My article Going home came published in The Hindu Young World on Friday, July 8, 2005 when I was a Class X student at Sindhi Model Senior Secondary School, Kellys, Chennai.
I’ve always longed for my summer
vacation... so that I could escape from the moribund city life... from the
heaps of school books and homework... from the polluted air around me... and
most of all the mechanical life of the city.
All through my summer vacation, I’ll be
at my mother’s home at Vattoli, a small village in Kozhikode district, Kerala.
Vattoli
is a village with hills on one side and paddy fields on the other. The hills
have a number of caves at the top, which are said to have been occupied by
tigers during my grandpa’s childhood days. It is a very tranquil place.
In Chennai, the sun rises in the sea. In
Vattoli, the sun rises through the hills. Early in the morning if we go out, we
can hear the chirping of the birds and also the morning prayer of the cuckoos.
The village is lush green with bushes, pepper vines, bamboo, arecanut and
coconut trees and many others. Many flowers bloom due to the summer rains.
Natural mushrooms also arise from these rains. There is a spring nearby and
also a canal to irrigate the paddy fields.
There is a Shiva Temple nearby where
festivals are held at this particular time of the year. Festivals, especially
that of temples, are something very unique here.
Girls walk in a procession carrying a
plate containing a small lamp and certain fruits, which are used for worship.
This plate is known as thalam.
Behind them is a procession of people
with different types of dresses. At last comes the elephants, caparisoned, and
also people sitting on them with a deity. After the pooja, there will be
cultural programmes, folk dances and songs, kolkali and other such
items.
One of my uncles is a physical
education teacher and a good volleyball player who has won many prizes in
district and state level games. He takes the lead in organising the local
cultural and sports activities.
He insists that we participate in the
various activities. And we all take it up with lots of joy except me... since I
was always poor in sports.
Our house is a big ancestral home in
the middle of a large area covered by various plants, trees and bushes.
Each season sees the garden rich with
different kinds of fruits like jackfruit, mango, banana, cashewnut fruit,
mulberry, pineapple and many more. There are many flowers and other small
vegetables in my grandma’s little garden.
We have a cowshed with two cows. My grandma gives me a
daily dose of milk before I go to bed. The calves have bells around their neck.
My grandmother also keeps roosters, hens and chicks. We
sometimes find wild birds too. Sometimes jackals come to catch the birds, which
are in the garden before my grandma puts them in at night.
As for us children, we have a lot of things to do. Being
the eldest, I’m the most responsible, but also lead in almost all our naughty
deeds. We play a lot of games.
Climbing trees is one of my favourite hobbies during
vacations. We would steal the ripe or raw mangoes that my grandma tried to hide
from us.
Sitting in front of the television is rarely an option
since we have other things to do. And we’ll always be busy (in our naughty
deeds). Another hobby is to make different shapes with clay.
My grandma is an expert in traditional cooking and my aunts
in modern cooking. During vacations, we have a get-together in my grandma’s
house. There will be a lot of mouth-watering delicious dishes. As children, we
love food... and we eat as much as we can as if we were participating in some
food eating competition.
I enjoy village food especially that of my grandma. An
escape from all junk food too...
