The Soap Factory

My mom and her siblings seems to be blessed in proportion by God in case of the offspring ( May be the Statistics gene running through the family may have contributed to it.). Anyway each have a sweet and lovely elder daughters and naughty little sons. So in total ,I have got 6 great maternal cousins.Just imagine 3 cousins of my age and three of my brother's. It is a gift in many way especially you won't be having an intriguing and inquisitive brother with a left-alone attitude.

In short the vacations at maternal home were a blast. Whenever we comes together it used to be a non-stop fun. Most important thing in these vacation despite the small fights and late night chats were our special projects. Most probably our genius-gal Sree would turn up with some idea. She and her bro, Vishnu are never at loss of any ideas. and indeed the whole crew including the elder sis, short-tempered George(inspired by Famous Five), creative Sithu, our naughty brothers sethu, kannan,aru and myself, would be at their service.

I remember the trips we made to paddy field with packed samosas when we were all greatly inspired by Famous Five. Then other time, we tried to sell old amarchitra katha and jamun pickle. However as we couldn't find any buyers other than our unlucky grandfather, we had to sell it to each other. Then there was the comedy shows. Being ardent cricket fans no other name than "TENDULKAR COMEDY SHOW" was given to it. anyway i think it was better than gulf-shows these days. With the stage up in the hall and complete with punched ticket, oh god,it was real fun. Since we had very patient audience( moms r good in these matter) , we used to do all skits, dance , fashion shows and what not.....Another thing i recall was our ammama's (uncle) story-telling sessions. He loves tarzan and sherlocke holmes stories. But once when stock is over, he will remake the Mahabharatha and Ramyana. Talking about stories, i recall our own ghost-story masterpiece.

It will be usually sithu who comes up with idea. We all will join. However the funniest part is that these proud authors of blood-chilling ghost story would be too terrified to go anywhere alone not even to restroom. It was really fun to walk like train all around the place, clutching each other nervously.

However I think most memorable thing amongst us is the "Soap Factory event".I don't know whether to classify it as a comedy or tragedy. As usual, it was Sree who turned up with the idea- To make soap. We were all ready and busily added all those smelly things. So churning the final mixture in an aluminium vessel , we left it to set overnight. We were so proud at our work that we were boasting that we don't need to buy soap for a year and so. The whole night was spend debating on a name for the soap. Finally we settled on the Intials of all. So we went to sleep with the sweet dreams about our soap( A little exaggeration of course)

Well the next morning came with the cries of Sree (side-effects of being a sweet, senstive person). We all wake up instantly and sree couldn't tell anything other than just soap. so we all went out. The sight we had there, i still don't know whether to laugh or cry. The place where we left the soap mixture, only the handle of the vessel remained.

If it was a movie i think the nice end would have been wonder-struck me and a slight breeze. Well it then will bring the paper containing instructions to my hand and there i could read the most important instruction written boldly stating " NEVER USE PLASTIC OR ALUMINIUM VESSEL AS THE SODIUM MIXTURE COULD DISSOLVE IT!!!"

Well as it was not a movie, i just stood there wondering whether to laugh or not.

Travel across my fantansies

i love traveling, however short or long it may be. i recall the bike rides with my dad across the town, especially when the whole town is about 2 sleep. Each time he took thrugh different roads and when it rains, we never cared. The pleasure in finding new roads, our own little chats, secrets v shared (mom never approves that cold coffee is most tasty when you hav during in a heavy downpour). it was my childhood pride....oh hw i miss it!!

Another thing that i recall is the occasional trips 2 our cousin's home. Years back, when we were free from career tensions and xam worries, it had been trip for week. I still remember the last minute rush and run behind the bus. though it was a mere two and half journey, for me, it was journey around the earth. I used to watch with wonder-struck eyes how paddy fields ran past me and slowly the flat land turns into rough and hilly terrains and how slowly green carpets of paddy gave way 2 darkness filled rubber plantations. Mind would be then filled with plans for blasting the vaction with my cousins.It was a memorable journey. But the jouney back home was miserable especially with the thoughts of re-opening of school and also worried about many a things i forgot 2 share with my cousin.

I started traveling alone only when i was in 10th. ( disadvantages of having a very anxious mother and very little guts). though it was short trip to-and-fro school, i liked it. all bus stop chatter and all. but moreover it was the sense of freedom that i loved most.

For last three years I hav been shuttling from ernakulam to allepey. Home sickness made me a frequent commuter, so frequent that sometimes i need not tell the destination, because an alleppey ticket would be in my hand before i know. Bus travel gave me so many memorable things. I think i could write a book on that....mention not the time i had took the wrong bus and had a free trip across the town, the fights made 4 seats on monday mornings, the time when the bus was taken to police station and had a chat with friendly SI, the time when bus has to stopped since the poor conductor had to attend to the call of nature, the time when i snored over my old professor's shoulder (it was rly embarrassing), the time when i accidently met my friend's best friend about whom v used to talk a lot, but have never met, and what not. At first, one of my frnd used to accompany me back home.. the bus jouney was a time for sharing the gossips of the whole week. but now it is time for my solitary pleasure. I won't usually listen to music, but like to sit in the first window seat and lose myself in dreams. Seriously i never know , how the one-and-half hour passes. Nowadays I have found a stretch of road which as dreamy as anything. it is hardly of a kilometre, without a single building in sight, the road winds on like a black ribbon with green marshy land on one side and silvery blue backwater on the other lined with green shurbs. in between there are some palms reminding of old gulf postcards. its truly seems magical, especially today with all rainclouds. in fact i love traveling in bus when it rains, (though not favouring the leaking bus tops). It is a sort of dream -this travel, truly i feel like waking up after a long sleep when i reaches the bus stand.

Coming to think of it, there are many jouneys in my life that stays alive-like excursions from school, little family trips and pligrimage and most recently our clas trip 2 wayanad. I think i could write a separate blog on that.

Coming to think of it i remember our delhi trip last january. I usually despise train. I don;t know y. May i hate the commotions in stations or well feel suffocated by the walls of train. But the three day trip was amazing. Lots of new friends. travel across the dry terrains of andhra, then through chambal and finally the soothing views of Up's mustard fields. I recall a foreign photographer who indeed was traveling the whole trip just for taking snaps.i too was having a thousands of snaps in my heart. Finally we all parted, without even exchanging a phone number. As i took my luggaes to metro station, i just recited an old poem in mind "Like strangers v met, like strangers v part".

In fact as some wise man has said, this life is a journey from birth to death. v meet many through the course. But had to part to with all some point of time. V may not be aware of it until we reach our final destination. In fact , i love this jouney....