Garden Boys
Looking back into my childhood,I think it was very color full.But if I say that the most indelible ones were in green ,it wouldn't be an hyperbole at all.As cliche as it might sound,Memories have always been green,evergreen.Life has always been green.When I search back to your roots, I could easily find it bleeding green still .
If I go searching for my oldest memory it would be definitely be in my Amma's garden.I could vividly recollect a picture of me Appa had taken of in the Garden looking above with all the plants in the background. But it wasn't just a mere backdrop for a picture.We grew up amongst the plants in my Amma's garden.She loved them like us.She loved the green ones more than the flowering plants.
The tiny leafy begonias defined miniature for me ,their tiny flowers are amusing me even now.The garden had all in it,leaves of all colors and size.It is indeed a tropical haven.
I remember the big trees at home which our Grandmother had planted.They were huge,when i started to look upwards, I saw them sprawling above the sky.Life was opening up more of its vistas before me
The evergreen pulimaram at the east side of the plot had how many birds as refugees.Trees which had small white shady flowers.Still the leaves of the Kadachakka are the most ornamental tree leaves you could ever see.
Memories are strange,you don't realize them when they are being made.You realize them later.
As I migrated to the Middle East several years back the memories of home and homeland has always been green .The Great Malayali nostalgia as everyone says has been the Monsoon.
Falling off from the tiled roof of my home.I have watched it endlessly from the window.Our home did not have balconies back then.But we had the east facing long window.I could sit and watch rain pour onto the trees and plants.Making them a shiny blurry backdrop of emerald.It is a sight that will die only with me.SO dear that I will hold onto it forever.I now yearn for such a sight like that in this sprawling city.The bliss of it is unmatched to anything I have come across later in my life.
Now the pulimaram has fallen,so not many birds chirp.More and more trees were cut.Coming home is daunting in this scorching heat.I have come to prefer the conditioned air in Dubai to that at home. The evergreen tropical dream of our land is just an imagery right now.It seems to be ending very fast.Its a scary nightmare.I doubt if my son will ever seen the greenery and rains as I could see.It would be the biggest of losses for him .The green colours have started to fade,just as a backdrop to our lives.
Every Malayali has a green story like mine ,its our inheritance and that's what makes us what we are.More than a fashionable headline I believe that "go green" should identify with all malayalis as going back to their roots. Finding their own heritage.Why is that we have to go for the packaged goodness of Ayurveda which we had available fresh, not so long ago.As a friend of mine said once a popular toothpaste brand has come up with Charcoal based toothpaste. That is exactly where we left brushing our teeth for this same toothpaste brand.The freshness of charcoal and mango leaves still rings fresh in my mind.The organic way of living can be quite tough,but that is the way we enjoyed things before all the package bought goodness. Only that we didn't know that this was called the organic way !!!
We all can search ourselves and find the point where we have chosen to walk away from that green image for the sake of many things.But its time to walk back find our roots.The roots of greenness.Of nature.Of life.If we don't walk back together it will be betrayal of our lineage and upbringing.I still rewind my mind to that point in time , Appa holding his camera down from the terrace,me looking up and smiling for a wonderful picture.The plants smiled just like me ,with me the innocent child like smile.
Looking back into my childhood,I think it was very color full.But if I say that the most indelible ones were in green ,it wouldn't be an hyperbole at all.As cliche as it might sound,Memories have always been green,evergreen.Life has always been green.When I search back to your roots, I could easily find it bleeding green still .
If I go searching for my oldest memory it would be definitely be in my Amma's garden.I could vividly recollect a picture of me Appa had taken of in the Garden looking above with all the plants in the background. But it wasn't just a mere backdrop for a picture.We grew up amongst the plants in my Amma's garden.She loved them like us.She loved the green ones more than the flowering plants.
The tiny leafy begonias defined miniature for me ,their tiny flowers are amusing me even now.The garden had all in it,leaves of all colors and size.It is indeed a tropical haven.
I remember the big trees at home which our Grandmother had planted.They were huge,when i started to look upwards, I saw them sprawling above the sky.Life was opening up more of its vistas before me
The evergreen pulimaram at the east side of the plot had how many birds as refugees.Trees which had small white shady flowers.Still the leaves of the Kadachakka are the most ornamental tree leaves you could ever see.
Memories are strange,you don't realize them when they are being made.You realize them later.
As I migrated to the Middle East several years back the memories of home and homeland has always been green .The Great Malayali nostalgia as everyone says has been the Monsoon.
Falling off from the tiled roof of my home.I have watched it endlessly from the window.Our home did not have balconies back then.But we had the east facing long window.I could sit and watch rain pour onto the trees and plants.Making them a shiny blurry backdrop of emerald.It is a sight that will die only with me.SO dear that I will hold onto it forever.I now yearn for such a sight like that in this sprawling city.The bliss of it is unmatched to anything I have come across later in my life.
Now the pulimaram has fallen,so not many birds chirp.More and more trees were cut.Coming home is daunting in this scorching heat.I have come to prefer the conditioned air in Dubai to that at home. The evergreen tropical dream of our land is just an imagery right now.It seems to be ending very fast.Its a scary nightmare.I doubt if my son will ever seen the greenery and rains as I could see.It would be the biggest of losses for him .The green colours have started to fade,just as a backdrop to our lives.
Every Malayali has a green story like mine ,its our inheritance and that's what makes us what we are.More than a fashionable headline I believe that "go green" should identify with all malayalis as going back to their roots. Finding their own heritage.Why is that we have to go for the packaged goodness of Ayurveda which we had available fresh, not so long ago.As a friend of mine said once a popular toothpaste brand has come up with Charcoal based toothpaste. That is exactly where we left brushing our teeth for this same toothpaste brand.The freshness of charcoal and mango leaves still rings fresh in my mind.The organic way of living can be quite tough,but that is the way we enjoyed things before all the package bought goodness. Only that we didn't know that this was called the organic way !!!
We all can search ourselves and find the point where we have chosen to walk away from that green image for the sake of many things.But its time to walk back find our roots.The roots of greenness.Of nature.Of life.If we don't walk back together it will be betrayal of our lineage and upbringing.I still rewind my mind to that point in time , Appa holding his camera down from the terrace,me looking up and smiling for a wonderful picture.The plants smiled just like me ,with me the innocent child like smile.
