So yesterday Vidur had this khwaaish/desire to eat something sweet and thick. Of course I rolled my eyes and told him to find it. Reminded me of that shakkar dandhi when he was 3. We went crazy trying to figure out what he meant. We thought it was sweet potato. Sweet. We even took him to the market for a walk thinking it is a vegetable he meant. Finally we came back home-his tummy full, and we tired.
To this day we have no idea what he meant because when we returned home and asked him – he just laughed delightedly, much to our delight and mesmerized by that, we forgot the original reason why all this started.
Anyway, back to the topic on hand – something sweet and thick. This time I didn’t trouble myself trying to guess what it is. Then he said, condensed milk! Told him to look in the fridge because when I open a tin, I keep some in it for him to enjoy.
While he took out a massive spoonful of it and settled down to indulge, I told him about our kozhuk paal neer mor thing. Kozhuk paal = condensed milk. Neer mor – watery buttermilk. When we lived in Bowenpally in Somayajulu’shouse, do you remember how we equated all our successes with condensed milk and things that didn’t work out with dilute buttermilk? Hilarious. Gopmama would tease us all the time about it.
Somehow, we had developed a language of our own and seemed to speak in riddles. Buckay for bucket. Batch for coffee. Q for loo. And so on. Sometimes I feel sad to think this vocabulary will die with me. I mean, who else cares? But yes, thinking of this, reminiscing makes me feel good. Lifts my spirits. Makes me laugh.
I remember when we were in AWHO, Gokul asked us what was the buckay. And we just laughed! Petty secrets eh?
By the way, I told you we’ve been under lockdown since March, no? So we were hardly going out, obviously as we had to stay home. And guess which item was missed most at home? Dosai maavu. Could have ordered it with other groceries but no stock. So when I was in the balcony chatting with the tulsi, I looked at our aattukkal. I realized that if push came to shove I could actually use it to grind. Not that I think it will ever come to that, but just sayin’ you know!
Remember how we took turns to grind on ours those days? What fun it used to be! Singing, gossiping and laughing and before we knew it, soaked grain had turned into smooth batter!
When we moved to this house, we had contemplated transferring it to the garage but decided against it – too much work. Then Vidur enjoyed playing with it, pouring water inside the cavity and then emptying it. He even drew a face on the grinding stone! Then subsequently we turned it on its side to use it as a seat to sit on. Now it just sits in the corner of the balcony with some odds and ends on it. Probably wallowing in its own nostalgia. I feel for it.
I miss you so much you know. I want to shift the furniture around. I want to bring in some more plants. I want to paint some walls. Clean my closets. Make that wall length bookshelf. Most of all, really really declutter. Sigh. So annoyed I don’t have the stamina I used to have. Also… inclination. I think I have accomplished something great just by cooking three meals and cleaning up. More than that, eh. I’d rather binge watch something with Vidur. Not wrong, right?
Coffee time.
