Th Golden Days

By Nithin Das

It was a summer, I had just completed the year end exams and was getting ready for a small tour. The wait was almost over and I could get to see my long time pals and the aged, yet younger by heart grandparents.

It was a wonderful moment the first time I had been there. The home, tharavadu as we call it, is always filled with mystic wonders and surprises.

Adorned with lush green beauty surrounding the sacred grove, with a small shrine, a gentle walk away, lies the beautiful tharavadu. A sight to behold!

Finally, the train halted at the junction and I stepped foot onto the platform taking a causal inhale, capturing with it the true fragrance of my native.

Thus began my journey along the wide and narrow roads aiming the same destination that made me board my train.

After a while, I realized the place had come, when my rickshaw driver signaled me “chetta, we have arrived”.

Post a casual meet and greet with all the folks, I climbed up the konipadi, the traditional wooden stair, trying to locate my room and as I settled the next routines began.

It was the right time to take a dip in the ambalakulam, a small pond dedicated to the localities for their daily bathe routines, to get an instant relief from the scorching heat and head away straight for a healthy breakfast.

For a colorful start, the not much decorated floor was soon converted into a platoon of plantain leaves and beside them sat the white steaming cakes, idlis, accompanied by their counterparts, the chutney and podi, a grounded mixture of home grown spices. That was indeed a sumptuous meal!

Little had I known that this was a miniature of the yet to arrive sadhya, that could have me gobble it up later.

It was evening and I had just managed from the sadhya hangover, no sooner did the next meal arrive, but this was a seasonal one, a typical item to feast upon.

The very sight of its felling from the tree to tearing it apart like the miners dig upon the golden well, so did I, and there I had one in my hand , a pulpy , sticky , yet tasty chaka chola , a healthy portion of the jackfruit.

As I began to experiment its flavor, arrived the king of summers, the mango, to give me a craving like never before.

We relaxed and the day was about to get over.

It was just the beginning of the beautiful summer holidays, what we call the golden days of our life!

By Nithin Das