Time was such that parents often decides to leave their little ones with grandparents. My childhood was no different during my school vacations. I was often left to accompany my grandparents on my mom's end at her family home. Grandparents symbolizes both of them but the influence and impact that they left in my live, forces me to separate them in my thoughts based on the areas they worked magic on.
Even though the habit of spending my life there during vacations started long back than what I could recollect. I wanted to write down what all I could recollect. It would be second year at school, I was very fond of my grandfather's bicycle. I always wanted to take a long ride on it all alone which somehow materialized when I was 14years old.
My grandfather used to conduct typewriting and shorthand classes in an institute which he founded after his retirement. This kept him busy whole day and my grandmother used to take care of me during those times.
Day starts with routine exercising sounds which my grandfather gives out early morning around 5:30. I often get confused whether the house was falling over or something catastrophic was happening. By this time my grand mother would be in kitchen preparing the bed tea & 2 full boiled duck eggs for my grand father. After the floor exercises and yoga, he gets to the dining area for his morning tea and eggs. This is the time often I wake-up and joins in for that tea. One of the early habits that I picked up from them. I was often forced to take eggs which I never enjoyed those days.
I remember my grandfather rushing to the area around his house and trying his physique with wood-cutting, clearing of bushes, preparing the coconut trees to hold water during the heavy downpour that Kerala witnessed during those times and all. I watch this sitting in the outer varendah of the house while I was brushing my teeth. I used to follow exactly same routine as my Achachan(grandfather) those days except the exercises. I was ready for the daily breakfast when my Achachan gets to dining table. We used to have breakfast together and I badly wanted to have meal with him since he unlike Ammamma(grandmother) would allow to waste food in case I am full. Once he goes for his classes, I would start hanging around my Ammamma. She was more strict to me and on every other thing we used to argue and fight about. She was more perfectionist if you ask me even though the world says Achachan is tougher.
Ammamma used to teach me table manners which was inline with the business etiquette class I attended before travelling onsite to Tokyo in 2007. This was a shock for me since I could notice that she knew every bit of it and that is something which her upbringing might have planted in her. This was not seen with Achachan. Achachan was more a self made man who was confident and disciplined. The way he conducts himself and follows his routine everyday had made me wonder how can people be so disciplined without any laziness. Laziness has been part of me from then maybe which made me think that. Achachan used to visit us around noon in his cycle for lunch. By this time myself and Ammamma would have completed midday tea which became part of my life from them. Even now I crave for the midday tea which makes me remember her always. After the lunch we used to take a nap which often lasted until 4 p.m. for Ammamma which always was my favorite time since I was all alone awake at that big house to explore the house, surroundings and at times make friends with neighborhood which was not a everyday thing for me since it was not promoted by my grandparents.
During this time I skids into the store room to savor some snacks which interests me. I even learned to open the store room without making noise since Ammamma would wake up and scold me for eating too much snacks. Maybe snacks were meant for guests and not for inmates. This make me crave for it more. Once Ammamma wakes up, she would prepare evening tea with limited snacks served on right side of the tea cup. Then again those rice porridge at night followed to sum up the story that my stomach would listen to. But the fun side was once Achachan was back, he would chit chat with me, show me his prayers to God, encourage me to listen to TV news etc.
Ammamma's main leisure activity was gardening, she was very fond of plants which kept her busy during the evenings when I was often playing all alone with trees, sand & other nature gifted components. This made me learn few things on gardening from her which made me to play a good role of an able assistant.
Achachan found out that I was local language illiterate from my schooling which gave no importance to local language. He started teaching me the language which he was very fond of and made pick it up day by day. When my vacation was over I got good hold of the basics of the language. Before I left for my home with my parents, Achachan introduced me to local language newspaper and encouraged me to read it on a daily basis. He often checked my reading skills. Also advised me to continue reading newspapers once I am back home.
As I grew older, while his visits to my home, he always asked about my reading of newspapers. He never asked about my studies as far as I remember. While in 7th grade, he encouraged me to plant vegetables at home. He himself brought seeds and made me plant with him. Me being an abled trained assistant at this level already by Ammamma. We had planted quite a lot of vegetables then and in few weeks I started learning a lot about them. I was assigned to take care of the plants and results were to be shared with him once we start reaping benefits. This was very young age for me to digest it all but today it makes me feel proud what I could achieve then which most people of my age and city dwelling might never have experienced.
After school days, my meetings with Achachan n Ammamma were more frequent since I started living near to them. Even though they considered my finished product and offered less to learn more, they always made me feel special. Ammamma always said when I was kid that she will ride in my car and bike when I grow up. Once I started driving and I took her to visit her sister, I felt extremely sad since now she was suffering from memory loss and couldn't actually understand that I was driving. This made me burst to tears once they were dropped home safe. There are many such incidents which I prefer not to written at this stage of life.
I can accept they are not there and I can live with it. But my world is filled with the tricks and trade from their lives which I can never disagree. I stand humbled now with the magic those two people had done to my life. I am sure every child needs grandparents as much as they need parents. Now being a parent myself, I feel there are many things that parents can't teach or don't know where grandparents really becomes Grand-Parents.
