand pit on the ground for practicising long jump. Our uncle had bought us each, a nice pair of track pants and shirts and a jacket to be worn after we had finished our exercises. He used to take us (me and my sister) for a jogging round, a small round, which seemed very big at that time and by the time we finished our round, we used to be tired and all sweaty. After this round, my uncle used to go the gym building to have his workout. And we used to do some stretching exercises uncle had taught us. It was fun to see my sister, not being able to do some of the stretches, which I could easily perform !! My uncle had instructed us to wear our jackets for some time after jogging and exercising ("Put on your jackets after exercising, lads, otherwise the breeze blowing on the sweat will make you ill !!!", thats what he used to say !!). After that we used to sit on the verandah and observe the other 'sportsmen' on the ground. After some days, many people who were regulars were familiar with us two kids. There was workout instructor who used to give free weights training to a few potential 'body builders'. He was an old, but big fellow with a long mustache. I always thought he was a retired colonel in the army (I had the funny impression, at that time, that army colonels had long mustaches !!). 'Sir' they used to call him. I was always scared of him and remember being afraid of going past him and into the door..... to go inside and call my uncle, whenever I felt he (my uncle) was taking too long at the gym !!! But he was a kind old man, not because of anything else, but after some days, when he was used to seeing us everyday, he gave us peppermints to eat, everyday !!
After my uncle came back from his workout, we used to head home.
Its was one of the simple things in life you enjoy and remember. Going to the ground with my uncle and the enjoyable hour and a half was one of them !!! The ground still exists, but they have changed the old building. Its been reconstructed.