My vacation!

This time when I went to both my grandparents' place, it was with a purpose. 4 years of yearning for both the places made me finally decide to go. Also, it so happened that this year, I was the only grandchild expected in both the places. So, excitement was pretty high. For me, I suddenly realized these were places where I always went as a matter of habit every vacation, the only thing on my mind being playing with cousins, reading those books I have already read thousands of times again, watching T.V and done. The only time I would actually spend time with my grandparents was when we went out. Also, I realized that these both are such beautiful places still holding on to their innocence and purity.

I made it a point to click these photos this time. Yes, with the purpose of having it on my blog.. This is the cow shed.. Famously known now as the reason I'm called a cow. But God, the best part of staying at my dadi's place is anytime you get bored, all you have to do is go to the backyard and play with those calves. Its fun really. Especially the naming part of it. Cows are always named lakshmi, it seems. But we kids had a problem with all the cows being named the same. and what about the male calf then?
7 years back, we named one of them Rohan(cuz i and my sister insisted there should be one north indian name) and the female subbalakshmi. It was fun those days, I say.

This is the calf which was born this year. When I had gone, it was only 15 days old. I remember an incident that happened with "Rohan". The funniest thing possible.He was left loose to run around in the shed and these calves literally jump around once they've had their milk.And you see the picture below? He ran right through the back door through the house to the front yard with all of us just realizing a brown thing whizz past us. Yes, he had to be dragged back for fear of him falling into a ditch by mistake. Just shows kids, even if not human are really funny and naughty.

This is a typical "those days" house. It is 105 years old. REALLY! renovated again and again and rooms changed to be the house that it is now. I really like this front door and back door right opposite to each other concept. Not only that, even the door of the house opposite is right in front of the door. When they keep the door to the backyard open, you can actually see from this end to that end!

Yep,I baked biscuits too :D These being one of the specialities of my dadi. And so yummy made in pure freshly made ghee.

The unique part of it. Not baked in an oven. At least not in the oven as you know it. It was great fun making them. Eating, should I even say :D

You may think this is all old fashioned, I was talking to my grand mother about this. She told me, these traditions survive in very few places. People forget there used to be stoves like these. People don't realize that if these weren't there, we wouldn't have what we have now. Its like living in a different world really. And it isn't too bad. Just I think people found me a bit weird.

And village life is not boring really. I didn't even have a music player with me. But the simplicity of the place intrigues you. I went to my maternal grandparents' place after this.I used to go for a walk everyday with my grandmom. First really amusing thing i noticed. Everyone knows her. I mean everyone. They willingly smile and not those politely fake ones you usually get to see. Also these are people who are really curious and will not let the curiosity remain for too long. This inquisitiveness which is considered rude anywhere even near to metropolitan is so common place there. The first day that I accompanied her, this is how the conversation went.

Person: *smiles*

Grandmom:*smiles*

P: is that your granddaughter?

G: yes, it is

P: Where does she stay?

G: Mumbai

P: Daughter's daughter or son's daughter?

G: Daughter's daughter

P: how long is she staying here? why hasn't she come for so long?

and it goes on and on.

But when this happened, it really didn't seem rude or irritating. They were very genuinely interested as a matter of fact and not as gossip to spread although I guess that would eventually happen. This question answer session happened at least twice everyday in the first few days of my visit there.

Also, another highlight point of this visit. It was me alone. When you go alone, trust me, its a really different experience. They are people who now look at you as a young adult which seldom happens when you're at home. And I got to actually know what they think, what they feel about things, what they miss, I don't know how to explain.

Its like, I've always known them as people who tell your mom, "let the kids enjoy, why are you scolding them "type. But this time, it was a more of an emotional journey, them actually letting their hearts out to me about so many things.

And yes, I love such nature pics, so my attempts at trying to capture some good ones, you'll see here.

And after those 2 amateurish attempts, the feeling that I may not get to draw these kolams again, I actually attempted a difficult one. Kept getting hit on my head by the branch of the champa tree. Big time back ache and stiffness by the end of the evening.But the satisfactory feeling is impossible to describe. I was beaming with happiness and this is one of the difficult ones which it seems my mom and mausi didn't attempt when they were my age. Ha! My grandfather's aangan was decorated with three of these.

 Not to forget, my dadi was assured I am still a tamil girl to some extent when she heard me sing, something in which she had lost hope for some time. My nana and nani are big time aficionados of carnatic music. Every time I hummed any song I've learnt, my grand dad would start singing a song in the same raagam, picking up my tune so fast. Its amazing really when someone does that. Now I definitely need to write a post about my association with music.

So, all in all, a wonderful trip and totally worth missing the first week of college. I don't know when I'll be back in these places but I'm truly happy I didn't miss the opportunity when I got it. So that's the end of the long account of my stay there. I had great fun, hope you had fun reading too.

P.S. More pictures would have been there but for the fact that the usual blossoming flower and fruit plants in nani's place were just recovering from a stupid disease that came from america. Also, due to the delay in rains over there, the usual champa tree with 300-400 flowers didn't bloom as usual in july. Have made my grandparents promise that they will send those pics to me. Once that is done, the pics will be uploaded and I promise you, its a sight you just should not miss.