HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Gargi Rakhade

“My favorite childhood memory was playing outside with my friends. I used to live in a gated neighborhood growing up. It was a large area and a safe environment to make friends. We would go to the tennis court and take over the playground and play random games. It was a lot of fun. There was a bayou behind the tennis court, so we would go down there, play in all the little fields and gardens and go anywhere in the neighborhood. 

We did this thing where we pretended to be in high school, and we made up random dramas. Then, we’d start singing. It was like a high school musical, but with us as the characters. It was so random, and we made up the most random dramas. I don’t even know where they would come from. I just remember there’s this one [dramatic experience] we made up where somebody pushed someone into a fake pool. It was so strange, but there were a lot of characters for each person. We would change the names and stuff, it was so fun like that.

For me, it was fourth grade [when everything started to change] because that’s when we moved from the gated community to a completely different neighborhood in a different part of Houston. It was a completely different atmosphere with a completely different vibe, like new school, new friends. Nobody really played outside that much anymore. I got my phone when I was in third or fourth grade because I used to go home by myself, so I would need it. It was purely for communication with my parents. 

Graduating definitely brings a lot of memories; currently, I have been constantly watching Disney Plus  and listening to Disney songs. I’m reflecting, and I’m literally about to graduate high school, like that’s crazy.”