It must have been more than half a century to date, the memories of the two or three days spent during holidays in Valavoor, a place then with no electricity.Rivers and rivulets as the source of water in addition to the wells with sweet ,cool water in those days ,is as vivid as if I was there yesterday.
Everything from bathing cooking, washing defecating happened under the sky be it day or night. It was located very close to a small town Palai in God's Own Country which boasted of early banking .Caste system was well prevalent. However the occasional visitor like me was never entrapped in such trivial.
Going to bed early was the norm .Lamp lit dinners was the norm,the substitute for modern day candle light dinners.
So, always there could be no lapse in concentration and alertness.Getting up early morning was a treat to feel the dew drops, race to pick the sweet small mangoes on the ground ,delicately balancing on the slippery separators between the fields or the short trapeze act on the coconut stem while crossing the rivers and rivulets with mango and neem twigs in hand brushing and plunging into the brooks for a quick splash and gulgul.The screams on seeing a snake ,or falling into the river would bring peals of laughter from cousins as they pulled me out fully drenched with mud after slipping and falling into the fields. a quick wash and and another ten minutes the clothes dried as we trudged along.
In those days,boundaries though defined did not have fenced up walls , so it was just entering from one property to the next which extended to acres.After a little bit of trekking skirts folded up would be laden with rose apples of different varieties white pink red, mangoes, guavas,small pebbles, flowers .
Seeing me the inmates would quickly pop up heads to ask "Are you Sankaran's daughter?has your mother also come?" My mother was beauty to them wearing nice sarees and nailpolish and respected because she came from a very reputed family. I would smile but my country cousins would complete the formalities. Occasionally, we would be treated to jaggery with spices or a big bowl of tea without sugar,not because I was diabetic,but it was rude to ask anything from those nice people.We were just waiting to gulp it down happily and hungrily, as were out more than three to four hours.
By now the sun has made it's full appearance and we had gone a long way from home.We sat near the stream with legs dangling in the clear water to finish off the morning's prized collections and slowly trudge home.The one feet road made by constant usage was just a makeshift between two pieces of land and had to wriggle our way through.
As we climbed the stone cut steps to enter our home there stood Chakkiamma glaring at us with stick in hand.Where you have been this long?Since I was a rare visitor she flashed me her toothless grin and showered the choicest of abuses on my cousins.Cousins sulked and glared angrily at me.We sat down to eat after washing ourselves near the well where stood a nice big lemon tree laden with green limes.
Now, breakfast was not a norm for them. It was only when visitors came it was done.We sat on the floor while we were served,when Chakkiamma entered the kitchen and brought me the boiled egg especially for me and squatted next to me with eyes full of love.When pullykozhi had laid it yesterday she picked it and hid it for me in the granary which is dark and always under her lock and key.
All of us played till lunch time again to go on our trek in the afternoon.It was a treat to all of us introducing and showing me off to their friends,not that I was the prettiest thing on earth but the topic of conversation in their otherwise simple lives.
By evening we were all in the river taking bath and washing clothes and enjoying splashing water.We reach back home and share some home made snacks till the darkness descends and the evening lamp is lit. We doze off after our hard day's work,only to be woken to have lamp lit dinners and to fall back asleep dreaming of what awaits us the next morning.
Everything from bathing cooking, washing defecating happened under the sky be it day or night. It was located very close to a small town Palai in God's Own Country which boasted of early banking .Caste system was well prevalent. However the occasional visitor like me was never entrapped in such trivial.
Going to bed early was the norm .Lamp lit dinners was the norm,the substitute for modern day candle light dinners.
So, always there could be no lapse in concentration and alertness.Getting up early morning was a treat to feel the dew drops, race to pick the sweet small mangoes on the ground ,delicately balancing on the slippery separators between the fields or the short trapeze act on the coconut stem while crossing the rivers and rivulets with mango and neem twigs in hand brushing and plunging into the brooks for a quick splash and gulgul.The screams on seeing a snake ,or falling into the river would bring peals of laughter from cousins as they pulled me out fully drenched with mud after slipping and falling into the fields. a quick wash and and another ten minutes the clothes dried as we trudged along.
In those days,boundaries though defined did not have fenced up walls , so it was just entering from one property to the next which extended to acres.After a little bit of trekking skirts folded up would be laden with rose apples of different varieties white pink red, mangoes, guavas,small pebbles, flowers .
Seeing me the inmates would quickly pop up heads to ask "Are you Sankaran's daughter?has your mother also come?" My mother was beauty to them wearing nice sarees and nailpolish and respected because she came from a very reputed family. I would smile but my country cousins would complete the formalities. Occasionally, we would be treated to jaggery with spices or a big bowl of tea without sugar,not because I was diabetic,but it was rude to ask anything from those nice people.We were just waiting to gulp it down happily and hungrily, as were out more than three to four hours.
By now the sun has made it's full appearance and we had gone a long way from home.We sat near the stream with legs dangling in the clear water to finish off the morning's prized collections and slowly trudge home.The one feet road made by constant usage was just a makeshift between two pieces of land and had to wriggle our way through.
As we climbed the stone cut steps to enter our home there stood Chakkiamma glaring at us with stick in hand.Where you have been this long?Since I was a rare visitor she flashed me her toothless grin and showered the choicest of abuses on my cousins.Cousins sulked and glared angrily at me.We sat down to eat after washing ourselves near the well where stood a nice big lemon tree laden with green limes.
Now, breakfast was not a norm for them. It was only when visitors came it was done.We sat on the floor while we were served,when Chakkiamma entered the kitchen and brought me the boiled egg especially for me and squatted next to me with eyes full of love.When pullykozhi had laid it yesterday she picked it and hid it for me in the granary which is dark and always under her lock and key.
All of us played till lunch time again to go on our trek in the afternoon.It was a treat to all of us introducing and showing me off to their friends,not that I was the prettiest thing on earth but the topic of conversation in their otherwise simple lives.
By evening we were all in the river taking bath and washing clothes and enjoying splashing water.We reach back home and share some home made snacks till the darkness descends and the evening lamp is lit. We doze off after our hard day's work,only to be woken to have lamp lit dinners and to fall back asleep dreaming of what awaits us the next morning.
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