A vacation in Kerala
Summer holidays meant going to Kerala and meeting my grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. We all have a close bond because we met each vacation for 2 months and led our separate lives the other 10 months and hence got our time and space too.
Our summer vacation plans started with Achan announcing the summer vacation dates at the Supreme Court of India, where he practiced as a lawyer and always they overlapped with our school holidays. He would then book our train tickets for the 48 hour journey. About 2 weeks prior to the date of the journey, Amma would start winding down, exam results announced, marks all done and discussed and the packing would start. We travelled light, with one suitcase and a small bag. We loved the food on the train so Amma never ever cooked and packed food for the 48 hour journey from Delhi to Ernakulam.
I adored sitting by the window seeing India pass by and i knew which station came when and the time slot. The best food at the railway station is the local vendors stalls, Aloo puri in the north till we reached Jhansi, then over to deep fried and crisp onion samosas very different from the ones in Delhi. at the stations on Andhra Pradesh, rice starts becoming primary and there starts curd rice and pickle. I wonder why Biriyani was not available those days at the stations. Then the final leg in Tamil Nadu, sambar shadam and thayir shadam at Jolarpet and Coimbatore and then at night we would touch the state of Kerala entering via Palakkad. The vast rivers, the bridges over them, seeing the villages and the villagers and passing small towns, the experience was overwhelming and I felt very patriotic when I saw these sights. My favourite were the Chambal valley were those days the dacoits were prevalent, the forests of Madhya Pradesh where the Indian Railways has done an engineering marvel of making tunnels through the mountains. Last but not the least the long bridge over river Krishna as you approach the town of Vijayawada.
We would alight at Ernakulam and stay with my Valiachan and Achamma and my uncle and his family. My aunt has a childlike innocence in her and makes the best Sambar. Many are the jaunts I have done with my cousins including badminton matches, girls vs. boys, repairing a perpetually leaking fish tank, burning my hand with molten tar in the process, planting seeds of jackfruit and mango and waiting for the next vacation to see whose grew faster, catching fish from a rainwater drain, walking on the parapet and scaring daylights out of neighbours who saw us walking as such. It is at my aunt’s home in Ernakulam where we used to stage plays with a saree drawn over a string sufficing as a curtain and serving homemade ice lollies made by freezing orange juice to the audience – my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles. It is here that my amma would organize a physics, chemistry and math teacher to teach me the subject from the subsequent year’s text books, and it was the most irritating aspect of the vacation.
Then we would go and stay with my maternal grandmother in Guruvayur where the caretakers children were my playmates and to date I have an emotional bond with them. We still meet like old friends. I learnt cycling in the sands of our “muttam” at Guruvayur. The days were lazy and mine passed in eating, playing make believe games, having a bath in the family pond, seeing the coconuts being harvested in our coconut plantation, and games of hide and seek. This home is a legacy we inherited and our “tharavad” home is said to be about 300 years old and still standing tall and proud. Daily visits to the Krishna temple went without saying and i remember walking into the sanctum sanctorum everyday with my grandmother without a fuss. Now even if I wait for hours it could be that we are not able to enter the temple.
There would also be a brief visit to my father’s “tharavad” at Annakkara Vadakkath. The highlights for me was the food, which was delicious and I can never get enough of it. The very memory of those meal times make my mouth water. There was also a bathing tank which is where we cousins spent most of our time.
As all good things, vacations too come to an end and I would be sad and normally slept my way back on the train. Oh! for those days whose very memory calms me. Good old days they were, however cliched it sounds.
Summer holidays meant going to Kerala and meeting my grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. We all have a close bond because we met each vacation for 2 months and led our separate lives the other 10 months and hence got our time and space too.
Our summer vacation plans started with Achan announcing the summer vacation dates at the Supreme Court of India, where he practiced as a lawyer and always they overlapped with our school holidays. He would then book our train tickets for the 48 hour journey. About 2 weeks prior to the date of the journey, Amma would start winding down, exam results announced, marks all done and discussed and the packing would start. We travelled light, with one suitcase and a small bag. We loved the food on the train so Amma never ever cooked and packed food for the 48 hour journey from Delhi to Ernakulam.
I adored sitting by the window seeing India pass by and i knew which station came when and the time slot. The best food at the railway station is the local vendors stalls, Aloo puri in the north till we reached Jhansi, then over to deep fried and crisp onion samosas very different from the ones in Delhi. at the stations on Andhra Pradesh, rice starts becoming primary and there starts curd rice and pickle. I wonder why Biriyani was not available those days at the stations. Then the final leg in Tamil Nadu, sambar shadam and thayir shadam at Jolarpet and Coimbatore and then at night we would touch the state of Kerala entering via Palakkad. The vast rivers, the bridges over them, seeing the villages and the villagers and passing small towns, the experience was overwhelming and I felt very patriotic when I saw these sights. My favourite were the Chambal valley were those days the dacoits were prevalent, the forests of Madhya Pradesh where the Indian Railways has done an engineering marvel of making tunnels through the mountains. Last but not the least the long bridge over river Krishna as you approach the town of Vijayawada.
We would alight at Ernakulam and stay with my Valiachan and Achamma and my uncle and his family. My aunt has a childlike innocence in her and makes the best Sambar. Many are the jaunts I have done with my cousins including badminton matches, girls vs. boys, repairing a perpetually leaking fish tank, burning my hand with molten tar in the process, planting seeds of jackfruit and mango and waiting for the next vacation to see whose grew faster, catching fish from a rainwater drain, walking on the parapet and scaring daylights out of neighbours who saw us walking as such. It is at my aunt’s home in Ernakulam where we used to stage plays with a saree drawn over a string sufficing as a curtain and serving homemade ice lollies made by freezing orange juice to the audience – my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles. It is here that my amma would organize a physics, chemistry and math teacher to teach me the subject from the subsequent year’s text books, and it was the most irritating aspect of the vacation.
Then we would go and stay with my maternal grandmother in Guruvayur where the caretakers children were my playmates and to date I have an emotional bond with them. We still meet like old friends. I learnt cycling in the sands of our “muttam” at Guruvayur. The days were lazy and mine passed in eating, playing make believe games, having a bath in the family pond, seeing the coconuts being harvested in our coconut plantation, and games of hide and seek. This home is a legacy we inherited and our “tharavad” home is said to be about 300 years old and still standing tall and proud. Daily visits to the Krishna temple went without saying and i remember walking into the sanctum sanctorum everyday with my grandmother without a fuss. Now even if I wait for hours it could be that we are not able to enter the temple.
There would also be a brief visit to my father’s “tharavad” at Annakkara Vadakkath. The highlights for me was the food, which was delicious and I can never get enough of it. The very memory of those meal times make my mouth water. There was also a bathing tank which is where we cousins spent most of our time.
As all good things, vacations too come to an end and I would be sad and normally slept my way back on the train. Oh! for those days whose very memory calms me. Good old days they were, however cliched it sounds.
Little Drops of Memories 