pilgrim’s blog

Puja holidays used to be doubly fun when I was a kid. Being in Kolkata the vacation would be for almost fifteen days. Ours being a Malayali house hold we would celebrate Saraswati puja during that time, as in Kerala. So once the books were kept in front of the goddess' idol there was no lessons for us kids. Hence double the fun.

Post lunch would find mom taking a nap and that was the time the prankster in me would raise its head. Most of my friends were boys then. There used to be a bunglow near our house which had an orchard full of guava trees. I and my friends would scale the wall. My friends being younger to me I would be the leader of the band. The adventurous ones of the lot would be instructed by me to climb up the tree (without the permission of the owner of course)The rest of us would stand beneath the tree to pick the fruits as they were dropped from the tree top. Once we got caught by the 'mali 'of the house and my mom as punishment made me eat a kilo of the fruit which she made the maid buy from the market immediately. But to tell the truth the fruit did not taste even half as tasty as the ones we had stolen.

I was reminded of this incident when I was busy eating a raw guava from my mother in law's orchard( not stolen of course)and the seed got stuck in between the teeth causing immense discomfort. Finally I had to seek the dentist's assistance to get rid of it to my dear husband's dismay.

The train chugged into the station.After a lot of searching and running the length and breadth of the platform her father led them into the compartment where their allotted seats were.She was made to sit near the window while her parents arranged the luggage under the seat.By then the train had started moving out of the station and gaining speed gradually.After the initial confusion got over and every body settled down her mother asked if she was hungry for it was past supper time.The darkness outside prevented her from enjoying the sights passing by the window, so she replied in the affirmative.Her mother was a very good cook.Hot rotis and a variety of pickle of different hues and made out of all possible vegetables appeared in front of her.Dinner over ,reaching the wash was a tedious task with the train moving at a fairly good speed.After falling into almost every passengers lap, holding on to her mother's sari she managed to reach there.

Come bed time she insisted on sleeping on the middle berth which she finds thrilling even now.Through half closed eyes she looked at the lamp over head and saw the light coming from it making different colourful patterns.At some time in the middle of all these preoccupations and hearing to her parents' voice talking about the different relatives they would be visiting once they reached their native place,she fell asleep.

A slap on her back the next morning awoke her.It was her dad. He lifted her and placed her on the window seat.With eyes still half shut from sleep,she tried to focus out of the windows.The sight of huge mountains,children waving and open fields thrilled her.Isolated houses at the end of barren lands interspersed with lone date palms passed by the window.

Her mother nudged her to accompany her to the wash to be cleaned up.Her mother liked to sleep through out her journey which she would be able to indulge in only if she was washed and fed.She however did not budge from her seat her eyes fixed on the scenes passing by.At last her patience giving away, her mother gave her a tight pinch that made her wail at the top of her voice. Giving her mother a look of reproof her dad took her along .By then the others in the compartment had become her 'uncles and aunts'.She was only too happy to answer to their queries and her mother was on the verge of fainting due to tension as it was difficult to guess what would be her next comment.The train would reach their destination only the next morning.Dad had brought games like scrabbles,ludo cards and loads of Amar chithra katha comics to keep her engaged.She forced him to buy all the eatables that came from the pantry car.Her mother never approved of it as she was afraid her stomach would get upset and she would have to answer to the child's grandmother.The train was passing over a big river making a huge noise and the sight of the green water below made her squeal with glee.The town at its bank and the washermen drying the clothes on long lines fascinated her.At one station a vendor was selling wooden toys and the Russian doll that had one inside the other till the littlest one was slightly bigger than the thumbnail.When her father got down at a station to collect drinking water she became very scared till he came back.In the mean time some one was asking her to recite a rhyme which she was too happy to do.

Sunset found her totally spent and after an early supper she slipped into the oblivion of dreamless sleep.Early next morning her father hauled her out of the berth as it was time for them to get down.As the train chugged into the station she saw her uncle waving at them with a broad smile on his face ..