Thursday, April 19, 2018

At Raj Nivas.

Had got up around 4 AM, gone through the chores and we were on the road by a 10' past 6. The traffic was okay and at the Swaraj Round, we saw that the preparations for the Thrissur Pooram had begun in right earnest. The thrill of being with my parents was palpable since last evening and made the journey, a pleasant one. My sisters and their families will be joining us next Friday. We reached Ananda Bhavan for our breakfast of puries and vegetables.

After about half an hour, we'd resumed our journey. During the trip, we passed two elephants at different times and for me, I've always taken the sightings as good omen - the superstitious me, huh! - that would make the journeys absolutely trouble free. We reached Shilpa Regency, near Kottarakkara, by about 1 and were just in time for lunch; we chose the 'thali' with fish curry.

At Kottarakkara, there was work at the Dish TV shop. Firstly, it was to activate our dish connection and also to query as to who'd recharged our connection for a fortnight rounding off two days before. I'd told the 'dish shop owner' that I wasn't buying his tale that somebody had wrongly recharged our line and he grinned sheepishly. But it continues to remain an intrigue, I must admit and it reiterates the fact that transparency is the greatest quality of digital transactions!

We reached 'Raj Nivas' by about a quarter past 3 and I went about the task of helping Lekha in unpacking. Water was pumped into the overhead tank, the television switched on as per the shopkeeper's directive to effect the recharge within a half hour, a visit to my parents' resting place along with a small chat regarding the purpose of our visit and as to how long we're gonna be here and a quick survey of the work carried out around the rubber saplings. The rains with harsh winds of late have done a lot of damage; about ten saplings are bent and straightening them, using stay wires, has become a necessity!

The coconut tree at the courtyard has bent further, its restricting stay wire has not been tightened by the guys who'd done the job about two years ago and were supposed to take in the slack every year with their 'composite pulley contraption'. I'd called them up later in the evening and they'd be coming in tomorrow to complete the job!

Meanwhile, both of us had our forty winks when the caretaker woke us up with milk packets from the nearby shop. Lekha had got the kitchen active and it rained throughout the evening, after sunset, accompanied by an overdose of power interruptions! Must admit that the electricity board tests the limits of our patience!!

Despite that, we saw a few of our favourite television programmes and interacted with the guests who'd dropped by, in between.


Tailpiece.

Ten days of carefree life with the gut feeling that my parents were around!        

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