Walking down the memory lane- my village

 It has been a long desire to spent time in my village in Kerala which we left in 1990

Though we had been there for a few hours each on three or four occasions since. The visit was restricted to a family of our ilk where the guardian angel was an old aunty. She passed away in 2016. Since our visits were during the day, the temple next door used to be shut

I was keen that I would visit our village during monsoon. The monsoon gives a different mood.

Should I walk down the memory lane at all? Did I have the emotional tenacity to visit the village which was like a huge stage where all the main actors close to me have left. A part of the set has since been dismantled but some significant memory markers were still there.

Where would I stay ? This question had a simple answer. I will stay with Vishnu. Cricket crazy summer holidays of 1978 was the only time I had interacted with Vishnu. He was my friend's friend. Social media ensured that he became a dear friend. He was a professor of chemistry in Kozhikode and retired to our village. His strong writing skills in prose and poetry in Malayalam also helped in making our bonding stronger. I had an open invitation from him - please come and stay with us. 

I put my self doubt to rest  I boarded a train to Udupi in July 2025. After roaming around Udupi for two days, I landed up at our village. Not exactly at our village but at the temple town of Guruvayur 12 km. Omanakuttan, my primary school classmate there,  took me to aana parambu ( It was a palace- Punnathur kotta) where around forty elephants belonging to Guruvayur temple were housed. My friend was mortally scared of elephants. So I alone went into the compound and  had a look around. 

My friend dropped me at Vishnu's home in Venkitangu that afternoon. Vishu was unlike me. He is a very quiet person. If he found anything I said funny, he would cup his mouth with his palm and chuckle.He would swallow the chuckle in no time and would resume being a good listener. After an hour's interaction, I walked to the temple. The three days I spent in the village went in a flash. Vishnu took me to some places of interest. Where there was a ferry, I found a narrow steel bridge. I found the huge temple tank ( 100 m plus x 100 m plus) was not being used much. The temple tank is my second mother- with my second YOB in 1966. There was no question of leaving without spending time in the lap of my second mother. I went for a long swim and was surprised with my stamina.

Vishnu accompanied me to Thrissur station after helping me buy banana chips from an authentic outlet - from the home of his family friend. In the morning when I was preparing to leave, Vishnu asked me for some photos and videos which I had captured in Venkitangu.

The best moment of the trip came as my train was approaching Mangalore. A video clip from Vishnu landed in my inbox. Vishu had  made a video putting together photos and videos he and I had captured and got a friend to sing evocatively the poem he had composed on my feelings and how the village and monsoon responded to my yearning. The commentary before the recitation read- "This monsoon Subramanian from Delhi came to the village searching for his lost childhood" followed by the title of the poem " descending clouds of yearning". 

The video ended beautifully. After the recitation ended, the camera panned down from the sky to the ground along with  the a new rainfall and pelting of raindrops rose to a crescendo.

Vishnu captured the spirit of my visit in its entirety. He brought a closure to a long felt yearning. I might not visit my village again. It will not hurt me as long as I carry Vishu's poem in my heart