Summer vacations

Summer Vacations always had a special place in my heart when I could get away from the noise of the city to our spacious tharavaadu near Kayamkulam.

Exams would get over by end of March. We would all be in an exhilarating mood in the return journey by School Bus that day - hollering - Happy Holidays and Kappi kudikkan Holidays, not for a moment thinking about how we did our exams. I would reach home all sweaty and dirty after all the action in the school.

Since the school would be closed on fridays, I would treat myself to the luxury of watching Chitrahar or Chitrageetham. (We took cable connecton at home only after I got my first job in 1998. Even without Cable I was downright lazy and my parents were worried that the presence of cable Tv would make me study even less). I would look forward to sleeping early that night as there was no school/exams. But as luck would have it, I would not feel sleepy at all without
books in my hand.

Waking up late the next day would be the next luxury. Normally Achan would come and wake me up with a glass of tea. I would gulp it all and drag myself to the bathroom. Once I brushed I would initially sit in my chair with books before me. In a few minutes I would be reading the book with head on the table. Finding the position less comfortable, I would relocate to the bed with pillow behind head. And very soon the head would slide down with me reading lying on
the bed and soon I would enter the land of Nod - only to be cruelly interrupted by Achan/Amma shaking me vigorously and mouthing expletives. In extreme cases, Agarwal and Khanna have had the privilege of flying out of the window.

Back to the holidays - I found again to my dismay that I coulndt sleep beyond 7 am. In any case Achan would wake me up as it was bad to sleep for so long.After a few days, I would be packed to my grandparents house. The journey is always a cherished memory. We would mostly take the early morning bus bound for "Muthakunnam Ferry" - the bus reaching Kayamkulam bus station at aorund 7 30 AM. From there a taxi ride and we would reach our Tharavaadu.

More about the Tharavaadu next..