Saturday, June 28, 2008

Paradise Lost....

In 1667, John Milton described in his epic poem "Paradise Lost" how paradise was lost when Satan successfully tempted Eve into eating the "fruit" from the 'Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil'. Hundreds of years down the line as I sat in front of my workstation in office last week, I received a call from my cousin brother. He had dialled in to tell me something that I wished would have never happened. My paradise was lost, probably forever.

Even though the word paradise can be defined as "a place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness", the feeling of being in paradise cannot be expressed in words. "Vani Niketan" in Thiruvilwamala (Thrissur District, Kerala) was paradise to me. It was our ancestral house that was built a few decades ago and it was the place where I spent most of my holidays in the last couple of decades.


"Vani Niketan" was a beautiful palace of sorts to me. It was away from the roads and surrounded by nature itself and the monsoons at "Vani" were truly majestic and unforgettable.

Even though the news (that we had handed over the keys of our ancestral home to the man who had bought it) hadn't sunk in completely, I knew that I had lost something that I would miss throughout my life. As I sat speechless at my workstation, I began to think of the good old days that I spent there while I was a small kid....

My grandfather was ill and bed-ridden from when I can remember and passed away while I was really young so I do not have too many memories of him but I still do remember going and talking to him by his bed everytime I went to "Vani". To be frank, I was afraid of him and I still dont know why. Maybe, it was because I had heard that he was very strict and expected everyone to be highly disciplined (something that my father still says I am not and I guess he is right ;-) ).

My grandmother was the typical loving and caring grandmother. She would have got our favourite dishes made by the time we reached "Vani" for our holidays. The "Chakka Varatiyathu" (a Jackfruit delight) that she always kept for me was simply superb. She would call me, make me sit next to her and then enquire about everything - from my health (I had problems with my eyes and teeth ;-)) to my school stories. She was like a binding force that got everyone so close to each other and that may be the reason why even after she passed away, we (aunts, uncles and cousins) are still close to each other.

My grandmother's brother (Kuttimama as we fondly called him) also stayed at "Vani". He was a role model and inspiration to me. He always stood for what was right and he taught me a lot of lessons in life that I still remember and try to practice. He was a Math professor and one who understood his students well. I say this because I remember playing a couple of games of chess with him. The first time that I played I made my moves thoughtfully. A year down the line I played chess with him again and this time I used the typical solutions given in chess books without actually looking at the situation. I didnt have the patience that I had earlier. He was quick to recognise this and he told my father that I was losing concentration and that I had to focus more on it. That really hit me hard as it was very true and ever since, I have made efforts to improve my concentration. He passed away exactly a year before the keys of "Vani Niketan" were handed over.

I really wonder what these 3 people would have felt like if they were there when our paradise was lost. I bet they could not have imagined staying elsewhere.

When I spent my childhood holidays at "Vani" there would be roughly 20-25 people in the house since all my aunts, uncles and cousins would have come to spend their holidays as well. The day would begin early even though we had holidays. At the breakfast table, my cousins and I would make plans for the day. The plans included a range of activities from playing indoor games like Killer, UNO (ONO / ANO/ OHNO or whatver you may want to call it) to having shadow plays, magic shows, quizzes, feeding the cows that we had and having picnics at "palliyaal" where crops were cultivated earlier. I dont think there is anything that we haven't done at "Vani". I even remember converting a room into a mortuary with dead bodies made of pillows, where, at the end of the day, we were scared to enter ourselves ;-). Cricket , Badminton, Cycling or playing Frisbee would usually make our evenings. A quick bath was followed by prayers and then we would be back playing our indoor games.

The best part about all this was that even our aunts and uncles would join in. It was more like living in a joint-family (Yes, i still like the concept of joint-families even though they are very rare today).

As I grew up, the childish activities were gone and the number of people staying at "Vani Niketan" reduced but we all still met up there and had the fun that we always did. Today, as I wonder what "fruit" we ate to lose our paradise, my uncle has constructed a new "Vani Niketan" in a small portion of land that was not given away. I hope that this becomes a new paradise and a few years down the line I can write about the "Paradise Regained" like how Milton did about the return of possibility of paradise.

6 comments:

cloudnine said...

touching!!!! there isnt any more that i can say :)

Unknown said...

Gone are the days..but not the memories...

Unknown said...

Very touchin,no words to describe this post. Yes, we all miss vani,our grandparents,that fun we used to have in our paradise-the hide n seek games,to add to ur list,the celebration of traditional festivals-but like dr.vp sed,the memories will remain with us till our last breath n hopefully our paradise will be regained...

Anonymous said...

Hi Hari,

I am Rajesh from SiliconIndia. I am also an avid blogger for a while now and participating actively in Indian blogosphere. I read your blog posting and found them very interesting and informative. We would love to see a copy of your blogs posted here, whenever you are posting it on blogger.com. Here are some of the benefits of posting your blogs here:

We have a strong community of 500,000 Indian professionals
Best blogs of 2008 to be published in a book "SiliconIndia bLoG PrinT"
Best blog to be printed in SliconIndia & SmartTechie magazines each month
Chance to be featured on homepage everyday


We appreciate your community initiative here and in helping build a more powerful India! Also, if you have any ideas or want to volunteer to help for SiliconIndia, we would be more than excited to get your help. Pls mail me back at rajesh@siliconindia.com with your suggestions and feedback.

Rajesh
Blog Editor- SiliconIndia
9886734775

Unknown said...

Nice peice of work, especially unexpected from U ! As i read down i was wondering when Chandran Nair without whom nobody would have survived, would come into the picture. Leaving him out was not deliberate,no? Or was it?

Unknown said...

Nice post. I beleive you have another "paradise" remaining at Tripunithura. The "Kaivalyam" encircled by the heavenly garden of "Naishreyasam" and the Ocean of Milk, "Palazhi". Only advice... get a litle training at Hoggwarts to rid the place of the "devils" and "pixies" who have made the place their heavenly abode....-:)