My Earliest Memory!

This is one of my earlier attempts at blogging. I had posted memories in four parts and the first one I am re-posting here.  

At times a procession of memories conquer our present and our mind becomes a participant in that.

               …….that never returns…

Part -1

There are a good many things that never return in their original forms. The time that we spend, the food that we gulp, the objects that burn, the lives that expire and the like are a few such things.

 There is one thing that everybody likes or loves to experience once more in life, but cannot, is nothing but our childhood. And that will never- never appear before us once more; that is a paradox, which we have to abide by. Sometimes we wish we were children without any wish for achievements and without any chains for movements.

 Now let us have a voyage along through the seas of our good old days of getting petted and pampered. There will be none who have not reached the shore of sweet childhood, sailing in the ship of their memory. So also, no different is my case. My childhood that once pedalled through my beloved hamlet, registers its presence in the ledger of my leisure hours.

 Yes, now I’m there at the panorama of my village, which is in the south of India. The southernmost part of India contains a small corrugated leaf-like state called Kerala. The picturesqueness of my rural area steals the mind of its visitors as well as the dwellers. Yes, it was full of tall trees with swaying twigs and bushes with lots and lots of flowers (And now more or less concrete trees or jungles have displaced the very charm of our lovely village).

 Butterflies and birds fluttered by and visited their favourite nectar storage to feast themselves sufficiently. That was indeed a colourful sight. Wells quenched the thirst of peasants, while ponds refreshed them after the day’s work. Fields grew grains in abundance and, trees and plants yielded fruits and flowers in plenty. They dressed up in the apparel of three crops annually, two turns of paddy and one turn of sesame or horticulture. The cool breeze fanned the people in the hot sun. The sun never failed to attend to his duties and shone on all the stone pebbles and sand particles. The monsoons were ambrosia for the villagers, as they awaited them as hornbills. Birds often turned to be great singers and sang melodies and fine tunes for the villagers. They occupied their seats in branches to watch coolly the things going on smoothly in their jurisdiction. Nights also exhibited the lustre and lure of her children-the moon and stars, whenever required.

 The landowners and the farmworkers kept a sincere bond of love and affection. One could feel a oneness between them. The peasants took care of the fields and cultivations, whereas the masters cared for the workers’ welfare. Pretension had space seldom in the minds of both the giver and the taker. They understood the barriers that hindered each other and hence so they could overcome the difficulties with a combined endeavour. In general, the occupants of my village possessed a light heart in hardships or prosperity because they had no sky breaking dreams or ambitions. Innocence and earnestness ruled the inhabitants’ minds as a whole.

For http://writetribe.com/my-earliest-memory/

Part-4....that never returns....

                   

The schools were located two-three kilometres away from the residence. Children from the neighbourhood converged at a convenient point before setting out for the school. The onward and downward journey on our two-wheelers (two legs) was much more interesting than any other fun. The sceneries and greeneries on the way, the tales from the fellow trekkers, the petty eatables packed in paper bits, and the such smoothed our movement to school through stony roads. The children carried their books as bundles tied with a broad rubber band. The boys took the support of the shoulder whereas the girls that of the left loin, just like, village-women carry their kids on journeys. School bags with the children were rare rather seldom, unlike today when even the playschool-goers must exhibit a desert-camel-like show.  

Fairs and festivals were indeed marvellous, as they provided mind-blowing curiosity to both of them, the little ones and grownups. These fairs and festivals, the siblings, cousins, friends, the other kinfolks and neighbours celebrated in unison with good spirit. Pond dip, new apparel, palatable plantain-leaf-feast, and the like were some of the main features. The tang of the Payasam (a post-meal sweet-dessert) used to linger on the tongue of those participants, who had their festivity feast till the next meal. 

