Summer vacation in the past
When I was a school student, summer vacation in Kerala lasted about two months, between late March and the first week of June. We looked forward to this period, as it was during the vacation that we planned our visits to our relatives without bothering about examinations. It was also the time when our near and dear ones who were working in other parts of the country and even outside came on leave.
Though the summer was hot, we did not feel the heat as most houses were thatched with seasoned coconut leaves, which allowed air to pass through them. Fans and air conditioners had not yet arrived. We used to sleep on the cool floor plastered with cow dung. Also, the water drawn from the well near the kitchen was kept in cool pots of mud, which quenched our thirst.
Most compounds had cashew trees and mango trees of different varieties carrying fruits. The boys would climb the lower branches of these trees to pluck fruits. If the ripe fruits were at a higher level, both boys and girls would bring them down by throwing stones and heavy sticks at them accurately.
The cashew tree used to be full of cashew apples at different stages of growth. After eating the red cashew apples, we would pocket the nuts at their end, which would later be sold to vendors who visited the area.
They would then sell them to the cashew processing factories a few miles away. Sometimes, we tied swings from the low branches and spent the afternoons there. We also roasted cashew nuts in bonfires made of dry leaves and twigs at night and ate the tasty kernels.
The northern border of our village was the Pamba River. It was perennial as there was no dam to hinder its flow. The male members went to the river to bathe in the mornings, while it was the turn of females in the afternoons. They would bring the entire family’s clothes to wash while exchanging gossip.
During the summer, most parts of the river were shallow. The children spent much time in the water while taking baths. Some would bring utensils to collect clams that lived in the mud. We would help them by picking clams for them.
There was a village of fishermen on the other side of the river. As teashops, government offices, and schools were on this side of the river, people would cross over to our side in small ferry boats in the morning.
My mother’s eldest brother used to visit us during the vacation. Being unmarried, he came prepared for a prolonged stay. We the children would be happy at his visit as he would ask our mother, an expert cook, to prepare fresh dishes daily with meals. My father and uncle would sometimes visit the local toddy shop at night to drink the beverage and enjoy the famous dishes prepared by the women workers there.
We would visit our mother’s house located about ten miles to the west during the vacation. Though passenger buses plied on these routes, they took a long time as they had to cross a river on the ferry.
The eldest uncle occupied the ancestral home, while the others resided nearby. They all vied with one another to have us as their guests. There was a road in front of the house through which many bullock carts carrying coconut husks for the coir factories nearby would pass through.
Though summer was very hot in the state, we used to get some relief from intermittent rains. By the beginning of June, the rains would start in earnest with thunder and lightning. As folding umbrellas were few and usually used by the elders, most students, covering their heads with banana leaves, would be drenched when they reached the school on the first day of the new academic year.
(The author is a retired professor of English. A regular contributor to ‘The Kashmir Vision’, his articles and short stories have appeared in several national and international publications)
