Thursday, November 02, 2006

If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older - Tom Stoppard

This is a two part tag, tagged my Silverine.
Rules
Write 10 things you loved about your childhood
Write 10 things you hate about your childhood
Tag other people.

I put together a list of things I loved and I seemed long enough to be a post so the things I hated will be a post by itself.
Things I love about my childhood:

  1. The amount I could play. Everyday after school I came home changed my uniform and played with Veena and other kids outside till our mom called us. No I get back from work and need a huge motivation to even go to the gym. It used to be catch, then skipping, then Badminton. How many of you remember help sister? Even school had designated periods to play.
  2. Friends - It was so much easy to make friends and keep friends. Nothing I said upset his/her feeling. We would be do (Katti) for a while then palam (batti) soon. Its not that I don't have friends now, I do but one has to very cautious what one says as one gets older
  3. Food - The amount of food I ate had no bounds. I was never an obese child but I ate a lot. Not having to worry about carbs and sugar was definitely better times, all I had to do was munch munch munch
  4. Sneaking and Eating - This is something that Veena and I did regularly. We would sneak into the kitchen and steal food. It was not because mom never fed us, but it was mainly for the rush and thrill one feels. Things that we ate were Maltova, Thenga (coconut), sugar and not just limited to these. Above all was the joy when mom woud take the Thega and see bite marks on it and ask who it was, we would both together say it was a mouse.
  5. Sibling - Veena was the best sister one could as for, we are still close, but we both have lives of our own now. As a kid she watched my back, she stood by my side even when she knew I was wrong. In private she would come and tell me what I did was wrong. She played with me everyday, even though I was 3 years younger than her, she would play all my games with me patiently. We still talk everyday but miss chechi a lot.
  6. Energy - Not once I remember getting tired as a kid. I can not even recall complaining to my parents that my feet hurt as opposed these days something or the other is always hurting.
  7. Festivals - Be it Christmas, Easter, Onam my parents always made sure it was celebrated. Dad always took days off for Onam (Christmas and Easter were holidays) every year and he would tell us the same story over and over again. For Vishu our neighbors would come and wake us up take us (with eyes closed of course) to their house to see Vishu Kani.
  8. Ela Podi (rice packed in a banana leaf) - After summer vacations when we travelled back to Tamil Nadu in train mom would make this Ela podi. It had Choru (Rice), Chuttu areche samandi (Coconut chutney), Etheykke mezhukuperrati. We were told we can eat our podi when we get to Ernakulum as that was the mid point of our journery. It is still fresh in my memory how Veena and I used to bug my mother from Kottayam asking is it Ernakulum yet, how far is Ernakulum. I haven't eaten a Ela podi for so long.
  9. Time - As a kid I was never busy. I had time for everything, study, play, read and eat. Now I hardly find time, did the days get shorter as I grew up? I don't study or play these days, still rarely find time to read a book.
  10. Passion - I had loads and loads of hobbies as a kid, stamp collection, currency collection, sticker collection and I used to be so passionate about them. I used to trade them with friends. It was all showcased in a book or album. Thinking about it, I believe it is still in storage somewhere. Now I can not think of one thing that I’m so passionate about, I do have new hobbies now but not the passion I had back then.
Part 2 to continue soon

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Each tag I read is like going down memory lane. Such a nice and warm feeling it evokes. Felt so nostalgic reading all this. Ela Podhi is yummm. The taste is something else altogether when rice is wrapped in banana leaves. You are so right there was so much passion in your hobbies, so much energy and so much time and last but the most important fun was really fun those days!!!
Loved your tag, awaiting the next instalment :)

Anonymous said...

Totally with you on number 2 and number 9.

-kajan

BZ said...

Super points. Cant agree with you more, on all points.

I too feel as adults we dont find time to do all the things we want to do, even though we dont seem to be doing a lot.

BZ said...

Super points. Cant agree with you more, on all points.

I too feel as adults we dont find time to do all the things we want to do, even though we dont seem to be doing a lot.

Anonymous said...

I loved sneaking food too! So much tastier somehow!

Emmanuel said...

so cute...
the childhoods are really special, right???

expect the other side soon... :)

mathew said...

brings back fond memories..esp the thrill of eating horlicks when no one was around!!..nice one..

Jiby said...

hmmm i wonder how kids get all that energy to keep playing from morning till night...their energy knows no bounds! haha...sneaking and eating...isnt that one of the biggest in-home adventures possible for a child!

Mind Curry said...

hihi..so sweet..i can imagine you and veena and other kids..

Shilpa said...

Nice post....reminds me so much of my childhood....

waiting for part 2 :)

Rays Of Sun said...

Very nice post, Thanu!

I agree so much on all of that. Although, the resources were limited we still had a lot of fun. Particularly, I used to rebel so that I can hang out with my friends and come home late after 10 but now, although I have the liberties, I long to come home soon...After a long time, I am reading a blog and without a second thought I clicked on yours coz I knew you would have something nice written out here:)

Ar Ar Ar Arrrrr said...

It had Choru (Rice), Chuttu areche samandi (Coconut chutney), Etheykke mezhukuperrati.
I grew up with lotsa southies in ma neighborhood...I remember eating this from one of ma mally neighbors....yumm..yumm
I was not aware of the same Chuttu areche....now Ive a sweet memory with a name :)

katti-batti, stealing food for kitchen...all this got memories of childhoood...man, those were the best days of ma life....

Nice tag here Thanu..
Cheers!!

renuramanath said...

hi thanu,
came across your blog right now. great reading. so exciting to meet fellow malayalis over the blogosphere.
so, did you grew up in kerala or the us ?
and, your post about elappothi, wonderful. i too miss it terribly these days. i was a hosteler all through my college days, but still took a pothichor from home, or from a cousin's place, sometimes.
recently, something funny happened. a friend came home around noon, carrying a 'pothichor,' wrapped in banana leaf. she is from a village outside kochi. she said she didn't like the smell of banana leaf. she didn't like the pothichor itself.the rice was of nadan kuthari, cultivated in their field. so, i gobbled up the whole meal, while she ate toast and jam. happy meals, for both !

Thanu said...

$anonymous
Done with the next installment, but that is not all that fun.

$Anonymous / Kajan
Those were the good days of Katti and few minutes later batti.

$Saranya Kishore
Yeah and still we run out of time.

$Anonymous
It was so much fun to. Tip toe into kitchen, so no one wakes up, take a spoon without making noise.

$Alexis Leon
Thank u, I read urs too.

$emmanuel
Posted the other side too, but that part is sad.

$mathew
Sneaking and eating was a rreal

$Jiby ..
I still try to sneak and eat.. but who cares now, its my house.

$Mind Curry
U talk like u never did any of these

$Shilpa
Posted part two

$Rays Of Sun
THanks, that is such a nice compliment.

$Arz000n
Not jsut ur, most of ours.

$renuramanath
Welcome here hope to see you around.

silverine said...

Hey the first anon was me :( Blogger!!!! grrrr