A warm feeling of love a bond bound the children during celebrations. Onam being a distinct fair was attributed to numerous activities for the kids and kiddies. Floral decorations added magnificence to the festival, Onam. Girls moved round in search of flowers in the village, swinging flower-baskets in their hands. The very thought of flower gathering filled them with rousing cheer to come out of the bed with a bright countenance, even if lazy they were for an early rise. The swing area was another point of charm.  The heroic events of standing and touching high branches of the swing-supporting bough, exhibited by some expert male ones, during swinging, were lucidly adventurous. The girls, shedding their fret, also tried their level best to relish various methods of swinging like standing, leaving one hand, sitting in double or triple numbers on the same swing etc. 

 Coming to the cultivation mission-sowing seeds, harvesting, bundling, arranging, threshing, winnowing, etc. of paddy crops enthused the children much. Songs and tunes hummed by reapers turned the atmosphere admirably lovely and lively. The little ones spent all their might on troubling the workers, as their little limbs fell in every work and everywhere they came across.

 Besides all these, sleeping together on mats, spread on the floor of the loggia, beside the inside-quadrangle and falling during sound slumber on its sandy ground had their significance in our babyhood. A community-lunch type of action took place during the meal sessions. Some clever guys snatched the fish piece kept for the end part of the meal by some of the children, literally threw the latter into wetting their eyes. The rebukes from elders brought smiles to the tearing eyes and settled the matter.

 Sure, the children at that time had a joyous multi-hued childhood of lengthy duration, whereas now the children of today have the adulthood of a stretched extent, right from their childhood itself. The parents stuff their brains with academics to fulfil their unfulfilled aspirations and ambitions. The heavy load of books and works weakens the brawns of children. They might be loading much of academics and allied activities in their memory;  therefore, I suspect whether they can recall this much amount of infancy with this much cheer and pleasure. ,

Anyway, sights and scenes as currents of incidents from my reminiscences flow to the computer's monitor, in the form of words and sentences. If I continue like this, the conclusion will be difficult because the then village-young-ones had copious opportunities for recreation with burdenless study lessons. We can tap letters and letters on the keyboard if we want filling pages and pages, about our young age days. Nevertheless, now I seek rowing to the closure-shore and conclude and so, 'goodbye' for the time being.

 May the Almighty be showering the flowers of His blessings on all the readers.                         

                                                                                          [The end]

Part-3...that never returns....

                                                 Google Image

                        

We, the infants toddled and prattled through the verandas and compounds, picking whatever came on the way, generating gleam in elders’ eyes. Childhood bagged special attention practically nil from the guardians since the children were not the kind of spoon-fed category. We availed of more freedom than today’s children, who are entangled in over-parental care. And so we could be much more independent and self-reliant.

 Mostly the children used to get up before the Sun came with his long sticks to wake them up. Divine qualities such as obedience, discipline, honesty, affection, etc tinted with sincerity and hard work ornamented the villagers and so also their children. Therefore a wind of unwritten law and order blew everywhere spreading the scent of simplicity.      

 Boys and girls though had their separate modes of amusements and recreations, not many games segregated them. Recreations through gaming were stealing the hearts of children and hence their life during vacations sought grounds outside their abode for sports. So hardly had we formed any group or team, for playing together was the pattern followed.

Olichukali(hide and seek), Adichechottam (beat and run), King(catching and ousting a child from that round of the game), Kuzhippara(stones and pits), Kallukothu(juggling-picking stones in the gap of another stone thrown up), Thakku(throwing dice to jump on that without touching the columns drawn) and many more were among the games.

 Vattu(Marbles), Kuttiyum- kolum(a primitive form of cricket), Kite-flying etc filled the little male minds with thrill abundant. Little magical hands of girls gave life to various things as toys and playthings. The raw materials like leaves, nut-shells, paper-bits, rope-pieces, cords, strings, even mud, etc. amazingly, got shaped into chains, snakes, balls, crowns, cross belts and the like. The blindfolding game was also much sportive. Balls-from the market as well as those made from the Coconut leaflets-had played a major role in games. Chasing butterflies, dragonflies, watching antlions and ants and their kineses and the such were some other kinder games. 

