Those Little Joys In Life

I had the privilege of growing up in the most tranquil and quietest of places undisturbed by neither  noise nor traffic and that was the place where I spent most of my lifetime, a period of twelve long years. I am talking about a village named Dohnavur located in one of the southern most districts in the state of Tamil Nadu.Life moved at a slow pace back then in the '90's. There was a routine to adhere to through-out the 365 days all the 12 years (except the vacations spent at home). Even the menu and cuisine remained the same every week. But there was always time for small things in life which brought happiness and great joy.

Here are some moments which come alive as I go back in time and take a stroll along the paths I had once taken. An evening walk beside the Chapel surrounded by a beautiful garden, a small pond in which stood a water lily simply quietened my heart. The little pond teemed with tadpoles during the rains. Brushing those leaves, flowers with my fingers, whispering to them as if they had ears as I walked by their side, never caring if they listened or not.

The playground was where we had so much fun running around, playing games like Oranges and Lemons, Is there any rat inside the house?, Lock and Key, Land game...which might no longer exist. We did play volley ball, kho-kho and other formal sport but those were more fun. During the monsoon time, we would be in the look-out of dragon flies-big and tiny ones, going behind them and catching them by their tiny wings. Poor they! I do remember getting hold a butterfly and letting it go after feeling pity for the little creature. A velvety-red bug like creature which we called pattu-poochi was found on the ground soon after the spell of rain. I remember building a mud castle and then collecting those pretty-looking velvety creatures and putting them on the castle.

We loved the walks on Sunday evenings when we are taken out of our fortified campus to the nearby guava garden or the lake. Life was beautiful with no stress, little pressure and competition. Watching television was restricted to Saturday evenings. There was a time for everything under the sun in Santhosha Vidhyalaya from waking up to falling asleep. We were supposed not to falter at all. Being late for lunch or breakfast or prayer invited punishments like washing the floor, cleaning the windows and  removing cobwebs from the walls, ceilings.

 It did seem to be our own little world out there unaware of the world outside. Newspapers, magazines and books were the only windows to world outside. Our library had books of varied kinds. I grew up reading Enid Blyton's books. Book of Brownies and Amelia Jane series come to my mind. Nancy Drew was my favorite as a teen. Tale of two cities, Pride and Prejudice were also in my reading list.

The Girls' dorm terrace was a place I frequently visited late in the evenings to get some moments alone. Solitude did help me introspect. I loved to gaze into the night sky laden with moon and stars, sometimes trying to make out the Orion, Bear  (constellations) and planets like Mars which appear red. I remember watching the moon eclipsed by the clouds and waited till the clouds passed by and moon was out shining bright. Some nights were cold and I shivered as the cool breeze swept past my side.

I loved to wake up hearing the birds chirp and also watched them coming back to their home in the evenings. I used to wonder how they slept seated on the branches! We were lucky to spot different birds like Paradise flycatcher, Magpie robin, Bulbull, Woodpecker, Owl, Blue jay, Kingfisher, Indian pitta and many others in our campus. I had a habit of collecting feathers back then and had a book full of them in all colours and shapes. I lost it over time moving from one place to another.Years roll by and I've been on the move from Dohnavur to Coimbatore, Coimbatore to Mysore, Mysore to Pune, Pune to Chennai, now in Hyderabad and....it is the memories that linger on.