The best place that I always will
cherish for the rest of my life is the one house that defined holidays and fun
for me; “My Mom’s parents house”. This was where all my cousins came and where
we usually spent most of the holidays.
The house as I remember, was
painted in shades of yellow, green with a porch overlooking the door. The front
yard had lots of Ashoka trees, crotons, a moonbeam flower plant with branches
protruding over the wall, a small luna covered in brown cloth cover standing
closely next to the water tank built in the ground for municipal water. Lots of
trees on either sides of the house that included mango, neem, amla and many
more. The back yard was a wide place with stone tiles for flooring; a small
tulasi plant stood in the center of the yard that had small brick stand build
around it, painted in yellow and red. Straight behind the plant a few yards
away was the water boiler that burnt on paper, coal and coconut branches. To
the left of the yard was a small patch of soil with banana tree, coconut tree
and other small shrubs with a small center place for a person to stand and
bathe. Two bathrooms stood on the right hand side of the yard in the corner
with a large water tank built inside to store water. A small storeroom stood
beside the bathrooms that held the old newspaper and some tools.
The inside of the house was very
big with three bedrooms, hall, front room, store room and a kitchen. The front
room as I remember had a sofa, two chairs covered in light green cloth covers;
with a showcase behind the chair. Two windows opened behind the sofa and the
other chair letting the room to be well ventilated. The showcase held the best
collection of handy work of my grand mother ranging from wooden dolls donned in
sarees that were well accessorized, hand made toys, cloth work on frames and
many more. The first bedroom right beside the front room was the TV room which
had the TV, large work table with a type writer, telephone and lots of paper
and post. It also had a recliner made of wooden frame with long hand rests and
thick cloth reclining chair right in front of the TV. Two windows overlooked the
front yard and the side alley of the house. The second bedroom, which was the
master bedroom of the house, had a window overlooking the side alley and a door
that opened into it. It had an old model of rocking sewing machine and
double-cot bed. Bedroom opened into a hall that had a connecting passage from
the front room of the house. The hall stood at the center of the house with a
large table that seated six people. There was a refrigerator on one side of the
hall towards left with a closet to its left. A small bottle of calcium sandos
that later was used for cloved was kept of the top of the fridge. A small wash
basin was built on the right hand side of the dining table with a large shelf
directly behind it. The shelf held the crockery and the shelf near by to the
wash basin held the binaca toothpaste and big bottle of lavender powder. The
store room that opened from the hall was filled with spices, soaps, tooth pastes,
groceries, pickles, flour, sugar and jaggery. The third bedroom was mostly a
spare that held lots of post from previous months, extra pillows, bed sheets
and beds. Finally, the kitchen was a sanctuary where my grandmother spent most
of her time cooking and praying. The small shelf beside the stove had boost,
sugar and nuts. The kitchen opened into the back yard with a window overlooking
it.
The morning usually began with the
radio playing ads and suprabhatam, with the subtle floral fragrance that wafted
from the flower basket, which was filled with flowers just plucked. The hot
fumes of coal and coconut rubble boiled the water in the back yard boiler while
the freshly cooking curry and dal flavor filled the kitchen. The scent of dhoop
sticks and soap used to come across the house that marked the inception of the day.
The small oval shaped steel plate, a big plate with dents for curries and dal,
old fashioned steel glasses fancied for water, the lemon and mango pickles with
powders made from scratch are just a few things that mark the memories of this
house.
