In Childhood


Pic by Bohemian

The full moon was stunning. I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen it this bright. Maybe it had to do with the power cut. I stood watching it for a full minute soaking in its beauty. It reminded me of my childhood days.

Back in Rettani, my maternal village near Tindivanan, we kids would gather around on the terrace and our aunt would feed us ‘Sambhar Boova’ (that’s kidspeak for sambhar rice). With outstretched hands, we would receive riceballs in turns while listening to some fascinating story.

My journey down memory lane was cut short when the power came back. The bright city lights diminished the luminosity of the moon. No wonder we never notice it that often. That’s when I thought about my kids and felt bad for them. Will they ever get to experience the small pleasues that we were fortunate to enjoy. An idea struck me. Why not have a ‘Nila Soru’ dinner tonight?


My wife and Mom are a fantastic sport. I told them the idea and they were party to it immediately. They made nice sambhar rice (with lots of ghee, yumm) and potato ‘poriyal’. The kids in our apartment are a connected lot and the word spread quickly. They all assembed on the terrace and after a bit of dancing and playing, it was food time.

The only person missing though was the moon! At 8:30 pm, no sight of the main character. I was told he’d take time to come up. We were all hungry and decided to go ahead.

My wife placed rice balls in each kid’s hand one by one. I followed by keeping the potato sidedish. The kids seemed to love it. Just the sight of joy on their faces was worth it. In our daily rush and a commercialized lifestyle, we fail to realize the happiness in small things. Many of the kids parents came up to the terrace too and it was their chance to reminiscence about their childhood.