Ah! The smell of my grandmom (Manni, as I will refer to her)'s cooking and Thatha waking us up in the morning with pop music (works better than carnatic as we tended to sleep more with that kind of sound). My cousin, my sister and I used to have loads of fun here. Later, we were joined by the younger set of 3 cousins. Actually, by the time our brother arrived, we 5 girls (panchakanyas, as we were refered to) already had our fair share of fun and adventure.
Anyway, back to our adventures, we always used the back of the building there as a hideout. There were 3 buildings (well the 3rd was actually one wide building with 3 entrances) . Simple naming conventions A, B, C. We always thought C was the best (kind of ironic eh? in school you are always taught that A is the best). There was a huge ground in the center full of mud and stones and the back of the buildings were always full of stories of "bhoots" and "snakes".
Our favorite games were always in the afternoons when the womenfolk are done with their chores and it is all quiet for sometime. We loved playing "saas-bahu" or "daddy-mummy" in the back balcony, usually damaging some of my gran's precious pattu sarees. But the ultimate fave game was "gol-gol" where you basically just spin round and round and round, till you feel dizzy!!!
Lunches and dinners were sumptuous affairs, my gran made the yummiest food ever and I loved torturing my sisters over "dahi" (they hated it, i loved it). There was an endless supply and she would fuss over us specially for this. She's the best grandma ever!! Thatha was more stern, but man! was he dapper looking!!! He could pass off for 40 when he was 60 (he's crossed 80 now and I swear he doesn't look a day over 60 to me).
Evenings were fun with my Mama, he was the one who introduced us to western music and we were huge 80s fans thanks to him. All of us still dig "Hey Mickey" and "Cheerikara paattu" even today.
My older mama, was really cool too, a bit hot-tempered but very cool. Always smoking, but we were kind of afraid of his temper. His wife, my mami was the best, introduced us to the world of make-up!!! I loved checking out her "lifteeks" (lipsticks), she had a great collection.
Now, I think I must list out the characters and then start the narration. So, the next episode is going to be a brief intro to all the characters in my family and a little something about them.
Then we'll have the real flashbacks!!!
Yeeaaaaaaa!! I love those!!!
See you all soon..bye!