 We, the children were architects of the first order as we designed and constructed temples and buildings(both bungalows and huts). We used sodden soil, twigs, coconut- stalks, shells, leaflet-midribs, etc. for construction and also we ornated our real estates with multi-coloured blooms. Sometimes we turned to be expert chefs cooking food with soil, leaves and flowers. Coconut shells were the wares, we used in our play- kitchen.

 Dancing, singing, one-act plays also had engaged the little minds at times, no matter they were of the accepted pattern or not. Fights and quarrels(mostly verbal), inherent or in-built in children's nature, had no dearth there but lasted not so long. 

 Summer vacation, the Mango season, was indeed the most spirited time. The thought of waking up at daybreak and running to the mango trees to collect the maximum number of mangoes occupied the little minds while going to the bed, the previous night. Sporting in vacant harvested paddy fields energised us to a greater degree.

Summer rains sometimes bathed the Earth in heavy showers and rainwater blanketed the whole terrain to the fullest. We, the children either remained home idle or engaged ourselves in some indoor games or galloped to the flowing water with paper boats. But the thud of falling mangoes induced vigour in us and then within no time we were under the mango tree. Grandma’s winnowers became umbrellas in children’s hands when it rained. Sticks jumped into grandma’s right hand whenever she understood about the missing winnowers.  

                                                     

Every house had one or more ponds that invited the children to play with. Jumping, Diving, Swimming-direct, upside down, sideways, backwards etc. were some of the games designed for our hilarity in the pond. Sometimes some plantain stems appeared in water for paddling games. Counting with a little bit of cheating by one person for another remaining under the water was carried out smoothly. Of course, an ample amount of pulling and pushing were the spices that made the water art interesting. This fun went on endlessly till some elders voiced angrily and loudly. 

At the age of five itself, all the children were at the track of swimming and not even a single child was there without having had mastery over the skill of swimming. Bath towels will become fishing nets when two children hold the towel on either side and dip under a shoal of fingerlings to fish them. And eventually, snowy white bath towels would have been dyed in a brown or black hue in similitude with the mud colour of the pond. 

                                                                                                            [to be contd.]

                                                              

part-2 .....that never returns...

                                           

                                          google image

The majority of the buildings were typical village type houses, befitting and fulfilling the little-little needs of the owners. The houses of haves were mostly a ‘Nalukettu-type’ with an open large quadrangle(Nadumuttam) in the centre, surrounded by spacious verandas . These sorts of houses allowed free flow of fresh air and entry of sunlight aplenty. 

These houses had annexes-some of them were exclusively meant for the cattle and the others for piling up logs, keeping agricultural tools, heaping up manures and so on and so on. At least two bullocks, three or four milch cows and their calves regally enjoyed the special care of their masters, as equal as the children did. 

The elders as well as the children took pleasure in fondling these cattle on their forehead and cuddling the calves. In fact, they bowed before the masters in order to get caressed. So everywhere one could smell the fragrance of a bondage of affection among the inhabitants. 

The oxen plowed and ploughed the fields and cows fed the children. And moreover, goats that produced nutritious milk also had their part to play  in  village-dwellers’ health matters. They all, swinging the body, blissfully filled their bellies with the foliages of the vacant lands and pastures. Cow-herds were the ambassadors of cattle-care, whereas the duty of   milking the cows was entrusted with the Cow-men. Mother Nature also had graced the village with ample grasses and greens for her offspring to graze stomach full.

 Besides these animals, Cats and Hens proudly occupied the interior of some of the houses. Dogs watched the houses as a reward for the shelter he obtained, though he wasn’t as fortunate as today’s ones. Today the dogs are VIP’s[very important pets] and hence they lead a majestic life and their locomotion is fully like that of the inmates inside the residences.

