I was the privileged one among the cantankerous cousins making merry at my uncle’s house every summer, with the fortuity of being a young patient of my benevolent uncle. An annual rendezvous of the paternal family, gave us the unmatched happiness of the entire brood coming together and painting the small town of Madurai red in the scorching summer month of May when the Vaigai river was all parched with not a single drop of water. The large patriarchal house playing host to the bubbly effervescent baker’s dozen whose talents ranged from solving cryptic puzzles (the genes inherited from the patriarch himself…read more at http://www.sunitasriram.in/2015/11/grandsire-greatness.html )to playing the Mridangam, or excelling in academics with the added flair for the English language(that could cringe even Her Majesty!) to the Math genius, who had answers at the blink of an eye, a magician adept at pulling out wonders! Among these multitude of stars, I was a heavenly body that never emitted any light and while these children of the greater God worked wonders, I, the myopic with specialization in astigmatism (well, for the hawk eyed who have never stepped inside an ophthalmologist’s lair, the term means the irregular surface of the cornea of the eyes) accompanied my philanthropic ophthalmologist uncle to his quaint little clinic on a very busy street that was synonymous with TVS (http://www.tvsgroup.com/pages/group.htm) and Dr.Subbaraman, a man who has only charity as his second name!
Noticing the deep anguished and disappointing contours on my face that for see the torture and tumult of the ensuing couple of hours where my eyes would literally go wide, with the annoying irritating drops to dilate my pupils, the altruistic Doctor would make a pit stop at a famous bakery and order “Jupiter” cake, a delight that matched the name in size, and the rich creamy toothsome was a great consolation. The inspection of my amplified eye at his adorable clinic stocked with abundant and copious medicines, surgical tools, lenses and hordes of writing pads and pens, by the expert took place only when he ran out of patients, (a period of eternity) as it never happened for two obvious reasons, (apart from his expertise and skill),one, the meagre fees, a trifle that was charged, and the cheerful banter between the stethoscope wielder and the gossiping mothers in law or the complaining daughters in law. These repartees were a ploy to ease the pain and the tedium of the whole exercise. Finally, just as I was on the verge of reaching saturation point, with all the patience (and patients) drained out, he would finally examine mine with his tried and tested traditional tools, an epoch span of confusion and indecisiveness, as each testing lens on that rickety outlandish frame would blur my eyes further leading to disoriented perplexities! The outcome, a foregone conclusion – power would have increased by leaps and bounds, geometric progression in reality!
His man Friday Manickam was his compounder, apprentice, henchman and in fact everything, a person who would wait on him and all the flipped and freaked out guys of the Thathamangalam household!
The shutters down for the day, my uncle drove through the crowded by lanes and stopped at his favourite optical shop to order the frame, the over enthusiastic owner keen to spread his ware, an assortment that is a far cry from today’s collection, with the one and only chunky bold black spectacle frames making style statements. (they were the only ones that walked the ramp!) No payments were made leaving me bewildered, but soon I understood that his benevolence in the form of free surgeries, bulk orders of lenses and frames and many other things left them itching to reciprocate and I became the benefactor! There would be more shopping for goodies such as ground nut candies ( I am drooling with saliva frothing like that of a cow’s at the very mention of this) and other sweets and savouries including a medley of pappads, he would often be at a loss as to what could be excluded from the list, inundating and showering us with his generosity! Following us like a faithful dog would be Manickam on his bicycle with an oversized carton on the carriage!
Buoyant at our return, the jingbang brought the roof down with chaotic scenes of delight, glee and jocundity. Carrom, (the elders teaming up with their beloved nephew and niece), cards ( the beguile betrayers in a game of bluff master) , scrabble ( the walking lexicons manipulating with the seven alphabets)and hide and seek ( the destructive dickens) were the all time favourites, obviously not for the grumpy neighbours!
The excursions to the circus and the exhibition stalls with my father as the Pied Piper who patiently but sternly steered all the crazy cousins into the magical world of performers and artists are etched in my minds! The countless stalls illuminated with dazzling lights and playing loud music with magical mirrors, flying parachutes, rocking animals, merry go rounds was a paradise and we soaked in the fun and frolic unmindful of the heat and dust!
The sombre anniversary ceremony of my grandmother would take place amidst all the anarchy and bedlam on the next day, followed by the grand feast on the plantain leaf with an array of dishes. Whoever licked the leaf clean without wasting even a morsel of food stood to win a prize from the Doctor Uncle and I became the unassailable champion, invincible and unconquerable by the envying cousins!
The icing on the cake was the event that unfolded immediately after lunch – all the rambunctious girls and boys (including the children of my uncle) of the smart smartha ‘Thats’ family ( a sobriquet for the village called Thathamangalam in Palakkad town of Kerala that was our ancestral home) were made to sit in a circle and Periappa( Father’s elder brother in Tamil) dumped loads of gifts from huge cartons and we were free to decamp with anything that we liked. These gifts were carefully and lovingly collected by the charitable Doctor over the year and secretly stored away from the prying and greedy eyes of his children and comprised of all and sundry that had us squealing in absolute delight, a salmagundi of knickknacks, souvenirs, trinkets and whatnots! A deluge of pens, diaries, scribble pads, paper weights, board games, playing cards, and other compliments and freebies given by pharmaceutical companies lie in a heap waiting to be grabbed by the avaricious lot!
My Uncle, an amiable human being with a fair share of eccentricities and idiosyncrasies takes extreme pride in pampering his guests irrespective of the caste, strata or community they belonged to and so from the vegetable vendor to the minister’s son, all got drenched in his affection, goodwill and compassion!
