The Summer story!

The two weeks we were in hyd last month seemed almost a nightmare what with the increasing mercury levels and no AC to beat the bloody heat!

Rewind to a few year, na makes it a good 2 decades(man! am getting old) ~~ AC was a unimaginable luxury ~~Even the monstrous water cooler we had was a prized possession then! But but summers is where the best memories of my childhood are ~~ The long summer vacation spent at Kerala was jus the topping on the cake!

The house we were living in hyd then ~~ A "Match-Box" size apartment it was but the one luxury we had was bigger-than-the-bedroom open-air balcony n a huge terrace almost to ourselves. By late afternoons thou the balcony would be as good as live-burning-coals! Remember this was summers which meant water shortage which would mean lugging buckets of water to our first floor house(elevators at homes werent really heard of then!) ~~ Despite that  come evening, the entire balcony is doused with buckets of water . The pleasure of sitting down in the balcony post this "water treatment" and catching up over evening tea as the cold evening air caress our faces ~~ Luxury! I hv quite a few memories of last minute cramming up for my exam siting right on that balcony.....

As night creeps in, there would be more-often-than-not a tussle for the prized-position under the water cooler. So one fine evening it was decided to ditch the cooler and mats were laid down back-back on the balcony with a few pillows popped in! Now imagine, A groups of cousin lying down next to each other, looking up to a sky full of stars n telling stories of far far away places...............

Indeed Old is gold!

Linking this to ABC Wednesday (O is for "Old is Gold")

While I do not have any pics of hyd to share what I could instead show you is a old pic of hubbs from his childhood days(the child on extreme left).. doesnt he look like a sweetheart here or is it a biased wife speaking :)

Two Weeks....

.... s at the home you bought up in  has this humbling effect on you rt... it kinda rips off all airs that you have around you and all that you are left with is a craving to go back to those good old days when being daddys gal was the sure shot solution for every malady in life! Haaaa.....

Probably cause this was the longest time I spent there in the last 5 years and 2 weeks is enuf time to look back and reflect on all those growing up days.  Indeed its this reflection that makes makes u realize that all is left of those days is memories and well things would never be the same again.

Esp when  ma litt sis is on threshold of taking a huge leap in her life, this trip bought back all those bitter sweet memories ~~ of the daily cat fights that would often boil over to physical fights but again at blink of eye we stand united on the face of a mom breathing down our necks, of the first crushes, of the teeny-weeny thing who would climb up the balcony grill to chat up with the neighbors, of the not-so-little b'day gal who gobbles up the entire box of chocs sharing it with jus her best frnds(ignoring he rest), of the most consistent winner of the 'Most talkative kid', of 'the tantrum queen', of the gal who would be walking off in the opp direction even as the   rest of the school kids would be walking in the direction of the school (and would then want us to believe that the school has declared a hol), who would sneak away the stick from her teachers desk every other day(!).

Indeed time flies....

N am Home :)

Yeeeeeaaaahhhhh I am @ ma  Home :)

Now now b4 u scratch n wonder which vacation did I creep out for(N if u from ma yesteryear's work place... n wondering if I went onsite) n still seem excited to be back home then sorry lovies u got it all wrong :-D.... Me back at ma good old mothers home(LOL at the word ... 'Mothers Home'... Sounds straight from  a traditional bahus mouth some decades ago)!

Haaaa the memories n solace home brings..... Just stepping in here n u so automatically rewind to the girl-lady u were 3 years back... Back to the luxury of 'bed Tea' (Blisss!!!), of not bothering what to cook(dont u dare snicker) but still have yum dishes just b4 ur stomach starts to grumble , of raiding your sisters wardrobe (How I wish madam puts on some weight - Then I could so conveniently flicky away half the stuff; Until then gotta do with the chunnis n her 'loose' kurthis... grrrrrrrrrrrrr) n not to miss the contrast of the 'Fight-like-Dogs' to 'Dripping-sweet sisters' that we seem to skip between so effortlessly (Or should be honest n give her the full credit for the latter part) ! The fun of shopping @ all small nooks of the city that you know like the back of ur hand(Ha!) ~~ Anybody for Genral Bazar, AMeerpet, Charminar??

N after 3 years of packing for holidays I can vouch for this... Its easiest to pack for coming home! Open ur wardrobe - randomly pick up a few clothes n stuff it all in your bag... No worries on accessorizing, styling or 'dress-up-for-occasions'... after all u r home n if u dont put up ur feet here where else will u!

How can I end up the post b4 talking of the drive down here ... yea yea we did a road from B'lore - hyd! N well it was a mixed cup.... Thnx to a punctured n ripped tyre we got delayed for a good 3 hrs... But minus the hitch it was a nice drive.Try picturing this.... On a smooth highway zipping away at 100 KMPH With cool breeze blowing on your face(Thnx to AC) N   u flip the pages from latest Nora Roberts :-D But But theres a catch there... The novel so very revolves around a daddy-daughter relationship n what worst time for the book to go mull over it than just when we hit the Hyd border... Hmpf!


As a parting shot,  FB status of ma hubbs post our pit-stop at a dhaba for lunch said "U know u have reached Andhra when u c the salad..red chilly powder on onions and tomatoes!"