  Coming to the person in me, who had her childhood in that paradise, telecasts now her own experiences. The visuals of the early years of my infancy are not so vivid rather a bit blank for me. As I view that of my younger siblings and  younger cousins, I assume that I had had a similar profile. Almost all the childhoods of the neighborhood buddies resemble one another in the general mode. Procuring adulthood also exhibited a parity. So mostly I’ll walk through the path of  ‘we’ not ‘I’. 

Most of the families followed a joint family system and hence selfishness could not obtain its room there. The vacations collected all the grandchildren in grandpa's residence and therefore no draught for the children's number as play pals. Since the families were not of nuclear type, the elder children, may they be siblings or cousins, took charge of the younger kids, not necessarily the mothers

 Havenot's from houses around extended their hands to help the Haves, to a greater extent, in domestics as well as child-rearings. They were not paid any cash, but they enjoyed meals like breakfast and lunch in return. 

During the main festivals like Vishu, Onam, etc. the poor peasants gifted a part of their yields, to their masters, though their petite compounds provided only a wee bit of produce. Of course, these celebrations were occasions in which some amount of money used to migrate to the labourers' fist from their master’s pockets. In general, the pecuniary circumstances owned by the villagers were not so sound, yet they were content with whatever they had.

part-1…….that never returns….....

At times knowingly or unknowingly a procession of childhood memories creep into people's minds.I am not an exemption but an example of that. And so is this write-up titled ...
 

                         .... that never returns...

        Part -1

There are a good many things that never return in their original forms. The time that we waste, the words that we speak, the food that we gulp, the objects that we burn, the money that we spend, the lives that expire etc. are a few of such things. There is one thing that everybody likes or rather loves to experience at least once more in life, but cannot, is nothing but his or her childhood. And that will never- never appear before us, once more and that is a paradox which we have to go by. Yet sometimes we wish we were children without any wish for achievements and without any chains for movements. But we can have a voyage along with our mind through the seas of our good old days of getting patted and pampered. There will be none who have not reached the shore of sweet childhood once more, without sailing in the ship of their memory. And so also no different I am, as many a time, the childhood of mine, once pedalled in my beloved village,  registers its presence in the ledger of my leisure hours.

  Yes, now I’m there at the panorama of my endearing village which is in the south of India. The southernmost part of India has a small corrugated leaf-like state called Kerala. The village with its picturesqueness steals the mind of its visitors as well as the dwellers. It was, yes, it was full of tall trees with swaying twigs and bushes with lots and lots of flowers(And now more or less concrete trees or jungles have displaced the very charm of our lovely village). Butterflies and birds fluttered by and visited their favourite nectar storage to feast themselves sufficiently. That was indeed a colourful sight. Wells quenched the thirst of peasants, while ponds refreshed them after the day’s work. Fields grew grains in abundance and trees and plants yielded fruits and flowers in plenty. They dressed up in the apparels of three crops annually, two turns of paddy and one turn of sesame or horticulture. 

 The cool breeze fanned the people in the hot sun. The sun never failed to attend to his duties and shone on all the stone pebbles and sand particles. The monsoons were real ambrosia for the villagers, as they awaited them, just like hornbills did for rains. Birds often turned to be great singers and sang melodious tunes for the villagers. They occupied their seats in branches to watch coolly the things going on smoothly in their jurisdiction. Nights also exhibited the luster and lure of her children-the moon and stars, whenever required.

 The landowners and the peasants kept a sincere bond of love and affection with each other. One could observe and feel a oneness between them. The peasants took care of the fields and cultivations whereas the masters cared for the workers’ welfare. Pretension had space seldom in the minds of both the giver and the taker. They understood the barriers that hindered each other and so they could overcome the impediments with a combined endeavor. In general, the occupants of my village possessed a light heart in hardships as well as in prosperities,which did not bless the villagers in plenty. At the same time they had no sky breaking dreams or ambitions. Innocence and earnestness ruled the minds of inhabitants, as a whole.