Read Part 2
From Tirunelveli to Palayamkottai where my Grandfathers home is used to be another interesting part of the journey. Since he was a car driver by profession for Thalayuthu cement company owners sometimes he used to bring his Jeep to take us from the station to home. Othertimes it will be some Ambassador car and sometimes it will be a black Amabassadaor taxi. That's the only time we get to travel in a car in that year. It will feel so good to just touch the car. The car's those days used to have a distinct leather scent. It used to have a small table fan placed in the front. After loading all the luggage, the car will travel towards Palayamkottai. The way the steering wheel rotates inside the drivers hands used to be a treat to watch.
The first landmark would be the famous double decker bridge, once we cross that the Thamirabarani bridge. We will lean out to see if the river had water and always it used to have but sometimes it will be in trickles. Then we cross TVS and then the famous "Oosi Gobiram" church and then Vannarapettai and then the play ground and finally we have to take a turn towards right opposite the Palayamkottai bus stand. It is a road which will branch from the main road and it used to have a vast open space on the right where you will notice small temple like structures. You will also notice lot of goats around that area. As we travel further inside there will be a small provision store and then famous Daily Thanthi Adhithanar house and then a small bridge across a canal. Our grandfathers house was right at the bank of the canal.
When we were young the canal will always be having abundant water and it reduced as we grew and now sadly it has become a sewage. As we get into the house I will try to absorb in as much scenery as possible and look out for my summer holidays buddies.
The entire place used to have an unique scent which is a mix of the scent of dried palm leaves used for roofs, the scent palm fruit, the scent of just harvested paddy field, the scent of huge tamarind trees, scent of the cow dung used to layer the floors , the unique scent from the canal water, the scent of hen house etc. It used to feel like heaven and we have just arrived there.
My Grandfather's house was constructed well above the ground level and we have to climb few steps to get inside and both sides of the steps we had the platform to sit and talk. The kitchen used to be separate from the main house. The kitchen was very small and it had thatched roof and to get inside you have to bend and get inside. At most the kitchen can accommodate 3 people. Earlier they had stoves which used wood as fuel and later they upgraded to kerosene based stoves. Since it was always summer when we were there the kitchen will be very hot but still we used to love that place.
On the right side of the house there used to be a huge tree which used to have small black seeds. Behind the tree there used to be the bathroom. We cannot call it a bathroom because it's an open space with a huge cement basin to hold water and an hand pump. You have to first pour some water into the hand pump for it to extract water. The water used to have a distinct scent and taste. As soon as we had landed we head to this space to take a bath. No hot waters just pure cold water. While my grandfather fills the cement basin we used to take bath till our hearts content. We used to use Chandrika soap which was my grand fathers favorite.
In those days to finish your number 2 you have to sit behind house in open and cover the dump with ashes. I remember sitting there in the open ground in harsh sun and having a good dump.
to be continued..
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