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| The river |
In this post I will be taking you all to my native place Kerela. Kerela as you all know is a full fledged bounty of nature and my grandparents, Ammamma's and Acchama's place was an abode of nature's bounties. Green paddy fields, coconut groves, mango groves beetlenut groves banana plantations, cashewnut trees, jackfruit trees, coffee shrubs,pepper vines,beetle leaves vines, vegetables, tamarind tree, flower bushes etc. In the midst of all these were ponds, where one can have a bath in the morning as well as in evening. These ponds were usually used by women flock for bathing and washing clothes without wasting one's time going to the riverside. There were wells too which would be attached to the kitchen and one or more well would be there in the mango orchards for watering and irrigation purposes.
Our most enjoyable part of the year was the summer vacation. Vacation in those days meant, visiting our grandparents and most importantly cousins especially, the maternal ones. All my cousins from different parts of the country too, would be visiting Ammamma during summer holidays. Thus a huge crowd. We all enjoyed our holidays sharing clothes,toys,books,singing,howling and crying. Learning different languages were the most interesting part, tamil, marathi, bengali and most common Hindi. The whole house would turn out to be a warehouse of noice,chitter and chatter.
To avoid chaos Ammamma had a disciplined schedule for all of us. All children should get up early by 5.30 and should do their clean up routine,Brushing bathing etc. Modern facilities of pipes and separate bathrooms were not there in my Ammamma's place and not even a electric connection. So the huge crowd of people taking bath in the bathroom were time consuming as well as hectic schedule since water had to be drawn from the well. So the kids battlion was taken care of by Amma who was everyone's adorable(Mausi) Cheriayyamma and also the naughtiest one.The pond being small for the battlion, Amma would gather everyone and would take all of us to the river. The river was a bit far from our house. The track eleven 🚶 was very interesting with Amma moving ahead and we children at her back chatting and doing all odds without her noticing. On reaching the river 🏞️ we all would jump into the river swimming, shouting, and catching fish 🐟 with the mundu. The best part was the bet on diving. One should dive standing on one's spot and holding one's breath should come out wading🏊 through from the other end. The winner is the one who can hold the breath longer. Amma the village bele used to be the winner always. After the hectic schedule of bathing and washing we all would be relishing "KANJI" (rice gruel) with loads of ghee (neyyu) kondatam, appalams, papadams, chamandi pudi (chutney) and kadagu manga(tender mango pickle). Oh!! What a lovely break fast that was.
After breakfast everyone (children)should move out and should only be seen at Lunch time. All ladies would take over to prepare the lunch menu singing and sharing their daily experiences and enquiring about other family members etc. Amma used to be the happiest sitting in the warmth of her mother's love as well as love of sis-in-laws. She was a free bird here unloading all her responsibilities, for, the rest of the year she will be doing the same routine work in the confinements of the four walls. Lunch too would be sumptuous with all goodies and everyone would move out for the afternoon slumber.
Evening session was full with activities. Since there was no electricity "Ranthal" lantern were used. All the lantern glasses were to be cleaned with ash to remove the smokiness. All these cleaning and lighting the diyas were done by the children. Diyas would be kept in all corners of the house and also in the Puja room. Sandhya Aarti would be done by Ammamma alongwith the nama japa by children.
Our holidays were divided into two parts first fifteen days in Ammamma's place and next fifteen days in Acchama's place. Acchama was a strict personality with loads of love for her grandchildren. She was very possessive of her grandchildren and wouldn't allow us to play around in the open or inside since she felt we would fall and would hurt overselves. She thought us to be fragile city breeds who wouldn't be able to adjust to village livings. So in Acchama's place we were extra vigilant, while playing and talking. On one such holidays there was an event in my Acchama's place, my great grandfather's 80th birthday. All were busy greeting the guest and feasting, between all these hustle and bustle we kids were brushed aside. Taking this opportunity all of us sneaked out to the mango orchard and began our naughty activities. My sis was the naughtiest in our group and also a Tom boy. She had a plan to show everyone that we city brats were no less than the nadan kuttigal( village born and brought up ones). So now, she, with the help of all of us,moved a huge rock and moving it towards the well, plunged it into the well. Splash 💦💧a huge loud noise emerged. We all got frightened and hid ourselves behind the bushes far away from anyone's reach. The sound was so huge that everyone came to the spot and started searching for us. But we due to the fear of us being scolded didn't budge from our hideouts or made any noise. All was panic striven and thought we might have slipped into the well. Acchama called helpers who came with buckets and ropes. Amma started crying, hearing her sobbing, my sis too lost her control and strated crying out loudly. We all came out from our hideouts trembling with fear and sobbing. Everyone gave us a sharp look. Amma cajoled us and took us inside and lol!! Amma the policewali started beating us black and blue. My Tom boy sis got ENTANGLED in her own web of mischief. And all her Swagger faded away with tears rolling down her cheeks.
My little sis our Tom boy is still known by her mischiefs. She was smart enough to avoid Amma's warth and canning. Me on the other side was the (dholki) doldrums of Amma.
