Once upon a time, a little girl would take long walks with her Appachen in this little town called Tiruvalla, where people spoke this crazed-out language called Malayalam and heat was actually hot. And on the way (to nowhere in particular), they’d stop at this little tiny store that sold random yet necessary things (sambranis, bar soaps, chewing gum & neelam). And this little girl would sit on top of the counter and drink a fizzy carbonated drink called Thums Up while her Appachen and the storekeeper discussed the INC (kaipathi!), CPI (‘M’ may or may not be added) and white-white kerala politics (Munshi and Asianet News at 7!).
And then, somewhere in between, the little girl grew out of that adjective and forgot the ease in language, the strength of the heat, the name of that shopkeeper and of course, the taste of Thums Up.
Then, somewhere further down, asian supermarkets came into the picture and at least one of the aforementioned was turned right. True loves reunited ♥
In the reflection of that dirty glass bottle remains everything that truly matters.
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“What we remember from childhood we remember forever – permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen.”
-Cynthia Ozickey
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ariyathe. 
lol ..U remember all those things still 🙂
between i like the achayan slang of kottayam- pathanamthitta Malayalam 🙂
haha I try to remember everything. =] Actually, I remember a lot of useless things and not enough of things that actually matter.
haha achayan slang? enna parayaana, once an achayathi, always an achayathi.. (well actually, not quite but…)
anishthomas -> there is no life with out memories dear….
One incident which came first in my mind reading this was…. I, a teenager. It was a mid summer vacation time… I was at my dad’s place… erattupetta, a small towship between Pala and Kanjirapally in Kottaym district…
As my family was the first to reach… I felt lonely and went surf the town…
I went to that store with random things for sale… and asked for any soft drinks (“Soft drinks vallatum undo chettaa ??!!!”)
Suddenly the man stared at me as if he never saw a human being… and stood a while as if he’s shocked… a while after he answered.. “athonnum ividey undavilla… vallo pepsiyo colayo matto aanel unde..” and opened fridge… I took a coke and was trying hard to suppress the laugh… Still I laugh when I remember that day….
hahaha that’s hilarious!!
or the time when we had our cousins from mumbai joining us in more provincial trivandrum for summer hols . i taught the male amongst them to tie a lungi and ride a bicycle too. singularly- successful .in combination – a disaster. a ‘ MEEN KAARI’ was at the receiving end of one of such inherently faulty situation one day . this cousin came back home after having heard some new shuddham expletives. didnt injure his pride though. the lungi and bicycle were temporarily retired for the rest of the hols for other modes and means of travel and clothing. and i – learnt the usefulness of belts and brakes when imparting similar lessons to other interested cousins of the brood. 🙂
hahaha I have a million stories I can relate this with. I was always that “foreign” kid so all my Keralite cousins would teach me the randomest of things without providing contexts.. oh those abhathams I always ended with!=D
strange thing is that you could feel indulged while yet feeling confined. strange are the ways of the mind.