Yesudas’ voice is linked so closely to my childhood memories. A single word from any song of his transports me instantly to Thrissur. It always brings forth immensely strong memories of summer mornings with the heat shimmering over the ground in warm bursts. The drone of the radio in the background with the news in Malayalam followed by the Sanskrit version, the gentle whirr of the ceiling fan, the vision of my Ammumma taking her afternoon nap in the ‘easy-chair’, the 4 pm tea… Restful afternoons spent poring over age-old issues of ‘India Today’, trying to read the Malayalam newspaper… Weddings at the Neeranjali Hall, visits to Guruvayoor, the nauseating Ambasaddor car trips…
Above all, the memory of that heat, the Kerala summer… the blinding sunlight. The blessed heat…..Never thought that one day I’d miss it.
arunshanbhag says:
nicely written. now I can even smell the inside of the Ambasaddor car. Thank you you did not mention rides in the ST Buses.
Did you eat lots of mangoes? maybe Jackfruit? what else? just curious.
June 26, 2004 — 9:11 am
Lakshmi says:
Thanks, Arun.. Frankly, I would have liked to write better..:-) But then, I always gripe!
Oh yes, one summer, I fell ill b’coz I binged on mangoes, jackfruits and swimming….:-) Loosies, fever, the works…
June 26, 2004 — 12:26 pm
kookygoblin says:
and how about torrential rains starting just when you have to leave….and walking through narrow lanes flanked by high mud walls….and getting curiouser and curiouser about the innumerable holes in those walls..and finally taking a stick and poking around to find an angry scorpion brandishing its tail..and getting whacks from your mom because you nearly died :)Lots of nostalgia..Thanks for reminding me….:)
June 27, 2004 — 3:11 am
Lakshmi says:
Mon plaisir…:-)
June 28, 2004 — 7:29 am
Anonymous says:
I had written the letter T on a small tree trunk at around 3 ft from ground and when I visited the same place after 20 years I saw a big T on the same tree. suddenly I could travel back 20 years in a second.
June 27, 2004 — 8:16 pm
Lakshmi says:
Wow!
June 28, 2004 — 7:20 am
hariputtar says:
So, you are from Thrissur. I have been to Thrissur once, to meet a friend there a couple of years back – we went to Athirapally and Vazhachal falls … and to a waterpark 🙂 what fun!
June 28, 2004 — 4:16 pm
Lakshmi says:
Grrr! I have NOT been to any of the touristy places in Thrissur, leave alone Kerala… Quite an apology of a Mallu, I know….:-(
June 29, 2004 — 4:48 am
hariputtar says:
Hee! Hee! i have even done a backpack-trip of south-south india (with 2 other bihari friends) 🙂 [ we traveled on state buses. ate at local hotels 🙂 amazingly light on the pockets. and very fast 🙂 ]
first-leg: bangalore -> trichy [ iyengar temple 🙂 ] -> tanjavur (+ darasuram) [ chola temples] -> madurai [ meenakshi temple ] -> rameswaram [stayed for two days. waded thru the knee deep waters in a lagoon to the first *islet* off dhanushkoti ] -> kanyakumari (+ nagarcoil, sucheendran)
second-leg: kanyakumari -> trivandram (beach) -> (alleppy-kollam: boat ride in backwaters) -> ernakulam / cochin -> tekkadi [ via kottayam] (periyar reserve, hiked around with a guide, the leeches on the forest-bed freaked us out) -> ernakulam / cochin (saw the movie *Ashoka* in ernakulam) -> bangalore
what fun. kerala is so green.
June 29, 2004 — 7:34 pm
Lakshmi says:
???!?!??##I!OI#O!IU#
I am speechless… I refuse to read the entire comment. WAWAAA- I want to go to all these places too!!!
June 30, 2004 — 6:14 am
quizling says:
Ah, nostalgia! And while we’re talking of the mallu mindset, my dad is planning to trade in his antique Ambassador car for… a brand new Ambassador.
June 30, 2004 — 11:03 pm
Lakshmi says:
Ugh! The car upholstery is nauseating…! Are the new Ambassador models any better-smelling?
July 1, 2004 — 6:43 am