This annual jaunt became the most looked forward to affair for all of us and I go teary eyed at the joyful reminisces of the past. These family get-togethers gave us merriment, love and affection and taught us the profound and grand meanings of life such as sharing, caring, benevolence, and impartiality, bonhomie, partaking in ceremonies and rituals and the ultimate pride and regalement of one large extended family with my dear large hearted Periappa holding the reins! I salute and bow in reverence and gratitude to my dear Uncle and Aunt who are instrumental in moulding my character and attitude and for showing me what philanthropy means!
Hey Sunita, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your annual sojourns to your uncle’s place. I could visualise the imagery of the colonial cousins and their fun time together. Writing this post must have conjured up so many pleasant memories for you!
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Oh yes…Radhika, nostalgia of the childhood and somtimes these memories do hurt as we are not able to live that life these days..ouch!
I am overwhelmed by your prefix to cousins..colonial indeed!
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Well, at least we did have good times with cousins which have become fond memories today !
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Yes Radhika…a rare commodity today
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Your uncle is an inspiration not just to you but to all of us Sunita! A beautiful article filled with a ton of emotion….
You’re really lucky to have spent such fun times with so many cousins:)!
Also, the thought of chikki gets me drooling too 🙂
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Thanks DD…those good old times can never be replaced or forgotten and the chikki are those round ones
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A nice article. You are lucky to send fun times with your cousins – extended family. These are getting rare nowadays. We are getting too much tied up in our personal activities and missing annual family reunions.
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Absolutely…these memories are treasured and etched as today’s gen do not know even know who their cousins are!
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beautiful post sunita… nostalgia expressed in an excellent fashion. cheers
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Thanks Hari..a torrent unleashed here 🙂
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hahaha….
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I enjoyed hearing about your fond memories of the time you spent with your uncle and your cousins. It’s nice to have something like that to look back on and smile.
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Tears of joy reminiscing about those times forming a “puddle”!:)
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They sounded like fun times. 🙂
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Memories of childhood and nostalgia go hand in hand. I’m sure you have a great time reminiscing those wonderful moments you had spent with your uncle and cousin. Great to know about an inspiring man like your uncle. The ‘Jupiter’ cake’s description made me drool. I’m having my tea and, just felt the craving for a cake… 😀
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Ha ha..enjoy the high tea with Jupiter!
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Hey, I actually bought some cakes in the evening later… 😀 😀
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Maniparna…never knew Jupiter could have this tremendous impact:)
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Suni- Fantastic ! You have re-lived those days.
What about the medicines (samples) so lovingly collected by my elder brother over the year and distributed to all his brothers and sisters and to the extended family members. Even last month when we went to Madurai to participate in our father’s anniversary, he gave me 2 costly pens (Parker) and some dot pens to my friends who accompanied me. He also gave us 2 Kgs of Narasus coffee powder which I wanted him to purchase for us(without taking any money!) . A benevolent soul indeed!
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Thanks Appa for the reminders on sample medicines as well..hope I have lived up to your expectations on writing this piece!
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such a beautiful post!! so much of emotions .. loved it
Nischita | http://www.myblackskirt.com
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Thanks Nischita for liking the post..
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Sweet memories of your childhood in the company of cousins took me back to memories of my vacations with cousins. Licking the leaf clean without wasting a morsel of food – sounds very familiar. 🙂 I guess this used to be a common theme back then when we were growing up.
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Ha ha..glad that it resonates with your vacations too ..
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Suni super.you have revealed well about our annual get-together in good old time at periappa’s place.periappa’s generosity is worth mentioning you have said it.hats off to you.keep posting such nice ones.with loveAmma
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Thanks Amma…next is on the maternal Mumbai visits, I am sure you will be delighted with those tales of yore too!
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Those days sure make us go back in time and relive the happy memories from time-to-time. Happy to know about yours and that your uncle played an instrumental role in shaping your life.
The use of words is very appropriate in the text. Thank you for a nice read.
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Thanks so much Alok for your gracious and liberal encomiums on this post..yes nostalgia is a real stress buster!
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Down the memory lane…… Your post made me nostalgic about my childhood too. We were the lucky ones having such inspirational people around. I simply loved how you described the feast. The kids of today hardly get such gala family reunions. Sweet memories indeed. 🙂
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Thank you so much sangeeta for the meteor shower of appreciations
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Lovely post enjoyed it
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Thanks Swapnil for liking it
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what a beautiful post….. enjoyed reading…..
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Thanks Sudhir for liking the post
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Thanks Sudhir..the appreciations are indeed motivating
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Wow…..what a tribute to those sweet memories….I can actually visualize all the cousins grabbing the freebies your uncle gave…..Sitting miles away from cousins and relatives, here in US, I sometimes feel bad that my kids are missing all that fun part of growing up in India.
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These are good old days Sunaina and the modern era does not have the luxury of these getogethers irrespective of the place that one is domiciled in. Of course, one does tend to miss the big weddings happening in the family.
Glad that this post of memories was well received by you, Thanks.
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It’s written so beautifully I could visualize the past while reading 🙂 heartwarming memoir!!
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Thanks so much for the appreciation and very much obliged for the same!
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Enjoyed reading Sunita! These nostalgic days are precious memories indeed:)
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Yes Rashmi..summer vacations are now a thing of the past!
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[…] and frailer, armed with the goodies that took me back in time and I quickly wiped away a tear! https://adsunsri.wordpress.com/2016/09/02/the-big-heart/ will give you a background of my benefactor. A homely breakfast of idli and rasam brought back the […]
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