Those lovely Sat afternoons!

Saturday, a special day for me! Years Back.....

I was all alone in the family with no sibling to play with...to fight with... for eight years!

My childhood games were limited to the neem tree in front of my house, i will go round n round the tree as if i was chased by someone, only to see my own shadow. And in the evenings ,i used to play nadu pirithal( country dividing:) poor translation! ) ...the effort I make to annex Pakistan, Japan, Europe ( the only countries i had known at that time) to India( u c, I m very patriotic) with all vengeance to take revenge for keeping us as slaves for two hundred years!
I will be representing all the countries, and play such that India alone wins and rest of the countries loses their entire land to India…

Bored of annexing huge land ,I will play fire in the mountain… singing, stopping, everything a single person (of course, me) will do, with different voices …
Sometimes bored of playing alone, I will join with those cricket annas in whom I saw the real passion of becoming a Sachin, when they just fall on the even the rocks to catch the ball (heroism depiction ha ha..)…. And what I do there, I just throw balls for them,for pity sake, they will give me their bats which I could hardly swing like Robin Singh! My play time was limited to 4.30 to 6 sharp. Our pendulum clock will strike six only to see Lady peare inside her house getting ready for daily prayers.( I was so systematic ,u know)! …

Coming to Saturday afternoons….
Dolls and other play things never fascinated me…I had such aversion towards them, I donate all the dolls (sometimes, uncles, aunts show their love for a small child so generously, I get dolls even if I don’t like) to some child in the streets….
Saturday, it was off for dad after lunch (just half a day work)…. I start singing my rhyme from Wednesday, ‘Daddy, Saturday half a day thane? Jolly, we will play’ … Saturday morning will bloom early for me… I wake up and get ready for the Sanivara pooja at home… Though all the time my eyes would be in the gates to see my dad, my lips would be chanting thirupavai… (God I m sorry!) !

After having a healthy diet, dad and me go to our verandah ( we need privacy, u c)... with the chess board and some more boxes ...unda mayakam thondanuku… to get rid of sleep immediately after lunch, we play othaiya retaiya, with the puliyam Muthu ,collected daily, for some months together, when mom prepares rasam. Luck determines the winner, if what you say is correct, u will get the seeds! Dad and I both will be winners alternatively...

And after our minds become fresh to think of strategies to knock the other’s King, we open the chess board, play for hours together... My mom make delicious pakodas or vazhapoo vadas...But never will they disturb our game… we will be so engrossed that we taste those crispy pakodas only after sharing equal victories…. And later, ‘ kathe cheppandi daddy’ episode will start when I hear stories ranging from Ramayana to ambulimama stories….Everyday dad comes with a new story, never repeats anything…and of course with a moral... And till the next saturday, i would like to imitate the hero of the story in many ways:)

Years later,Saturday afternoons turned to be the time for the Fourth empire, we discuss all topics, share views about the editorial pages in the Hindu!! Those were sweet too!!

All Those Saturdays were beautiful!! I miss those days far away from my home! I miss u too dad!! If only i am near u!!