Even though the habit of spending my life there during vacations started long back than what I could recollect. I wanted to write down what all I could recollect. It would be second year at school, I was very fond of my grandfather's bicycle. I always wanted to take a long ride on it all alone which somehow materialized when I was 14years old.
My grandfather used to conduct typewriting and shorthand classes in an institute which he founded after his retirement. This kept him busy whole day and my grandmother used to take care of me during those times.
Day starts with routine exercising sounds which my grandfather gives out early morning around 5:30. I often get confused whether the house was falling over or something catastrophic was happening. By this time my grand mother would be in kitchen preparing the bed tea & 2 full boiled duck eggs for my grand father. After the floor exercises and yoga, he gets to the dining area for his morning tea and eggs. This is the time often I wake-up and joins in for that tea. One of the early habits that I picked up from them. I was often forced to take eggs which I never enjoyed those days.
I remember my grandfather rushing to the area around his house and trying his physique with wood-cutting, clearing of bushes, preparing the coconut trees to hold water during the heavy downpour that Kerala witnessed during those times and all. I watch this sitting in the outer varendah of the house while I was brushing my teeth. I used to follow exactly same routine as my Achachan(grandfather) those days except the exercises. I was ready for the daily breakfast when my Achachan gets to dining table. We used to have breakfast together and I badly wanted to have meal with him since he unlike Ammamma(grandmother) would allow to waste food in case I am full. Once he goes for his classes, I would start hanging around my Ammamma. She was more strict to me and on every other thing we used to argue and fight about. She was more perfectionist if you ask me even though the world says Achachan is tougher.
Ammamma used to teach me table manners which was inline with the business etiquette class I attended before travelling onsite to Tokyo in 2007. This was a shock for me since I could notice that she knew every bit of it and that is something which her upbringing might have planted in her. This was not seen with Achachan. Achachan was more a self made man who was confident and disciplined. The way he conducts himself and follows his routine everyday had made me wonder how can people be so disciplined without any laziness. Laziness has been part of me from then maybe which made me think that. Achachan used to visit us around noon in his cycle for lunch. By this time myself and Ammamma would have completed midday tea which became part of my life from them. Even now I crave for the midday tea which makes me remember her always. After the lunch we used to take a nap which often lasted until 4 p.m. for Ammamma which always was my favorite time since I was all alone awake at that big house to explore the house, surroundings and at times make friends with neighborhood which was not a everyday thing for me since it was not promoted by my grandparents.
During this time I skids into the store room to savor some snacks which interests me. I even learned to open the store room without making noise since Ammamma would wake up and scold me for eating too much snacks. Maybe snacks were meant for guests and not for inmates. This make me crave for it more. Once Ammamma wakes up, she would prepare evening tea with limited snacks served on right side of the tea cup. Then again those rice porridge at night followed to sum up the story that my stomach would listen to. But the fun side was once Achachan was back, he would chit chat with me, show me his prayers to God, encourage me to listen to TV news etc.
Ammamma's main leisure activity was gardening, she was very fond of plants which kept her busy during the evenings when I was often playing all alone with trees, sand & other nature gifted components. This made me learn few things on gardening from her which made me to play a good role of an able assistant.
Achachan found out that I was local language illiterate from my schooling which gave no importance to local language. He started teaching me the language which he was very fond of and made pick it up day by day. When my vacation was over I got good hold of the basics of the language. Before I left for my home with my parents, Achachan introduced me to local language newspaper and encouraged me to read it on a daily basis. He often checked my reading skills. Also advised me to continue reading newspapers once I am back home.
As I grew older, while his visits to my home, he always asked about my reading of newspapers. He never asked about my studies as far as I remember. While in 7th grade, he encouraged me to plant vegetables at home. He himself brought seeds and made me plant with him. Me being an abled trained assistant at this level already by Ammamma. We had planted quite a lot of vegetables then and in few weeks I started learning a lot about them. I was assigned to take care of the plants and results were to be shared with him once we start reaping benefits. This was very young age for me to digest it all but today it makes me feel proud what I could achieve then which most people of my age and city dwelling might never have experienced.
After school days, my meetings with Achachan n Ammamma were more frequent since I started living near to them. Even though they considered my finished product and offered less to learn more, they always made me feel special. Ammamma always said when I was kid that she will ride in my car and bike when I grow up. Once I started driving and I took her to visit her sister, I felt extremely sad since now she was suffering from memory loss and couldn't actually understand that I was driving. This made me burst to tears once they were dropped home safe. There are many such incidents which I prefer not to written at this stage of life.
I can accept they are not there and I can live with it. But my world is filled with the tricks and trade from their lives which I can never disagree. I stand humbled now with the magic those two people had done to my life. I am sure every child needs grandparents as much as they need parents. Now being a parent myself, I feel there are many things that parents can't teach or don't know where grandparents really becomes Grand-Parents.
^_^ good use of language. many of the experience relates to my grandparents too... so reading this part of your life brought back my memories of my grandparents. KEEP BLOGGING!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell this is your first personal blog piece and i would say a good first attempt it is :)..keep writing..
ReplyDeletewell narrated !!👍 Loved it👌
ReplyDelete