Flyaway Mind

Siya came from Delhi last month for a short vacation. For the uninitiated, Siya is my little niece. I could hardly wait to see her and Chechi. It had been six months since I last saw her as a 2 year old and hence I was apprehensive about her recognizing her super-duper Chitta (Aunt). All my apprehensions were blown away, when she came tearing towards me and wrapped herself tightly around my legs. It was the most heart melting moment in my life as a Super Aunt.

Siya has grown up and I could hardly wait to show her around Kerala. I wanted to show her the beautiful river flowing near my home and the water birds that dwell on it's banks. I wanted to play with her in the sand in our courtyard and had even bought a beach-kit to frolic in the sand. I wanted to show her the ducks, hens, goats and cows which she never gets to see in Delhi. In fact, I was more excited than her.

At home in Kerala, she refused to come inside the house. She always wanted to go out and play in the sand, gather the nutmegs which had fallen off from the tree, go outside the gate to watch goats or sit inside the car carrying her bag and play "going to shop". And I being the hypocrite Aunt that I am, often refused to come out and play under the sizzling summer heat and get barbecued. Come sunshine or rain, kids don't really care. I preferred playing "doctor-patient" inside the house. Siya has a real stethoscope which she got from my doctor Aunt. Invariably, I am always the poor patient and Siya the Doctor. I will come to Siya to get treated for my sickness varying from fever and cough to 'pain on my little finger'. And how cute is it to see Dr Siya put her stethoscope on my little finger to diagnose my pain. Afterwards, she will apply imaginary ointment on to my little finger and enquire, "Are you okay now?".

Siya liked the beach kit which I bought for her. She dug up the courtyard with the spade, filled sand into her green bucket and marched towards the base of coconut trees to empty the contents there. To summarize, Siya happily dug up her Grandmother's precious garden!

We went to my Father's ancestral house. It was the perfect time to introduce Siya to nature. On the way, we stopped at an acquaintance's house. To my surprise, they had all imaginable domestic animals at their house. They had ducks, hens, goats, cows and even a poor caged parrot. It seemed the world was conspiring to entertain Siya.. Siya was on cloud nine, seeing the quacking ducks wading in the murky waters and the big cow tethered to the pole. She bravely fed the goats with leaves and to her utter delight, they ate right out of her hand. She even stroked the fidgety goats as the lady of the house held them for her. She kept calling out to the parrot, "thathammee thathamme".

As we were traveling, we saw a guy on the pavement selling chickens, some painted yellow, others painted pink. There were over a hundred of them squeaking inside the makeshift fence. We stopped the car and went out to watch them. Siya kept yelling, "Chitta, Touch them..touch them". The guy offered to sell us a dozen chicks for 100 Rs. I was tempted but Amma instantly declined.

We reached Valyamma's house, where my cousin's six year old son was there. Siya and Abhi made great friends, playing bat & ball, racing the car, going to watch the cow and simply holding hands & running around..In fact Siya tortured Abhi pushing him around, pulling out the toy car from his shirt pocket and thrusting wild leaves into it instead. Finally, in an act of immense friendship, she even pulled out her colourful beaded necklace and deposited it around Abhi's neck. Only an innocent two year old can do this.

I wish Siya could remember all these precious moments, when she grows up..But alas, nobody remembers their life when they are just 2 years and 9 months..So here I am recording all those exquisite moments, so that little Siya can cherish them when she grows up.

Hugs to my little sunshine girl!!!!

When I think green, I remember my father's ancestral house nestled in the interiors of a remote village in Thrissur. The small tiled roof house enclosed by a dense courtyard, lined with coconut, mango, jack fruit and arecanut trees. You name the trees and it will be there.. Where the faint scent from nutmeg and tamarind trees waft in the air.. Where the cows and hens rule the haven..Where the courtyard wall is never concrete or cement but a dense row of thorny bushes... Where the summer vacation were spent climbing guava trees, munching juicy red cashew fruit and slightly sour roseapples (chambakka)..

Image:wwwsoulreflectionsinartcom-colleen.blogspot.com

It was March 8 th– Women’s day. We were on our way to Yercaud hill station, which is near to Salem town and popularly know as “poor man’s Ootty”. Yercaud is situated in the Servarayan range of hills in the Eastern Ghats.

We were a pack of seven. Me, Raintree, GG, Pavi, Vj, Maiden, Desai. We were having good time in the vehicle chitchatting, munching snacks, threatening to puke on each other ;) and singing.

Start of the journey was li'l disappointing. When our vehicle started climbing the hair pin curves, I found the place not as exciting as I imagined. It didn’t look that appealing in the mid afternoon heat with the dried up grasses and dull green surroundings. As we bent the 20th hair pin curve things were getting lots better. The place looked green and dense. The weather was pleasantly cool. Around 1 pm, we reached ‘Silver Resort’, where we checked into a luxurious cottage over looking the big Yercaud lake.


We had lunch at Shevaroy’s hotel and then went on to see Pagoda/ Pyramid point. It’s a windy hilltop point, which gives a good view of the surrounding Shevaroy hills. There is a Rama Temple here, which is surrounded by four pagodas, which are rocks piled into pyramid shapes by the tribal people.

