Nostalgia - The power of the little V.I.P.

Nostalgia - The power of the little V.I.P.

When my son was growing up from infancy our main occupation was to play with him and tell him stories and sing lullabies to him whenever he wanted. I could attend to him mostly on the week-ends and evenings. He used to be a great self in asking questions which I could never imagine, from “Why is the moon always up there?, Why can't we go to the moon?, Will it ever come down so that we don't have to go there and so on. When it came to the story of the King and the Lion in which the Lion tries to attack the King and the King suddenly turns and cuts the Lion into two etc. He was curious how did the Lion enter the Palace Garden? Many of my little answers satisfied him and he was appeased. He was only agitated if I went to sleep in between the narration. Then he will sit on my chest and keep asking me “Phir kya hua?” meaning “Then what happened” and will pull my chin. Many a time I got the tether and continued but sometimes when sleep was to heavy, I mixed up and started with “Then the rabbit started running” which at times sent him into laughter and he exclaimed: “There is no rabbit in the Palace Garden, it is the Lion which has to come”. This brought me awake and I repaired the story to the usual King and the Lion. All that has now become old stories and my son has forgotten some of them, like me too! But at times the thoughts recour.

Now my son is grown up and married and he was arriving with his wife and toddler son. The little bundle clung on to me after throwing a beaming smile at me as soon as we met at the Station. He threw the smile with such gusto and intent, for a one year old, I could not resist the feeling of old times and take him in my arms. I thought he was just jumping on to me because I showed my hands, but soon I understood, the real reason. He was set upon taking my spectacles as a little toy and that was the reason for the beautiful enchanting smile. Once on me he straight went to pick up my spectacles and started playing with it, trying different ways of holding it and ultimately holding it on one of its arms and turning it like a fan. I kept of telling him that this was not to be done but he never cared or seemed to understand my point! He kept on turning the spectacles on one of its handles and ultimately my son had to come and pick it up from him which irritated me and the little infant boy alike. I said that he would have been more polite to the little kid and he told me that that way you will normally not get the spectacles back from him in proper form as there is a little engineer in him who will go to work on the spectacles after a while, when the spectacles will be dismantled part by part!

Once the spectacles was rempoved he quickly forgot that part and started enjoying the scenery on the way where the moving vehicles and their horns were a god attraction. In between he lost interest in me and started beaming his little cute smile at my wife and slowly went over to her and started playing with her ear rings and the flowers on her saree. Soon he was to lose interest in all that as the temperature was rising as the day was becoming hot and he once again threw his great smile at his mom who took him in her arms and started giving him milk from his milke bottle. Soon he was asleep on her lap.

Once home and the car stopped he woke up and surveyed the scenario and slowly with sleepy eyes was trying to smile at me and it was time for me to pick him up and thereafter the whole set of cycle repeated it self. Many a time I played with him and at times he came to play with me or make me play. The surprising part was that he got most of his needs by a disarming smile..! He never said anything as he is yet to speak in full syllables, but his smile caught on to every body with whom he came in contact in the near relations and they soon thought out what he may be needing and did it for him. When we think of it, it is marvellous for a little toddler, isn't it?

In between my son came along from his computer works when he wanted a piece of wire or a plug point or some such things he needed in his work and seeing us at play he remarked: “You to make a good company!”

I smiled at him along with the little guy ...! (Thinking...far back he was good company with me..now he has become very serious..!)

Nostalgia - The power of the little V.I.P.

When my son was growing up from infancy our main occupation was to play with him and tell him stories and sing lullabies to him whenever he wanted. I could attend to him mostly on the week-ends and evenings. He used to be a great self in asking questions which I could never imagine, from “Why is the moon always up there?, Why can't we go to the moon?, Will it ever come down so that we don't have to go there and so on. When it came to the story of the King and the Lion in which the Lion tries to attack the King and the King suddenly turns and cuts the Lion into two etc. He was curious how did the Lion enter the Palace Garden? Many of my little answers satisfied him and he was appeased. He was only agitated if I went to sleep in between the narration. Then he will sit on my chest and keep asking me “Phir kya hua?” meaning “Then what happened” and will pull my chin. Many a time I got the tether and continued but sometimes when sleep was to heavy, I mixed up and started with “Then the rabbit started running” which at times sent him into laughter and he exclaimed: “There is no rabbit in the Palace Garden, it is the Lion which has to come”. This brought me awake and I repaired the story to the usual King and the Lion. All that has now become old stories and my son has forgotten some of them, like me too! But at times the thoughts recour.

Now my son is grown up and married and he was arriving with his wife and toddler son. The little bundle clung on to me after throwing a beaming smile at me as soon as we met at the Station. He threw the smile with such gusto and intent, for a one year old, I could not resist the feeling of old times and take him in my arms. I thought he was just jumping on to me because I showed my hands, but soon I understood, the real reason. He was set upon taking my spectacles as a little toy and that was the reason for the beautiful enchanting smile. Once on me he straight went to pick up my spectacles and started playing with it, trying different ways of holding it and ultimately holding it on one of its arms and turning it like a fan. I kept of telling him that this was not to be done but he never cared or seemed to understand my point! He kept on turning the spectacles on one of its handles and ultimately my son had to come and pick it up from him which irritated me and the little infant boy alike. I said that he would have been more polite to the little kid and he told me that that way you will normally not get the spectacles back from him in proper form as there is a little engineer in him who will go to work on the spectacles after a while, when the spectacles will be dismantled part by part!

