I happened to visit my ancestors "tharavadu" (ancestral home) this weekend to perform some poojas to the deities kept inside the house.
It was a remote village, the kind you see in documentaries, where people are still living without TV and other gadgeteries. We had to walk 1-km from the "so called" main road to reach the house. I had visited this place as a kid and had no memories of it.
The whole family from my fathers side was present with 100s of direct cousins, indirect cousins etc. etc. I hardly knew any of them! (the travails of a modern nuclear society)
The house was an ancient ettu-kettu (I don't know how to explain this, but these kinds of buildings have 8 sides of pillars or something) with mango trees, coconut trees, a pond, a big well, and vast areas of open spaces surrounding it. One could only see greenery wherever you look!
There were no fans, no TV, no phones, no newspapers, no internet - NOTHING! But still they lived very happily. I had a tough time adjusting to the temperature over there.
After the poojas were over, the whole family sat together in a big room and were served "hot" food in banana leaves. The food was very spicey and had a gala time feasting to my hungry stomach (we were not allowed to have any food from 6 AM to 2 PM coz of the poojas).
It was a remote village, the kind you see in documentaries, where people are still living without TV and other gadgeteries. We had to walk 1-km from the "so called" main road to reach the house. I had visited this place as a kid and had no memories of it.
The whole family from my fathers side was present with 100s of direct cousins, indirect cousins etc. etc. I hardly knew any of them! (the travails of a modern nuclear society)
The house was an ancient ettu-kettu (I don't know how to explain this, but these kinds of buildings have 8 sides of pillars or something) with mango trees, coconut trees, a pond, a big well, and vast areas of open spaces surrounding it. One could only see greenery wherever you look!
There were no fans, no TV, no phones, no newspapers, no internet - NOTHING! But still they lived very happily. I had a tough time adjusting to the temperature over there.
After the poojas were over, the whole family sat together in a big room and were served "hot" food in banana leaves. The food was very spicey and had a gala time feasting to my hungry stomach (we were not allowed to have any food from 6 AM to 2 PM coz of the poojas).
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