“And even if you were in some prison, the walls of which let none of the sounds of the world come to your senses - would you not then still have your childhood, that precious, kingly possession, that treasure-house of memories? “ ~Rainer Maria Rilke

I remember, I do remember, I do remember very vividly…..

Many many years ago……

As a little girl, in frocks, short skirt & blouse and once a while my brother’s shorts and shirt (Until the elder ladies frowned and said che che che, with their fingers on the nose L………)

v      Making mannappam  with chiratta (coconut shell)  and sand and angering the neighbour who had bought the sand for his house construction (his grandson was also our playmateJ) ……

v      Taking a piece of the large end of a madal (a part of the coconut tree)-  hammering a few wooden pieces as the horns and pulling along with a kayar (coir rope)  calling it our cow/bull……..

v      Playing  Kuttiyum kolum (not heeding the elders advice that the stick may hit your eyes)…………………….

v      Playing marbles (again stealthily as elders chided that playing goli/goti would ruin your handwriting!) ……………

v      Playing football (The goal posts marked with stones or the rubber slippers worn those days)…………..

v      Playing seven stones (sathoudi)  (wincing when the rubber ball was thrown at us  with force, to get us "out" by the stronger boys of the opposite team)………….

v      Playing cricket with rubber ball and madal, the wickets too made of madal, (Oh, no wonder they call coconut tree the kalpavriksham J ) ………….

v      Naming the pet cat “poocha ba” (nothing to do with Kasturba I assure you, it’s the way we used to call it poocha baa, poocha baa…. meaning Cat come here)

v      Carrying the pet cat around on my hip like a baby (avoiding achan’s eyes lest he ask me to put it down and wash my hands  scrubbing well with soap……..

v      Plucking mulberry from the trees………….

v      Picking up mangoes that fall down from the tree, a race to see who reaches first…….sometimes fighting for the one mango that fell down…..

v      Picking up elantha pazham (bor) and Njaaval pazham (Jamun) from the school compound (again the mad race to get it first) and stocking in the tiffin box………….

v      Cutting different leaves from the trees in the compound and pressing them in old books, running to ammooma (grandmother) to ask the name of each one..........

v      Being thrilled at getting the Onakkodi (maybe the only one new dress you got in a year)…..

v      Making pookkalam (flower carpet) on the courtyard after collecting flowers from the neighbourhood on all 10 days preceding Onam…………….

v      Going round and round and sitting down suddenly puffing up our pattu pavada/long skirts (chaniya choli style dress) to make it look like the Manipuri dance dress…………

v      Making our own Balajana Sakhyam at home when cousins get together, painting, playing word building (we still call one of our our chettans (Elder brothers)  'yemble' becos he lied that there is a word yemble when we kept on giving him words ending in Y……..

v      Escorting, to and fro, the person of the opposite team, while playing word building, who wanted to go to the loo in between the game, to make sure that he/she doesn’t peep into a dictionary until the game is over……

v      Getting up early on Vishu day, all decked up previous nite with kanmazhi (kaajal) and pottu (bindi), seeing the Vishukani and  getting the kaineettom from parents...then turning around to chechi to get share from her (Elder one) and then giving my brother his share, he being younger to me....... then pooling all resources to buy padakkam and kambithiri (Fire crackers)…..........

v      Joining the boys in bursting erupadakkam and malapadakkam when chechi stands aside protecting her ear drum……........

v      The sandhya nama japams (Bhajans after lighting the lamp at dusk) by all the kids at home,  keeping an eye if father is around to listen and if so hollering out “ Vasudevaa…” as if bhakti has reached its zenith, when the  bhajan on Lord Krishna was sung…… (Is there any other chance to call your father by his name??)

v      Collecting the orange colored sweets and dissolving them in water to make our own cool drink (who had Fanta and Cococola those days?),  Drinking salted Kanji vellam ………ahhh how good it tasted!.................

v      Playing "sat" (Hide and seek!)……….. (I still wonder why it was called sat?)

v      Splashing water and getting wet in the puddles on the way back from school..............in the kerala rains...........

v      Enjoying the fragrance of “puthumazha peytha mannu" when the first showers set in…….

Memories can never be erased……………..

“A happy childhood can't be cured.  Mine'll hang around my neck like a rainbow, that's all, instead of a noose.  “ ~Hortense Calisher