Once the spectacles was rempoved he quickly forgot that part and started enjoying the scenery on the way where the moving vehicles and their horns were a god attraction. In between he lost interest in me and started beaming his little cute smile at my wife and slowly went over to her and started playing with her ear rings and the flowers on her saree. Soon he was to lose interest in all that as the temperature was rising as the day was becoming hot and he once again threw his great smile at his mom who took him in her arms and started giving him milk from his milke bottle. Soon he was asleep on her lap.

Once home and the car stopped he woke up and surveyed the scenario and slowly with sleepy eyes was trying to smile at me and it was time for me to pick him up and thereafter the whole set of cycle repeated it self. Many a time I played with him and at times he came to play with me or make me play. The surprising part was that he got most of his needs by a disarming smile..! He never said anything as he is yet to speak in full syllables, but his smile caught on to every body with whom he came in contact in the near relations and they soon thought out what he may be needing and did it for him. When we think of it, it is marvellous for a little toddler, isn't it?

In between my son came along from his computer works when he wanted a piece of wire or a plug point or some such things he needed in his work and seeing us at play he remarked: “You to make a good company!”

I smiled at him along with the little guy ...! (Thinking...far back he was good company....now he has become very serious..!)

The Chembarathis and the golden sunset of Thrissur! The sun sets the beach waters into molten gold...!

The neighbourhood tom cat

The neighbourhood tom cat!

The neighbourhood tom cat is a permanent visitor at our Enamavu house. We do not own him and all. He just passes by. He will throw a benign look at me and walk past. Once or twice he came close to me keeping his tail up and meavoing. He was about to rub on my legs he spotted my wife coming from the kitchen and took to his heels. As they both do not go together, he always glanced at me with surprise as to how I am continuing here!

That meeting made a beginning to our relationship. He will be found invariably around whenever we cleaned fish. The local market has a fish seller who brings fish in the evening. That is when we buy our daily needed fish as is usual in Kerala, the southern part of India. Cleaning small fish is easy. Once it is cleaned the left overs will be a delicacy for the tom cat and he patiently waited until I got up to put a few pieces near the coconut palm tree. Once I moved away, it is his time to have his delicacy. It is not that the cat is fully dependent on me. He gets his daily bread by the perspiration of his forehead. For that he moves around when we people are asleep. That is their time where they get their prey.They spend the whole night with wide open eyes to keep watch on the things moving at night and catches hold of whatever is his required prey from among the moving little animals or birds.

On full moon days he will be busy courting the female cats if they are around. We do not know from where they come. They all are there just like the stars in the day sky. We can't see them. They just appear at night and disappear during the day. The full moon days are very bright and the tom cat usually comes to full form on those days. On other days he moves around catching an occasional rat or any such animal for his food. Another of the delicacies were the green frogs which are now very rare.

During the days he retreats to the compound wall top, or to the wfirewood shed where dry palm leaves etc. are stored. Since this is a place which do not get wet even in rainy season he selected it as a safe haven for his day sleep and rest. I discovered him once aftger my trip to a distant place. Once back I was opening the shed to see my old bicycle when all on a sudden there was a commotion from the stored dry palm leaves which startled me. I froze to see if there was any longh snake in the palm leaves. But was soon very relieved to see the tom cat coolly and slowly getting up from among the leaves, climb up to a side stand, turn his head and look at me with glowing eyes with two thin lines at the apple of his eye, yawn ..opening all his mouth and protruding his tounge, almost saying that it was I who startled him from his siesta and looking at me with sleepy eyes. Once the yawn was over he walked or jumped out of the window which did not have a shutter almost saying: “Why don't you coming knocking or come when I am not there? You hum ans make it a habit to disturb others!” I just smiled. I knew him and he knew me. And firewood shed is a perfect place for him where no body disturbs him.

As time went on he picked up weight and was moving slowly. He had lost his earlier agility a bit. I was sad for him. He was aging. In the mean time, a new white she cat appeared with a little one on her side. The little cat started gorwing fast. Once it was almost becoming a youth, the she cat disappeared. Now it was the youth cat and the big tom cat moving around in the compound, at times under the coconut tree or in the near by compound or at the water channel. Once the youth cat was eating a huge rat when the big tom cat came around. The Youth cat reverently moved away leaving the food aside. Initially, the tom cat did not touch it. He just went and lied down near the food and started looking at the youth cat which had settled down a distance away. After a while, the old tom cat started eating slowly. The youth cat moved away.

There was something to the old tom. He was not his old exhuberent self fully. But how much time we can give to an old tom cat. I had to travel and hence to leave the place. After a month or so we returned and found there was a stench coming from somewhere. We went around and could not find anything for a while. Then we found the dead carcass of the old tom near the side of a motor house in the neightbouring compound where no body lives. The old tom cat had kept his regards for us even in old age death. He moved away from our house so as not to bother us with his body in old age. His half decayed body was disintegrating slowly becoming food for the trees and plants around leaving whatever came from the soil back to the soil and enriching it even in his death.

Now only the youth cat is left in the vicinity and he keeps on coming whenever I take fish for cleaning exactly as the old tom cat. Once he had his food he climbs up the compund wall during the day and does his half sleep with a very keen eye to who ever is moving around. From rats to little birds and frogs all he surveys in that sitting and whenever something worthwhile comes to sight then he is all action for a few minutes which is a marvel to see. Once his prey in his mouth he retreats to back of the firewood shed and returns after a while to his earlier position on the wall to lick and clean his hands and paws. By the evening he is more active and gets down to go to other compounds especially on days when the moon is bright!