The other attractions of Yercaud are the Ladies seat and Gent’s Seat points. These are view points with natural rock formations that resemble seats. On the way to ladies seat, we stopped at a local tea stall, with mouth-watering bajjis & pakoras. We sat outside and relaxed while tea walla prepared us hot piping tea.

We hiked to Gent’s seat point, where we planned to watch the sunset. The evening sun casted long shadows on the ground and soon we were playing puppet dance & tribal dance with our shadows. It was fun trying to stamp on each other’s shadows. We sat on the rocks in tranquility for almost an hour, silently watching the sun sinking down the horizon. The evening sky was misty and the setting sun created multiple halos around it. Did a few photographic acrobats by clicking snaps of “catching the sun in the palm” & "open mouthed and trying to swallow the tiny fiery ball."


After sunset we went back to ladies seat, since we heard the point was magnificent at night. From the hill top, as I looked down I was dazed seeing the entire Salem town brilliantly lighted up in the dark. We could see the silhouette of the dark hills and the flood lights of an occasional vehicle passing the ghat roads. It looked as if the star studded sky was down and we were floating far above it. As we stood there watching, suddenly an entire dark area lighted up. To our surprise, it was the street lights turning on. As if a million fireflies have alighted on it suddenly...

Night had settled in and it was li'l windy and chilled. We went back to our cottage, wrapped ourself in jackets and proceeded for dinner at Shevaroys. Later, we went out for a night stroll. After hiking for sometime, we reached the Emarald lake. We sat down on it’s banks and started stargazing. Sky was enchanting and we were chitchatting on all possible topics ranging from global warming to childhood stories. Life seems to have come to a standstill. Meanwhile, Pavi and Desai were arguing about the location of pole star in the sky and Raintree helping us find the shape of hunter constellation.....It was fun making out the hunter's belt and pointed arrows in the star spangled sky.

I woke up to the terrible feeling of cramps in my legs. I was still in the bus, on my way home to attend a friend’s betrothal. I was not sure of making it there on time. The bus was already late by 2 hrs, thanks to the tense situations at the Kerala- Tamil Nadu border, all in the name of some Mullaperiyar issue. After being immobilized for 2 hrs at the border, the bus finally took off from the Walayar checkpost…Suddenly you could feel & sense Kerala ; the enchanting greenery, the imposing Western Ghats & the refreshing morning air. Never had all this been so alluring ,until I started staying away from home. No longer is anything taken for granted. I particularly love traveling when it’s drizzling. If it’s a heavy downpour, you have to close your window and just sit there sulking & watching the fog developing on the glass panes. But if it’s a slight drizzle, you can leisurely keep your windows open and bask in cool air and enjoy the sight of glistening leaves & the rain drenched tiled roofs of kerala

The last 3 yrs I had been living in 3 different states..A year back, I was in Tanjore in TN.. The first thing you notice there, is the feeling of “ghee on sacrificial fire”. It used to be too damn hoooooot. And we had to walk a long way through the treeless campus to reach our class. We used to literally race to the class to sit inside the a/c. It must be one of the reasons we never bunked any classes:) There was nothing to do out under the scroching sun.My attendance level was too high to suit my character .We were too happy to sit inside the class & doze off

Another thing you notice in the campus is the ease with which you can locate fellow mallus inside the campus. They are the only ones who walk under the fiery sun with an umbrella. I guess the Tamilians & Northies are used to these environmental conditions. So as I walk around with a red poppy umbrella, if I come across anyone with a blue/green/red poppy umbrella, I can confidently walk up to them & ask “enthokkeyundu visesham”( how are you)

But the nights in Tanjore are quite in contrast with the days. Nights are heavily windy, especially during the ‘aadi season’ . They are crispy cool with clear, star studded skies. At hostel, we used to take our mattresses up to the terrace, and lie down there under those heavenly skies ,chatting all the way into the night. We used to try figuring out the constellations and the non-existent comets, that fire away in the night sky (comets will usually be a figment of somebody’s flourishing imagination)..

Then, there was this farmland behind our hostel with rose farms, paddy fields & sugarcane fields. The swaying paddy fields are a rendezvous for the peacocks. If you are shrewd & careful enough to stand like a statue/scare crow, the suspicious peacocks will sometimes allow you watch them. But the moment you take out the camera, some sixth sense makes them to flee away, cackling its horrible cry.(it’s cry is similar to a cat’s cry with a little more volume & bass) . And for some unknown reasons, we gals used to derive much pleasure, by sneaking into the rose farms & taking away some of those pretty flowers.

Then I miss the fun we had in the hostel, the hanging-outs after each exam, watching tamil movies, breaking bday eggs on friends’s heads, sitting late in college in the name of projects & seminars(but browsing most of the time)

The place is famous for the big Brahadeeswara rock temple, with its mind blowing architectural beauty,built during the reign of Chola King, Raja Chola. The tall architecture is designed such that it’s shadow never cast upon the ground , at any time of the day