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Showing posts from September, 2012

Onam and Kochakka's housewarming

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I was dreaming that time. “Wake up” Mom was saying. Suddenly I felt that someone was pushing me. I opened one eye to find that Mom was really waking me up. I dragged myself out of bed. It was second day of Onam. Kunjunni and Kunjichechi had made me promise that before they went to school, I had to reach their home to make the pookkalam (floral carpet). So, I quickly chewed my food, and washed it down with a glass of water. 2 mins later, I rode down in the lift and skipped across the road to Valyamma’s home. Over there, we plucked some leaves from the garden because Valyamma had already bought the flowers. Then we drew the pattern on the ground with a chalk. We carefully filled the design with the flower petals and leaves, laughing and chattering all the time. We were feeling happy and great. But we were also sad because the next day I was going back to Riyadh. Valyamma gave me some flowers so that I could make the pookalam in front of my house too. When I reache

Holiday Infection :(

Even though I have written in some of my entries that Riyadh was boring, there is also one reason I like about it. That is because of Saudi National Day!!!! Saudi National day is on 23 rd September, which is near the weekend. And here the weekend consists of the days Thursday and Friday. So, we get Saturday and Sunday as holidays too! How cool is that?! Saudi National Day is celebrated because it is the day King Abdu Aziz Al Saud in 1932 concluded the unification of the country. At first I and my classmates thought that Sunday would be the only day we would get holiday. We were like” Oohhhh Noooooo!!” But then when we got the slip that said we actually had 2 extra days’ holidays, then pandemonium! Now I am sitting at home, writing this and stuck with eye infection. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Dad had eye infection too a few days back and I think that now I got it from him!! Why should I get eye-infection right at the beginning of my holidays?? It’s not every day that S

Mom's friends

“Ring ring……….ring.’’ Mom picked the phone and spoke into it. “Hello, who is this? ………Sreedevi??!!!  Is that really you? Ok fine we will be there in a minute!!” Mom put down the phone and looked at me with excitement. The next thing I knew, I was on my feet and was sent flying to the bedroom to change. When we were waiting outside the flat to catch an auto rickshaw I asked Mom what had happened. She said that her old college friends Sreedevi and Susan were waiting for her at Oberon mall.   At Oberon Mall, Aunt Sreedevi and Aunt Susan were waiting for Mom with open hands. Mom hugged them happily. I was very happy to meet Aunt Sreedevi, because she is a regular reader of my blog and keeps sending me encouraging comments. Aunt Susan’s children’s names were Steve and Stan. Steve is in the 7 th grade while Stan in the first grade, they live in Kuwait. Aunt Sreedevi also had 2 children, Pooja and Tarun. Pooja and I chatted a lot and I learnt that she is in the

Manakad - a memoir by 4th generation

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“……… you are the 4 th generation of Aandiyathu" Dad finished  saying.  I blinked. Dad was telling me about his ancestral home at Manakkad.  He told me that I am the 4 th generation of Aandiyathu. Apparently, my great-grandfather lived in that house, then my grandfather, Dad and now me. Dad told me about the times he and his cousins, aunts, uncles used to go to the river during the holidays and bathed and played there. I imagined Dad in his underwear, jumping into the river, while his aunts watched and washed their clothes and his cousins and uncles all swimming with him. Some of them were expert swimmers, like Sarada Chitta, who used to carry uncle Sujesh on her back across the river. “Aaaaahhhhhhh, memories” Dad said dreamily. There was no doubt that he was remembering his babyhood, childhood and olden days. I tried to remember my days there.  For example, like the times we went to the river. When I was a lot more younger, I used to be scared of the fi

Aunt Gouri, Aandiyathu home and London

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The main 2 reasons why we left to India early were;                                 -  Aunt Gouri’s marriage                                 -  Housewarming of our new home These 2 things happened in just 1 week. Aunt Gouri’s marriage was FUNtastic! This means fun and fantastic. Me, Dad and Gopichan were standing down at the front of the hall, receiving guests. Mom was with Geethama, helping aunt Gouri to put on her makeup. The sadya was great and all our relatives were there. My cousins Kunjunni, Kunjichechi, Savithri, Shanku, Madhavan and Keshavan were also there. My cousins and I went up to a balcony which was in the hall itself and we sat there comfortably and watched everything. Though I was kind of disappointed that since I was sitting at the balcony I would not be able to throw flower petals…………  But in any case, the marriage was a blast!!!!!!!!!!! We did our flat’s housewarming that following week and then after some weeks our house was fully furnis