Dedicated to my four sweethearts.
The day had almost ended and I was soaked in nostalgia…all
because of a wedding that my parents attended today morning.
For a few years my family had stayed in a government
quarters at Kozhikode.
The bride of this wedding was a wonderful lady whom we used
to call Chakki (that was her nickname. I don’t know her real name), whose
family had stayed in the quarters during the same period as we did.
This wedding was like a reunion for all those who stayed in
the quarters during that time and later moved to different places. Chakki
chechi’s parents had asked my parents to bring me to the wedding, but I was too
lazy to go. Well… not ‘lazy’ exactly. The real reason why I didn’t want to go
will be discussed later. Anyway, I stayed home, of course, wasting my time facebooking
and tweeting ;)
After returning home, my parents were talking all about the
wedding and the old friends/neighbours they met there. That’s when they told
about meeting two of my ex-boyfriends, Sreeram and Jeevan.
Both of them are happily married and have kids now!
Sreeram and his family, and Jeevan and his family, were also
living in the same block of the quarters as we were. And there were 2 more
people, the siblings Karthik and Ashok (who didn’t attend the wedding today and
who also happen to be musician Dakshinaamoorthy’s grand kids)
My four boyfriends who have seen me naked…
I was very close to all of them. But then… circumstances
changed…
All the four of them
were very dear to me. They were very fond of me too :)
They used to carry me in their arms and shoulders, let me
play with their hair (especially Ashok ettan, whose hairstyle was like that of
SRK’s in early ‘90s, as I recall), listen patiently to all my made-up stories,
fly kite for me, collect and count the manjaadikkuru that falls from the tree
in our courtyard (yeah.. I know it is a very difficult task and requires lots
of patience. If they did that for me then they must have loved me so much :’) )
But as I said before, circumstances changed. Some of the
families built/bought new home. Some of them got transfer and left the place.
And slowly we drifted apart.
I really don’t remember much about them. Not even their
faces. All I remember was that I was like 2-4 years old and used to think of
them as big people (maybe they were in their early teens during that time. But
as a kid, I used to consider them as grown-ups).
I also remember some of the evergreen stories relating them
and yours truly ;)
It’s hard to forget the stories. Every time I meet someone
who had stayed in the quarters, they bring up some of my adventurous childhood
stories.
One of them was, falling down and breaking my head and a
tooth while playing with them and how one of my neighbours had to carry me and
run all the way to the nearest hospital.
There is a story of how my neighbour (then my role model)
Chandni chechi and I decided to make my pregnant goldfish fairer and put a can
of talcum powder (Cuticura, to be precise) into the aquarium. May the
goldfish’s soul rest in peace.
Another one is how I invaded and sat on the lap of
Dakshinaamoorthy while he was singing, and tried singing along with him the
song (still one of my favourite classical songs) Swami Natha
Paripaalayaashumaam. Apparently he said that I have a great inborn talent in music
;) Poor old man.
But the most appreciated story is about me walking, or
rather, running (naked in some versions of the story and wearing a chaddi in
some other versions; still disputed) behind Sreeram ettan calling out loud
“Sheeyaametta… Sheeyaametta…” :D
I’m not sure how much of these stories are true, especially
the last one (Nooo, I would never do something like that).
So… today at the reunion, all these people, including my
parents and 2 childhood sweethearts, dissected and laughed over these stories. If I had gone, then I should have stood there embarrassed in front of all those people!
(Now you know why I didn’t want to go for the wedding.)
But, thinking of it now, I could have gone for the wedding,
just to meet Jeevan chetan and Sreeram ettan, to meet them after 2 decades,
meet their wives and kids… just to… you know… :) :) :)
I also wonder where Karthik ettan and Ashok ettan are… if
they still remember me… what they are doing now… you know… :) :) :)
I also miss my other friends there. Chakki chechi, Neethu
chechi, Ashif ikka, Chandni chechi, Aswathi chechi, Abitha……
Maybe I could search them on Facebook. But I don’t know
their last names :( Maybe I’ll meet them during another wedding… Maybe……
With a bunch of sweet memories, ending the post with what I
started
Dedicated to my four sweethearts.
