One of my favorite places in this world is Koyilandy.
I'm basically from Kollam (Koyilandy), which is 25kms away from Calicut.Since Achan was working in Moolamattom during my school days, we used to go to Kollam for all the vacations.
How many vacations did we have during the school days- Vacation for Onam, X'Mas, Summer Holidays etc etc. So whenever we had long holidays, we used to go to Kollam.I was always dying to go to Kollam for all the vacations. What all was missing in Moolamattom was there in Kollam. I am a kind of person who loves listening to stories and epics. So whenever I was there at Kollam I used to hear lots of stories from my grandma and many old people from my mom's family. I really loved going to temples at Kollam and there were 5 temples around our house at Kollam. Another important thing at Kollam was very big library that we had at home. I dont remeber what kinds of books that I loved as a kid, it has to be fiction. I also remember hearing stories from Mahabharatha in Amar Chitra Katha. Those books were really popular at that time. So most of my time at Kollam was spend listening to stories and going to temples. I am still the very same person at heart. Love going to temples, talking with elder people and listening to stories.
The vacation that I was looking forward most was summer holidays. Reasons are very simple
1- its a 2 months holidays
2- Ultsavam at Sharikavu
3-Vishu and associated Vishukkaineettam (http://www.malayalifestivals.com/malayalifestivals/vishu/aboutvishu/)
4-No tension of exam results as schools just used to publish results and marks were not displayed
5-All my cousins used to be there
How can I forget our cricket matches played infront of our house!!There were four of us and at times we used to include my sister(Kingini) also for playing cricket. Since it was played in front of the house many times ball used to hit the newly painted walls and we have broken glasses also couple of times.Got scolding from grandpa for that.I still remember those days as if it happened yesterday.
Also there was a big pond behind our house.It is called Kollam Chira. Chira in malayalam is for Pond in English.(I think so). We used to go there in the evenings and in the mornings for taking bath. I was really afraid of going there and trying my hand and swimming. Since I was really afraid of deep water, I couldnt manage swimming. I really wanted to do swimming as I was fascinated by the sight of people swimming in Chira. Slowly all my cousins learned swimming and I was left alone. Though all of them tried to teach me swimming I was really afraid. Funny thing is I learned swimming from a pool in US when I was around 26.
Another thing that I have not told anyone till date is about the last exam before the summer exams. We used to wait for the last exam before the summer holiday. During those days, last set of questions used to essays. There used to be 2 essays which we had to write. But when I was really sure that I will get pass mark without attempting the last essay, I used to skip them. I used to run out of the class after giving the answer sheet and join others who were already out before me. They also skipped the last essay like me,I dont know.
This is the one i liked most...Keep on adding .. :)
ReplyDeleteYou nicely portrayed your childhood memory...........keep writing !!
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