I recently went to Kerala to visit our “family temple” for the first time. When I was a little girl, I used to spend my summer vacation in Palaghat, where my grandparents lived. As a child I used to really love that place.ts a small village in kerala, along the kerala-tamilnadu border. The weather was always pleasantly cool. It was typical “agraharam” and our house was located in a place wherin the end of the street its flanked by temples (a krishnan kovil and a shivan kovil) The day started very early. As early as 4:30 am. My gram used to wake up that early and start doing the household chores (which is not a lot) And by 10 all work is over. There was no TV. So we (me and my sis) had a lot of time to do so many things. My gram used to inspect our ‘holiday homework’ and teach us to draw kolams and make us help around the house. Somehow we always had something to do. We were never kept idle ever around her. In the evening my grandpa used to take me to a small cycle shop that rents small cycles and he taught me how to ride a cycle. My first ever cycle lessons (without the balancing wheels) was back there.
Evening coffee, followed by walking to the temple, talking to almost everyone on the road and coming back and sitting on the famous “thinnai” and continue talking to them. Yes, the talking was done by my gram and I just absorb the information (**wink wink) Life or lets say the day was really really slow there and people go sleep as early as 8. Since we were from the city we sleep by 9:) [quite proud I was to break the curfew]
Nostalgic. All of it. Those were good times. Happy times actually
My house had a smell. A particular smell not just my house our neighbors house and most other houses I went in our lane had a different kind of smell. I never really thought about it all these days. So I want to this temple, my family temple, and its deep interior in Kerala. Its quite a small temple surrounded by lush green forests and quite picturesque I must say.
I entered the temple and my olfactory lobes quickly did their work. I smelt the same old smell, the smell of my grams’ house. Nostalgia. Its then I realized that it was the smell of old wood in fact smell of wet old wood!
I now know I can forever trust my sense of smell 🙂 These memories will last a lifetime
itsinked 