Random leaves from my vacation diary-2

Back at parents home after the ulsavam:

Well, here in the little garden tended to by my amma, the rains have rejuvenated the plants-some of them had been scorched by the heat, and now there are jasmines, hibiscus, then those white flowers that we call- “nandiarvattom”. And then the pathway from the gate to the door is sprinkled with fallen gulmohur- those flaming orange- blossoms-

Two days later, the heat is scorching and the flowers that were strewn on the pathway have gone crisp because of the heat! They crackle and crumble at every footstep..amma compared them to “vadaam”-being put out for drying…

The temples, the tanks, over the stiles, along the narrow ridges between the fields, and when you look at the horizon you see those endless stretches of mountains…, all this on one side and when you go in another direction,you see the engineering college, the bakeries, the new dvd/cd shop, the internet cafe so on and so forth..

Actually, the summer has been pretty severe in spite of the intermittent showers, and many wells in the neighborhood have gone dry- Another sore point is, in the evenings, these small black insects come inside the house in huge numbers attracted by the lights, they cause itching on skin, they fall into food- can get quite bugging- we close all doors and windows, and have to remain with feeble lighting, stuffy and sultry..after twilight. The other side of the romantic ambience…

The monsoons are not yet here- these are just summer showers- where the earth just cools down for a brief respite- and then she goes sizzling again- like when water splashes on a hot pan…one can actually sometimes feel an invisible canopy of steam immediately afterwards-

Read a blog about that book- chasing the monsoons- I have heard of similar descriptions- but have not actually seen it happen- In KTKL, there is this hillock where my uncle and his friends used to go trekking of sorts- he used to say, once on the top, one could actually see the clouds gathering and moving and then the rains gradually catching up withyou, and then they would race the rains- it would not be raining in the front but the rains would be on their trail fast catching up-

I love to watch the rains from indoors- but am not very comfortable about the thunder and lightning- I actually love the pre and post rains mood- preferably with a good book and delicious samosas…alas, a wind blows in the next village, the power and telephones conk out here!

This time amma and me did not get much time to talk books- the kids were busy teaching their grandmother to use Powerpoint, word, Ileap and needless to say she has become an expert..

Trip to Guruvayur:

We left for Guruvayur- it was quite a rainy day, and the noon looked and felt like late evening…the temple was soooo crowded and I despaired of being able to be able to enter the inner sanctum – but then with the help of a relative working in the temple, we managed to squeeze in, actually, as a matter of logic, I do not think idols, rituals are necessary for devotion, and yet at Guruvayur- the ambience, the atmosphere gets into you and everything makes the experience special…