Never a dull moment

 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 chem...

Some of you may still have this opportunity My mom would have petted me, consoled me and tickled me as a baby and toddler. But I am unable to recall any of those tender moments. My tender moment recalls are of my maternal grandmother- her gnarled fingers combing my hair as I laid with my head on her laps listening to her singing songs and telling stories in Tamizhalam and Malayalam. A mercantile song talking about items of import from and export to Britain tracing the ship's route through Suez Canal and Gibralter Strait I learnt once again from my Periamma. She sang it with gusto at ripe age of 93 few years ago. I made up for what I could not remember in mother's last couple of months. I became her mother for few hours every day. I slept with her. She had gone frail. I took her permission and went to sleep hugging her. I was worried I would hurt her as a friend had told me 'your hands are hathodaas!". My mother said I should ensure my elbow did not dig into her. I use...