How many of you were afraid when your report cards in school were given to you. Well, not all! But I was as I was an average student. But imagine being afraid after getting 60 % marks. I was shit scared of facing my mother's wrath that I wondered how she came to know that my report card was given to me by the teacher. Much later I realised that my sisters too got theirs at the same time. (What a Dumbo I was!). I did not know why she was angry but took me years to find out that one of sisters was not a bright student and mom was angry with her and we all were target of her anger. At these times my heart would pound.
After giving the report card to my mother who was busy making tiffin in the kitchen, I would dart off like a deer, but can you guess where I would hide? I would climb up the neem tree which was our staircase to the terrace. My mom could not climb as she always wore a sari(or that is what I thought). I much later saw her one fine summer morning on top of the terrace with father making vaadams for the family. I got up unusually early on a summer day and when my mom had to get down I was sent away to the bathroom to brush my teeth and when I came out of the bath I found her making coffee in the kitchen. I asked how she got down and she said she can fly. I believed her but Thank God I did not attempt to fly. To think of it now, can we ever try this on our children who have just crossed 3 years.
Those were the days when we never knew of TV's and listening to the radio was allowed only on Sundays. We all enjoyed going to the beach which was just a 5 minute walk from home and what a great time we had standing on the shore and enjoying the waves. Whenever we prayed we had a big wave and when it was followed by a small wave, we were told by our friends on the beach that we did not pray enough.
When we went to school we knew of only one mango seller and he used to bring ground nuts and mangoes to sell with 'koduka puli' fruits too. The mangoes were sliced neatly and these slices would be cut half way to look like design and it would be lightly touched on the 'milagai podi with uppu'(chilli powder and salt) and we all enjoyed the taste. These mango slices were called 'badhdhai' and it would cost 10 paise for 4 or 5 such badhdhais. "koduka puli' was sold for 10 paise in a cone with a small 'pottalam' of 'milagai podi'. Groundnuts were always 'Avicha verkadalai' or groundnuts cooked in salt water, to ensure that you did not fall sick eating raw ground nuts. This was sold in cones but you could get a small cone for 10 paise and a bigger cone for 25 paise.
Much later we found a small shop within the school premises and what we enjoyed most was the 'kamarkattu' which has three varieties and was sold for 1 paisa, 2 paise and 5 paise. Wonder where I can find those today!
Next Episode: Little Brave me.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
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