From: vganesan@reed.edu (The Phoenix)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala,soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Yesterday, when it rained. -- [ Nostalgia ] -- Icarus.
Date: 27 Jul 92 16:52:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: reed.1992Jul27.165202.15479
Organization: Reed College, Portland, Oregon

In article <1992Jul27.060423.28788@colorado.edu> paulchem@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Icarus) writes:
>1] Yesterday night it rained in boulder.
>   I heard the rain drops as they pattered against the evergreen pines
>   of the courtyard around my room. 
>>
>2] Does anybody want me to continue ?

why not.


The effects of last nights hedonistic practises still not having 
gone away, I made my way with utmost caution on my bike to campus.
I hate the mornings after our "Symposiums", I mean who needs to go
to work after discussing Plato, Socrates, Gus Van Sant and indulging
in large scale consumption of Portland's own "Henry Reserve", apparently
my boss has other views.

Anyway as I gulped  down that hot water which is the pitiful excuse for 
coffee at the staff lounge, and took the customary "aspirin" pill, the
chillness of Portland's morning hit me. There was a sharp zing in the 
morning air, and as I stood near the window, allowing the cool, biting
wind to awaken and clear my senses, I was reminded of "Perungulam".

Perungulam is this small village just north of Palghat and a mile or
two away from Alathur. As a boy, it was always a welcome respite to 
run away from Coimbatore(and from school) and go to Perungalam to visit
my grandparents. I and my mother always took the morning bus, I was my
her bodyguard she would say, and I was to protect her. So armed
with my Leo machine gun and a bag for my accessories, we used to take
the Five a.m bus. We would arrive in palghat around 6.30 to 6.40, and
those mornings had the same chilliness I was experiancing then.

Having arrived at Palghat, we would wait for the local bus that would
take us to Alathur. We never had to wait for long, the bus would be
quite empty at that morning hour, and the driver would always breeze
away,the bus would be swamped with the chilli air as the driver drove
with careless disdain, the fact that they were only two-three people in
the bus never bothered him, and neither did he feel the urge to make sure
that more people get on.

Reaching Alathur, we would now proceed to walk to Perungalam. My mother 
being the model housewife she is, would not care to spend the two rupees 
it would take to take us there. "Do you know how much father has to work
for that money?" she would ask me. I would just nod my head in the pretense
of having understood her, and keep walking. The route to Perungulam was 
beautiful.

The road was laden with coconut trees, and it would be filled with vibrant
freshly bathed women, drawing what we tamils call "kolams" in front of
their houses. We would approach the lake pretty soon, and now Chellaiyan
my grandfather's  "major domo" would be waiting for us. "Radhaamma, 
Radhaama, Eppadi Erukkenge"( Radha madam, how are you) he would yell, and
he would always a "peppermint sucker" for me. Once we get into his small
boat, we would then proceed to cross the lake. You see the name "Perungulam"
meant "Big lake" and that was the focal point of the village. The village
revolved around this big lake, and the Venkateshwara temple that was a 
part of it.

As we slowly made our way, Chellaiyan would account for the recent events
of the village, he would tell us about the new video and TV bought by
Ahmed, whose son Ibrahim was in Bahrain, where he had a "big job" he
would say, then he would remark about how Varadaraja Iyer's daughter
Sumangala was going to college in the big town(which was Palghat). 
He would then digress into politics, "Anthony is causing too much 
trouble to Karunakaran Amma" he would go on. My mother would always 
intravene to ask "Ayya eppadi irukkaru?"(How is Grandfather), and 
then Chellaiyan would recount the latest episode in the ever happening
battle  between Dr. Murthy and my grandfather, over his diet.

To be continued.

The Phoenix

P.S The head is becoming clearer.    

>3] Stay Cool.
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>.    ~ ~                                                                     .
>.    o o      signito ergo sum.              paul chemmanoor.                .
>.     |    i sign therefore i am.            Computer Science department.    .
>.     =                                      Univ. of Colorado, Boulder.     .
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-- 
  The Greatest burden in the world is to have              The Phoenix
   a great potential.                                      Reed #252
                     Linus from "Peanuts"                  Reed College
                                                         Portland, OR-97202
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala,soc.culture.indian