135. Childhood Reminisces – Eating habits & Other Close Relatives

Memories are something that stay with you forever.  When you sit down and try to remember your childhood, the memories come quick and fast.  Some of them are so ingrained that you feel happy when you think of them.

During childhood, I would often go to kitchen to see what all could be had to eat.  Mostly they would be bournvita powder, sometimes with sugar too (put one spoon of bournvita in your mouth, then put one spoon of sugar and then eat them together😊), malai from milk, curd with sugar, cooked vegetables, specially aalu or arbi, immediately after they are cooked, and before actually eating the lunch or dinner.  Outside of house, candy in the shape of a cigarette was also good and so was heated shakaragandhi (sweet potato).  There were several vendors who used to heat shakaragandhi, cut it, put masala on it and sell.  Those would be too good!  We used to pick “ber, jaamun” from trees and eat.  There was also candies which was priced at 1 paise for 1 candy.  There was also something-like-chewing-gum which was draped on a flag stick and sold.  That was also very good.

During summer vacation, when I and my brother used to go to Chennai, we used to go to 2 other places to stay.  They were my maternal grandmother’s 2 sisters.  Both of them were only about 10-12 years older to my mother, resulting in their kids being older to me by about 8-10 years or some even younger to me😊.  Since they were only somewhat older than my mother, this made them our Chittis (chachis). And since they were my grandmother’s sisters, this made them Paattis (grandmothers) too.  So, I and my brother used to call them as Chitti-Paatti😊.  When we used to go to their house, we would be calling them out by this term from the stairs itself and they would be aware that we have come to stay there for a few days!!

One Chitti-Paatti had 2 sons and a daughter.  Even though they were my uncles, I used to call them as Anna (big brother). One Anna had a hairstyle similar to what Larry Gomes, the West Indian cricketer, had; a totally hippie style, somewhat similar to the one that Puttaparthi Sai Baba had😊.  He used to take great pains to take care of them.  He also had a standard way of greeting us.  He always used to greet us as “Hello Kanna, how are you?”  Kanna means dear, for the non-Tamil readers😊.  Another Anna used to tell me and my brother bedtime stories.  These stories would be very random and every day he would have a new story to tell.  He would take us to the terrace of their house and would tell the story there.  He would also introduce some horror factor in his stories!! He also introduced me to watching and enjoying horror movies😊.  I remember I saw a movie called “Demons” at their house in a VCR, which was about zombies.  After the movie ended, my brother said that we will sleep that night with the lights on😊.  

Both these Annas used to fight often and it will be my Akka or my Chitti-Paatti who will always come between them to stop their fights😊.  I remember they also used to run a library that time.  So, I was able to read various comics whenever I used to go to stay with them.  After the Annas went to work, we used to play cards – me, my brother, Chitti-Paatti, Chittappa and my Akka.  Mostly we used to play Ass or Donkey, wherein the person who used to lose, had to keep the card “Ace” on his/her ears while playing😊. The more you lose, you end up putting more cards on your ears!!

I remember there were lots of lottery tickets in their house.  I and my brother would end up playing with these tickets, like card games.

Another Chitti-Paatti had 5 kids, 4 sons and 1 daughter.  Out of these, 2 sons were younger to me.  We had a great time at her place also.  Since we used to go to her place in the summer, we would be eating mangoes daily during dinner.  She used to cut mangoes in such a way that they were cut into 3 pieces – two sides and a middle one with the seed in it.  The middle piece was the most sought out one and most of the time, she will give me the middle piece😊. 

My Chittappa was very strict.  So, all the kids were fearful of him.  Whenever he used to come from office, it was quite evident that he has come, as everything would be calm.  Just prior to his coming everyone would be playing and shouting.  As soon as he was spotted coming inside the house, there would be pin-drop silence in the house.  I remember that he always used to ask of my well-being and whether I was enjoying my stay at his house.  Even now whenever I meet him, he always asks of my well-being.

My uncle (my father’s eldest brother) in New Delhi, introduced me to the world of “Mind Your Language”.  At that time, he had video cassettes of this serial and I will be going regularly to his house, just to watch this serial, again and again.  He also had video cassettes of India’s Prudential Cup (1983 cricket world cup) victory matches and we would watch them too on a regular basis.

My aunt, his wife, was a very caring woman.  Whenever I used to visit her place, I should have something to eat, in addition to coffee.  She will always insist.  It can be a banana, an apple or just a biscuit. If I had eaten lunch or dinner just then at my house and had come to her house, she will still insist that I have a spoon of sugar. She had an unwritten rule that anyone who visits her house should not go back without eating something.

Cheers till next time!!

Today’s Observation

The husband thinks he bosses the house but actually he only houses the boss😊