And lo! I finally start by blabbering about how I miss Belgaum and my cousins and the fun we had there. Yes, the description says something about first memories so I'll start at that point.
I must have been two years old and I remember getting out of the rickshaw and walking through the gate into the front-yard with my mother. I don't remember before that point and not much after that point either. But I do remember the stone steps leading into the house and the sweet lady sitting on those steps - Pa tai. She must have been in high school then. I distinctly remember what she was wearing - a red polka dot full shirt with a scarf tie. And though I don't remember this, I like to believe that she addressed me as "Shubdi" just like all my older cousins did till I was much older. So there goes my first memory of Belgaum and of Pa tai.
I was born at Dadar, Mumbai at the same maternity home where my father and grandfather were born. My grandmother was born in Mumbai too. On the maternal side, my grandfather was born at Nerur in Sindhudurga district, but he moved to Mumbai in the 40s and so did all his relatives there. So I have almost no relatives at Nerur. My maternal grandmother was born and brought-up at Belgaum. Her home there still stands and her youngest brother (Sudhir mama) and her oldest brother's wife (Mami aji) stay there. Just a few years back, my grandmother's mother (Panji-aji) passed away. So this was my tie-up with Belgaum, a tie-up which blessed me with month long holiday there during every school summer vacation.
I miss those holidays, I miss my cousins who one by one stopped coming there during the summers since 96 or 97 due to education or marriage or job, I miss the chaos that existed in that house for that one month.
The lazy walks around the First Gate and Second Gate, occassional trips with some aji or ajoba or someone to Harimandir, the cricket games at Vaccine Depot, strolls and snacks at Military Mahadev, desserts at Kaveri and Imperial, bicycle trips to the fort, movies at Globe, Arun (I hear it airs only sleaze flicks these days) and many more small theatres, jeera butter and garlic toasts from Nutan bakery and Shankar bakery, sugarcane juice and ale-pak and that was life. And jujupes! And local "chokhayche ambe" from the streets and the mid-summer relief rains and the following chilly late-afternoons, Panji aji chya hatchya bhakrya ani meethi ani lal-mathachi bhaji, Mami aji's chaklis and chatnis and thalipeeth with loni......... damn I do miss Belgaum and the time I spent there...........
And I miss the process of going there by train, the "Taj - DipDipDip" tea on the rail and tomato soups in paper cups, waiting in the very early mornings for the connecting train at Miraz where broad-guage gave way to meter-guage, the bread-omlette at Miraz station and the Meduwada at Gokak...............
I must have been two years old and I remember getting out of the rickshaw and walking through the gate into the front-yard with my mother. I don't remember before that point and not much after that point either. But I do remember the stone steps leading into the house and the sweet lady sitting on those steps - Pa tai. She must have been in high school then. I distinctly remember what she was wearing - a red polka dot full shirt with a scarf tie. And though I don't remember this, I like to believe that she addressed me as "Shubdi" just like all my older cousins did till I was much older. So there goes my first memory of Belgaum and of Pa tai.
I was born at Dadar, Mumbai at the same maternity home where my father and grandfather were born. My grandmother was born in Mumbai too. On the maternal side, my grandfather was born at Nerur in Sindhudurga district, but he moved to Mumbai in the 40s and so did all his relatives there. So I have almost no relatives at Nerur. My maternal grandmother was born and brought-up at Belgaum. Her home there still stands and her youngest brother (Sudhir mama) and her oldest brother's wife (Mami aji) stay there. Just a few years back, my grandmother's mother (Panji-aji) passed away. So this was my tie-up with Belgaum, a tie-up which blessed me with month long holiday there during every school summer vacation.
I miss those holidays, I miss my cousins who one by one stopped coming there during the summers since 96 or 97 due to education or marriage or job, I miss the chaos that existed in that house for that one month.
The lazy walks around the First Gate and Second Gate, occassional trips with some aji or ajoba or someone to Harimandir, the cricket games at Vaccine Depot, strolls and snacks at Military Mahadev, desserts at Kaveri and Imperial, bicycle trips to the fort, movies at Globe, Arun (I hear it airs only sleaze flicks these days) and many more small theatres, jeera butter and garlic toasts from Nutan bakery and Shankar bakery, sugarcane juice and ale-pak and that was life. And jujupes! And local "chokhayche ambe" from the streets and the mid-summer relief rains and the following chilly late-afternoons, Panji aji chya hatchya bhakrya ani meethi ani lal-mathachi bhaji, Mami aji's chaklis and chatnis and thalipeeth with loni......... damn I do miss Belgaum and the time I spent there...........
And I miss the process of going there by train, the "Taj - DipDipDip" tea on the rail and tomato soups in paper cups, waiting in the very early mornings for the connecting train at Miraz where broad-guage gave way to meter-guage, the bread-omlette at Miraz station and the Meduwada at Gokak...............
On the steps with Panji Aji and others, maybe 1996.
1 comment:
how mysterious is life at times, we tend to forget the moment we spent a few nights ago while memories buried somewhere ages ago remain still fresh like a lost love, always the same.
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