Post Palakkad, I've been raised at places which started of with the letter C. Well, the names of these cities have changed now, but for my memories sake, i'd love to remember them as C's..
Coimbatore , Calcutta, Cochin, Cannanore...and obviously Changanachery !
Coimbatore - My vivid memories of that place is all about our house, which was on the first floor in a compound which had four other houses. My Bro was born while we were based there. I remember the 100 feet road, a movie theatre on that road and a few restaurants. Our Houseowner had two girls - Raji & Rekha , who used to come & play with me..or was it the other way around..? I also remember my first tryst with a dentist.... she extracted 4 of my front baby teeth..coz they were too strong and weren't popping out on its own..! Well, I was coaxed into eating ice creams for the rest of the week...so I agreed to withstand the pain & we did get ice creams on the way home. But guess what..we had visitors and there was a kid with them...so all the ice cream i had hoped to eat went to them... What a raw deal.. Yes Coimbatore also reminds me of my school where I studied from First grade to Fourth, Liseux Convent. The place also reminds me of Annapoorna restaurant, where they used to serve 6 feet dosa's...! The lawns had cute white rabbits... my love for rabbits still remain..:)
Calcutta - "The City of Joy", known as Mother Teresa's abode was indeed a City of Joy for me.. We stayed at Tollygunje, near the Golf Course , lake and Tram depot. My best friends during that time were Birsa, Bilbo & Antara. Antara's mom used to take tuition classes for drawing, and conduct drawing and painting exhibitions. Birsa's parents were TV personalities. We also had a famous movie star staying in our locality. How can I forget about the slums at the other end of the road ? My name was pronounced as "Boisak " . I remember the succulent sweet fish biriyani that our "Brahmin" land lady used to make for us. That was also the house where I started drawing and painting ..and my canvas was none other than the front entrance wall of our home ! Maybe I was a very sweet kid, else I see no reason why my landlords didnt make a havoc. Calcutta is one place where I have been on Trams.. the only other place where I've been on a Tram was years later at Zurich. Calcutta also had the Metro railway ( under ground high speed trains, referred to as Tube ). I used to take a tram to school...( GSS School at Kalighat ) & back. Once I remember jumping off a tram and falling under it & luckily the driver stopped the tram just in time and one of the wheels stopped with my knees barely a few mm's away. Calcutta also reminds me of the first B'day cake that my dad got me from The Oberoi Hotel. I miss eating Mishti Doi and Egg Rolls. I miss the Fete that we had at a church near esplanade. Miss the Hoogly river, the flooded roads, colorful buses, bumper to bumper traffic, Howrah bridge, Victoria Memorial, Dum Dum Airport, Lake market area where we had the fish markets and stalls selling authentic bengal cotton sarees. I also remember the time we had an accident ( 4 of us on a scooter, which skidded off a tram railway track on a rainy night ). My first time in an a/c train car ( Coromandel Express ) . It was also the period when we got our first color TV with a Remote.. and me being dissapointed that the remote didnt work through the walls ! How can i forget the time I had with my tuition teacher Priya, who taught me Hindi, her wedding experience. I had Bhatura's first from her house..something which I love to cook even now. I love Rosogolla's, Sandesh, Kala Jamuns & the chats..& How can i forget the days as a Boy Scout ! Or the beatings I got my dad for stealing money from his wallet ..Or the Love letter I wrote to a classmate of mine, while I was in the 4th grade ...which my folks caught and wondered about the source of my romantic vocabulary at that age, not to mention the slaps I got post that episode !
Cochin - " Queen of Arabian Sea " has been my place during the formative years of my life. Thats from Seventh Grade till 12th grade.. 7 long & fun filled years.. Maturing from a child to an adult ..We landed up in Cochin days before former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assasinated. The night before he was assasinated, we witnessed an accident, where a drunk man was run over by a Bus and the wheels of the Bus landed over the man's chest ! My earliest memories of Cochin include trips to the Suburban store, St George Church, our first house behind the church & ofcourse my alma mater - Al Ameen Public School. There was a Bakery opposite our house and my evenings would be spent there looking at how these guys baked cakes, breads, puff's etc in the wood oven. Befriending bakers had its own advantages.. I used to be treated to loads of cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, puff's all the time...Free ! The House owner who owned the Bakery was George Uncle & Elsy Aunty and my friend Ouseph. Ouseph was a whiz kid who assembled Musical bells, radio's, alarm clocks etc. My Best friend at School was Sajeer . He had one of the dream machines - " Street Cat " , a bicycle which I adored. Soon I was also a proud owner of a black n white Street Cat ! Our Brakes made more noise than horns of certain cars.. We used to speed up along the roads and had our share of accidents, skiddings, rashes, bruises and tetanus injections. 7th till 10th went in a jiffy . Cochin was also the time I met a second cousin of mine who was a Restaurant manager at Hotel Taj Malabar. My infactuation with hotels start there.. I was hell bent on going for Hotel Management after my 12th. During my higher secondary school days, I was the Captain for my House - Green House ..motivating my housemembers to participate in all the athletic and creative events and bring in laurels.. During 12th, I wanted History and Economics as my electives but ended up taking Accountancy & Business Management. We moved out to our first owned flat at mamangalam... we named it Suvarna .. keeping in mind the first alphabets of our names. It was a dream come true with bedrooms of our colors, refurbished floorings, bathroom with bath tubs, dream kitchens, terrace etc. It was indeed a dream come true for a middle class family like ours. We also had our first " car " ... a maruti omni.. KCF 8017 !! Well, since we both brothers were huge, our parents had no option but to settle for a small van so that we could stretch our legs and sit ! It was a white van with 2 rows of seating in the rear.. the middle one reserved for my Bro and the last one for me.. ! How can I forget to write about my good friend Binoy ? We were born on the same day... same year ...& we used to go to Raji Aunty's place for tuitions ( Her first pupils )... He was a smarter guy and ended up with great marks while I could manage ok grades..:) . Our second house at Cochin was called "GilGal" . Its a Biblical name for retreating soldier's home. And true to the name, the owners were 4 brothers who were in the armed forces .. Our home was Gilgal 4, and there were 3 others.. each owned by one brother who were officers in army & navy. Raji aunty's husband Sabu was one of the brothers and he was in Navy Aviation and was onboard the Aircraft Carrier. If it was not for Raji aunty and Sabu uncle, I would have flunked my board exams.. Likewise another person who influenced my passing for 12th was my computers teacher - Roja. Two people whom i'll never forget. Others include my classmates from Al Ameen who still are some of my best buddies. Cochin is also the place where I've known my buddy Bipin & close friends - Nisha & Ajit . 7 years compressed to one para is too many ommissions but I hope to keep updating this section more often..
