Happy Childhood Days – PART I

Childhood days are something which we can never forget. Those are memories to cherish forever. Wish I were still a child – something everyone would want to, am sure. During our summer vacations, we used to visit our dad’s hometown in Kanya Kumari. It is a small village called Thickanamcode. We used to spend our entire summer holidays there, sometimes extending the holidays even after our School reopens.

Thickanamcode is a beautiful village. Our family was living in Tanjore, confined to a 4800 square feet plot, and we used to feel wonderful going to our hometown. Four of our uncles lived in the house with my grand mom. It was a great joint family. Holidays used to be so very different then. No summer camps, no tennis coaching, no swimming classes, nothing whatsoever. Just playing, playing, and playing. Swimming was in ponds filled with lotus flowers. However, I was never good at swimming and I hate the feel of fishes running across my legs. The stems of lotus underneath used to give me an eerie feeling. I had this incessant feeling of a water snake twining around my legs. So, I would say, I never enjoyed getting deep into the water. But, I loved to watch my cousins dive into the water and try all sorts of tricks. It was just lovely to watch the pond filled with lotus, but to take a swim in it, I never felt groovy! The most pleasurable was our short walk to the pond. The fertile marshy lands filled with ferns and greenery was so pleasing to the eyes. I remember all of us tripping happily to the pond.

We never used to stay indoors during our holidays. We loved to run around the vast acres of land surrounding the house, playing various games. One of our favorite pastimes was to chase the turkeys, so as to hear their awful gobble. Oh! What fun! There were two big coops full of hens, cocks, turkeys, female turkeys, guinea hens and lovely chicks. I used to love the guinea hens. They looked so bewitching, though they too had a vile cackle. We used to hold the cute little chicks in our hands and pass it between us carefully. There were five of us cousins, more or less of the same age. Each one used to have a pet chick, which we were supposed to nurture.

Every day at about 7.30 a.m, my aunt used to open the coop, and we saw the birds flitting out to freedom. At sunset she made sure that all the hens were back inside the coop. She called out for them with a “ba ba ba” sound, beckoning them to follow her, and the hens followed her like the rats behind the “Pied Piper.” If we tried to mimic the same, it seemed to have the opposite effect. They all ran helter-skelter. We were supposed to follow her silently without disturbing the hens that were following her into the coop. She was like a magician, casting a spell on those hens, so that they follow her in all goodness. Finally, she reckons them into the coop and shuts the door. Not even a chick will be left out. If I think now, it seems so marvellous!