And just like that, yesterday I completed forty-five times of going around the sun. While I was counting the numerous blessings received through the years, a barrage of memories came back. There were hundreds of them that I have not spoken or written about. Then again, you cannot be greedy and enjoy the pleasure of sharing all at once. Allow me to focus on one memory that stood out, the one where I had a wonderful time ‘playing family’ along with my awesome cousins during a summer break of late 80s.
From the time I could
recollect the memories of our home, I distinctly remember a big white
Kelvinator fridge sitting at one corner of the kitchen. Every time I opened the
door of the fridge, I could not help but wonder how mom managed to store all
the items I saw on the shelves. I was quite certain that if we dug into the
fridge, it would reveal interesting aspects of the consumption pattern of the
family in the last few weeks!
After what seemed to be an
eternity of service, one day the Kelvinator died on us. It was something short
of a historical event in the family, when dad got a new Godrej fridge to
replace the older one. As it happened to be the summer break time, a couple of
my cousins were at home. We were of the age and time when anything could become
props for the games we played. The game we decided that day when the new fridge
arrived was 'The Family' when one became dad, another mom and there were kids
as well. There will be cooking, cleaning and even helping the kids with
homework.
We had enough count for the
players, but the biggest question was, what could be our house? A
brilliant idea occurred to us as dad kept aside the empty cardboard in which the
new fridge arrived. It was big enough for us to crawl inside. We immediately
got into the work of setting up the home.
We placed the 'house' right
next to the old barn we had in the backyard. One end of the cardboard box was
sealed and that became the backside wall of our home. The flaps of the box at the other
end were re-purposed to become the entrance of the home. We even found an old
piece of cloth and gave it a new life as the curtain of the main door. A part
of the box was used to create a partition inside our home, thereby making it a one bedroom house! The civil engineers of future were seriously at
work, way before anyone of us had even heard of the term Engineering!
Our home was shortly ready to
welcome the guests, which were to be our parents. There was one problem though.
What would we serve the guests when they arrived? Ideas started flowing in and
finally we all agreed on the best course of action. It was that time of the
year when mango trees in our backyard yielded bunches of green mangoes that
beckoned us to make a sumptuous treat of them. We dashed to the trees and soon
the stones on the floor found themselves heading to the hanging bunches of
mangoes. It was soon showering mangoes, and we stopped when we felt we had
enough.
Next came the question of
'cooking and serving' the dishes. Out came the tiny earthen pots, cups, and
saucers which dad had bought for us to play, from local market. One of us
sneaked into mom's kitchen and got a knife, a small cup of coconut oil, a
handful of salt and chili powder. Soon tiny plates were ready, filled with a mouthwatering
dish of cut mango pieces marinated in coconut oil, chili powder, and salt.
We proudly invited our
'guests' to our new 'home'. Obviously, they could not enter the house since it
was too small for adults. Nevertheless, they all enjoyed the feast we prepared.
The family game was a huge hit!
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