Cannanore - Cannanore was the place I spent my vacations and rare weekends while studying at Oriental School of Hotel Management, my college at Wayanad. My parents were posted there and bro was studying . My days used to be so boring as there was no one I knew among the neighbours, my folks were at work & school..the days were hot and nights humid. The best part about reaching the place those days was the drive. One Bus from wayanad to Calicut ( Yet another C ! ) & another "super fast" or " express " bus from Calicut to Cannanore. This express bus, my regular - used to be painted in hues of dark green and yellow.. the familiar KSRTC Bus which was also feared by the other travellers on the road. The Driver was a carefree guy and used to drive on the wrong side of the road, seldom within the speed limits, over taking when ever and where ever he could and finish the 4 hr drive in less than 2 hrs.. Since I was a regular on that bus, the driver even used to know exactly where to stop for me to get down, even though it wasnt an authorized stop ! And by the time I would reach the place, it would be abt midnight, I'd have a quick meal..from a "Thattu Kada ", a roadside mobile restaurant.. Every place has its specialities as far as thattukada's were concerned. Here it was "Puttu" & Beef Curry along with fried scampi . An Omelette and a tea to finish it off, and I would walk to my home to wake up my parents ! After my mom would collect all the dirty laundry to wash ( one of the reasons I used to head home ), some quick talk and I'd be off to bed, snoring to glory ! Cannanore was the place where I started surfing the net, learnt how to chat, emailed one of my cousins in US, showed her reply to my parents that emails do work in this part of the country & use that as an excuse to be online more.. Been TEN long years that I've been online since my first days there. Am I addicted to this medium ?? I guess the answer is Yes. Anyways, Cannanore was also the place from where I took my driving licence. My instructor was " Babu Asan " . He used to come in his Blue Ambassador and take me for lessons on the highway. 4 days down the line, he started putting on the music while I was driving... his confidence levels were increasing ! On the day of my driver's test, I wasnt too sure if I could get through with his car, so I asked my dad for his car to drive. Obviously Maruti was easy as a feather...:). I also got my Passport issued while we were at Cannanore. My permanent address on the passport states - " Oyster ", which was the address of our rented home ! One thing I love about that place are the roads...broad, clean and so good to drive. I remember the Cochin Bakery, Fort Road, Army Cantonment Area, Beach, Sarita theatre, Caltex Jn, Chala etc. I used to go pick up mom from the bus stand during the evenings I was there, and she would get me snacks from the shops around... tapioca wafers, banana fritters and fried peanuts. Another of the good times that we had was when we would accompany our parents to the Lions Club. The Men would be in the meetings and fellowships. The women folk would be amongst their circle of friends & we used to be hanging around where ever we could. Since dad used to have his share of fellowships, I used to get the chance to drive the car back ! Getting to drive the car was indeed a luxury those days and these were the best oppurtunities. I went to Switzerland while we were based at Cannanore. I also remember the day when I was supposed to leave from Calicut airport..my first ever flight, alone and that too to a foreign destination. Lot of people came to see me off including my aunts, cousins, uncles... Also the time I came back from Swiss, this time to Mangalore airport. My parents were waiting for me & the drive from Mangalore to Cannanore. En route we went to Bekal Fort, stopped at quite a few scenic spots and had good fun..Those were the days ..
Changanachery - The place where I was born, known as the fiefdom of the NSS - Nair Service Society, founded by my Great Great Grand Father shri Mannathu Padmanabhan ! We have a house there - called " Makkal Veedu". Its named after my dad's ancestral house at Palakkad. Our House is built on the plot gifted to my mother by my grand father. So our house is right in front of his house, which is known as " Jasmine". The Plot used to be a garden with lots of rare trees, which were well maintained by my grand parents. So when our house was being built, my parent's sole criteria was that none of the trees should be cut, irrespective of which ever shape the house would turn out to be in . The House was partly designed by my dad after long sessions with the architect. Its a real dream come true home, with loads of natural lights, cross ventillation, trees on all sides ( coconut, plantain, jackfruit , mango, mulberry , papaya, asoka , parichatham etc ) ,the vegetable garden behind with chillies, tapioca etc. The walls and doors have been custom made for us so that we do not have to Duck while getting in... High ceilings and rooms with an emphasis on space make this house unique. There arent any vivid memories per se about this place apart from the get togethers that we have once in a while of all the family members..( we are 50 + family, with 4 generations ), so while all may not be present at the same time, the majority do manage to turn up, for weddings and birthday's which culminates in a gala time for all of us. Dine outs at Restaurants, Houseboat trips, long drives, late night chit chats, music, songs, combined cooking sessions ...the list is endless !!!
A snap shot of Jasmine & our home , both at Changanachery.
