Summer of '89 - Part 2

Another beautiful city - Trivandrum is another place that I can't forget. My memories here were mostly linked with emotions more than anything else -the wonderful times I spent at my paternal grandparent's place.I loved the train ride to Trivandrum.It was an overnight train that we needed to take to reach there and I used to enjoy every moment of it.The vacation mood would set in as we 'helped' my mom pack clothes for the trip(should really ask her it if was more of help or not!!!!).Big suitcases would be taken out of the attic and we excitedly contributed to the packing as we tried to take everything to show my grandparents.I remember diligently packing each and every report card and exam paper to show off my marks to my grandparents (much to the annoyance of my brother).He would take all his fancy toys which mostly consisted of hybrid varieties as my brother was very ambitious and tried developing new 'machines' by using parts from his existing toy collection.I remember his 'lassi-maker' - to make which he destroyed 2 remote control cars and my mothers hair dryer!!!!!My mother would pack food for the train trip, putting them into individual packets wrapped with banana leaf.Food definitely tasted better in the train and I would devour soft idly's smothered with molaga-podi (an item which I never used to even touch back home!!!).Then there was the fight for places in the train - the coveted window seat.After much argument and after a bunch of scoldings we would settle down and be lost looking out , as the train sped through, the change in foliage very evidently noticeable as we entered Kerala.The scenery would immediately change from being dull and drab to a vibrant green.We would wait impatiently for the station to arrive and would crane our necks to see my uncle waiting for us at the station.A porter would be summoned and all the luggage hoisted upon his head and we would head back home.

I very clearly remember my grandma's reaction when she saw us alight from the car.There would be excited hugs and she would cry (she was a very emotional person, but always argued that they were tears of happiness!!!!).Our house was 'Sharadha' in Kanaka Nagar.My father and uncle grew up in that place and practically knew every person in the neighbourhood.I remember the cool red-oxide floors and the huge diwan we had in the hall.To the left of the entrance was my uncle's room - it had the kind of 'trespassers will be prosecuted look' to it and it was the place where my uncle used to crash after his late night parties!!! Then there was the big backyard.It was here that the water would be heated for bathing and where jackfriut chips would be fried in large quantities and where savoury snacks and sweets would be made whenever we were there.

Facing the backyard was 'kunyammai' aunty's house and adjacent to it was 'lakshmi' mami's house.It was across this brick wall that many exchanges took place.If it was a newly prepared dish, it was passed over to both the neighbours across the wall.If my grandmom wanted a tomato for cooking,it was just a shout across the wall.....

A typical day started off with the traditional 'oil-bath'.Me and my brother were covered in oil and left to play out in the morning sun.We would do exercises showing off our body while constantly irritating the maid whom I lovingly called 'nun-nun' (Please don't even ask me why I called her that way!!!!).Then we would be bathed with a sweet smelling powder made with gram-flour (I always thought that this made us smell us new born babies- but never mind!!!).After that it was time for prayers.My grandmom would make us sit in the puja room and 'test' us on our memory.She would start off one sloka and see if we could pick it up and complete it.These sessions were usually interjected with stories from Ramayana and Mahabharatha.The session would end with the aarthi and I would ring the bell while my brother frenzily would hit a plate with a spoon making the maximum noise possible.The cacophony would soon die and my grandmom used to feed us breakfast.It was always rice with dal and lots of ghee accompanied with vegetable.

After being stuffed, I would head to my much dreaded Hindi tuition.It was with 'Pankajam' mami.I used to hate those classes and I never really knew why I had to go there.She would make me write the same stuff over and over again and I did not learn much except for writing books and books of hindi alphabets.

The evenings were the most fun when we would go to the zoo or the museum.We stayed very close to the museum and it was the safest way to keep us out of trouble.We would be marched off to the museum and made to walk like crazy.I guess this was partly to tire us out so that we would sleep after returning back.There were this huge trees that had small red shaped seeds called 'manjadi'.It was a fascination for me to spot them on the ground and pick them up.I used to come back home with both my fists filled with these red seeds and save them in a big jar in the showcase.My collection grew day after day and when my grandparents shifted their house, they discovered this stash of a huge collection of these seeds(I still have the remnants of this collection- though the seeds have become old and wrinkled).

I can go on and on and on ... there would be a part 3, part 4 and it will just go on....Colourful memories that are so many to fill an entire book.When I look back at these I am hit with 2 looming facts - Those were definitely the best days of my life and they would never come back, however hard I try converting the 'were' into a present or a future tense verb - it just doesn't fit.And the other fact is that I am growing older :)