Laavan, Aaru, RG & me must be the most spoilt kids on earth when we are at naani's. We would wake up late. Breakfast in bed. Or infront of the TV. Baths in the evening...Sometimes, when we were much younger, in the backyard, insisting on using the ancient handpump which would draw up freezing water from below the ground, and it felt awesome in the terrible summer heat! On other occassions like Holi, after we would have had our share of colours and water, we would be marched out to the back, and maamu would make us sit under the handpump in turn, and make sure we rinsed off whatever we could before we entered our filthy selves into the bathrooms!
I remember how naana came up with the idea of maggie@4P.M. everyday in order to get us to eat a proper lunch before that. We'd play hopscotch all day long outside their house, or up on the terrace. With the rest of the kids in their lane. And at night we would spread mattresses on the floor so all of us could still whisper late into the night, long after everyone had slept and the only person keeping us company would be the colony guard - he would pass by the house and blow his whistle in the dead of the night, till we fell asleep.
Naani would tell us the same three stories every single night and we'd listen and laugh each and every time. And back in the times when Delhi had severe power cuts in summers, sometimes the entire family would go and sleep up on the terrace till at 5AM the sun would rise and we kids would be picked up and transported to the rooms downstairs.
I remember also how we would grow channa (grams) and rajma (kidney bean) plants in cotton ...and then transfer them to the garden when they grew a bit.
Ofcourse now we've grown up :p But we still wake up late. Still eat all meals while watching TV. But hopscotch has been replaced by quiet walks outside. Maami has begun asking the doodhwaala to supply extra milk since we're prone to making cold coffee at 2AM. The maggie's still there. So is the Coke, and lots and lots of dabbas of namkeens. Our conversations have moved on from weird classmates and teachers at school, to well...more profound things like the aches and pains of growing up. The food's still there too. My maami and naani are two of the world's best cooks, and to them we are still 10 yr olds who need to be fed properly. "If you won't eat properly, how will you study?" is what it used to be till a few years back. Now the 'study' has been replaced by 'work'.
This time we made gujiyas. The special sweets for Holi. So maami made the dough, which all of us then rolled into small round bits. Naani then flattened them, and we stuffed them up with a mix of lots of sweet stuff (which i can't translate into english right now!), and then put aside the semi-circular things to be fried by maami. It was fun, how everyone sat on this sheet we'd spread on the floor. And how the jokes and comments flowed non stop! From teasing RG to be a part of the 'work' to his potential significant other! And RG taking a dig at the gujiyas Laavan made, and giving her a tough time the moment she ate more than three of them later on! :p
Everyone agreed Aaru was the smartest one since she went off to meet some friends early in the morning and hence was spared being a part of the labour force! Maami commented that most of us made up an army of unskilled labour, and maamu tried some of his management strategies to monitor the whole process but soon just went to sleep. Just before going though, he said "all right then...when i wake up I want all the work done, and all the gujiyas...."
And a cheeky voice said "...made and eaten and in our tummies!" :p
Ofcourse these sweets are available in the market too but nothing comes close to homemade gujiyas. Nothing. And it's fun how everyone sits down together to make them ... it's a really nice feeling. There's lots of love, warmth, laughs and well...food. We couldn't ask for more.
reminds me of my summer vacation. though never thought of penning it down. but now that ur post has sent me down the memory lane, i have to do it...
ReplyDeletethe most memorable bit of our vacations in kerala cud probably be raw mangoes soaked in brine solution.all 7 of us wud relish them equally. my daadi wud prepare it in such a way that it wud be ready by the time we wud reach for our vacations. n we wud have them at the terrace stealthily during afternoons when everyone was fast asleep. it used to be too concentrated a brine solutin, not fit for direct consumption. it used to be so tempting that we cud not wait for the day a gravy wud be made form it. we wud just cut it, add red chilly powder, salt and coconut oil and there it was - ready to be eaten, the smallest of the pieces worth being fought for.
- then there were sessions of palying cards - bluff being our favourite game. 4 sets of playing cards n still the game wud not go beyond half an hour. at times it wud come to a natural end or else more often it wud end up in an argument followed by sulking and silent treatments. patchup wud happen mostly at times of meals - all the kids first, on the floor, with the super cool n convenient banana leaves as plates. i used to be the odd one out with nothing non vegetarian in my plate. my daadi wud then fry eggs exclusively of the 'brahmin child' of the clan, which made me feel special. she always wondered how cud a child grow 'strong and big' without eating non veg. guess we have no other option but to grow - with or sans non veg food.
- next, our evening strolls down the lane. we wud collect henna leave which people wud grow as hedges along the boundary walls of their houses. then all of us wud help our girl cousins in applying the henna on their hands in odd geometric and abstract designs. alternatively we wud go for a walk in the fields, careful enough not to spoil the standing crop, collecting snail shell ( i dont knw how they found their way to the paddy fields)
- i remember the swing our grandfather wud tie on the mango tree for us to play. as a beta test my one of my heathiest cousin wud be made to try out whether is was good for the lighter version of his grandchildren.
- each of us had a coconut trees of our own in the backyard garden ,which we wud take care during our annual trips, comparing who's was the tallest / strongest.
- the visits to our small pineapple farm, plucking a couple of them n see our grandfather skin it and cut it for us. more often then not, we wud finish it by the time the last slice of the pineapple was cut. something similar used to be case with ripe jackfruit, fruit of cashew nut, things i had never seen in delhi.
- making toys with coconut leaves. just loved them. equally interesting were the attempts by us to climb the coconut tree.
- during evening tea time we wud be treated to kerala speical snacks - numerous varieties of appams, tapioca / banana / jackfruit chips et al. cooked in coconut oil, we wud relish them till the last bit left in the bowl.
- other things, for which i am at a loss of memory.
i guess memories of visiting our grand parents always have a special place in the human mind. my dad still recollects his childhood stays at his grandparents.
Wow...those do sound like fun times! :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, the plants we would grow ...after transferring them to the garden, invariably they would be eaten by stray dogs. or cows :p
And ya we'd have these sessions of 'rammi', ludo and monopoly later on, where my naana would cheat sooo much! Lol!! And it would be chaotic once we caught him at it!
Only a mango seed planted by one of my cousins survives. and now its grown into a big strong tree. And every summer my naani fights off the street children who try to steal the fruit off from it!
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ReplyDeleteI believe that if you are a nice human being, you need not create a piece of good art, write a good book, sing a good song well, make a fantastic movie.
ReplyDeleteBut if you have made a piece of good art, write a good book, sing a good song well, make a fantastic movie, you HAVE to be a nice human being. For instance, Lage Raho Munna Bhai. I suppose you get the drift.
I don't know you but from your writings, I think you belong to the latter.
God bless you!
That, coming from someone who I too don't know, came as a surprise. However, Thank you :)
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