Special Mom’s blog

It’s the last day of June. Summer is officially here. Early morning walk in my backyard always brings me memories of my childhood vacation. The air smells so similar to the one during my vacation and memories keep flowing.

Every year, April and May our summer vacation would be spent at my maternal grandparents’ home in Kerala. Nestled in Malappuram district the village was remote but was popular because of it’s famous Bhagavaty Temple.

https://www.thirumandhamkunnutemple.com/

My maternal grandfather when he retired decided to move to a place even far from the village, which could be accessed only by mud road or through the fields. It was a beautiful coconut grove with pepper creepers on every tree. He as a pass time was growing vegetables even while working decided to put in more effort after retirement. Brinjal (eggplant), ladies finger (okra), different kinds of pumpkin along with mangoes, bananas and pineapples grew in the garden. Of course he had a cow, and a calf and what a beautiful place it was.

When one of my friend asked me if I had camped in India, I did reply an immediate “no”, but looking back these vacations were more than camping. The only disadvantage of the place was poor electricity connection and the irony being my grandfather worked part time in the electricity office after retirement 😀! I remember my brother asking why he goes to work and shuts off our power!

Oh, we could go to a nearby stream and take bath but I never did that. I was a pure city bred girl 😀!

I asked my aunt to share pictures but as I looked there weren’t any of the scenery or the mangoes or the pineapples. But she did have a beautiful picture of my grandfather with his cow and calf and his all in all helper Ibrahim.

Those were the times we did not take pictures of every part of our life. But I do feel we did miss something huge because of that.

Anyhow my memories with my grandfather and our beloved Akkarai (the farm house/coconut grove), cannot be erased.

My mom always said he was a great teacher, and taught her math so good. That is why half his daughters are teachers and maybe I inherited his gene to teach my boy. Oh I would love to have his green thumb and his passion for the garden, they were extraordinary.

Blog dedicated to the loving memory of my maternal grandfather whose centennial birthday is in August.