Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The Places I Played In



Some more pictures. Actually, I must admit, I have been posting photos mainly to make up for all that I don't have the time to write.

Anyway, the first picture is that of my Chikku's house, that's ma's younger sister. This is a village called Pariyaltadka, Manila in South Kanara district. There is a motorable road but it is much easier to walk from the main road.

I love the house. It is old, creaky and whispers the memories of us cousins playing within its walls. I would go there once or twice a year. The best part of those vacations was that there was always something to eat there. Be it snacks, fruits, meals, wild berries, raw mangoes, cashew fruits....you name, we would eat it, and have place for a full, hearty meal. God! How much we would eat!

The house has an attic that was my favourite place. There used to be a lot of palm leaf scriptures lying around, I think they were written in Telugu. None of us knew how it landed up there. Only my cousins' grandfather knew. By the time I had wisened up enough to try and ask him, he had passed away.

The architecture and the shape of the house is very typical to these parts of the state.

The second place is where they used to tie cattle. Now it is just a storage area.

Apart from my own house, I love this place a lot, for a lot of things. It is old, full of strange sounds, far away from main roads... except the weather is very bad. But then again, lazing around in the heat is a beautiful thing too. I am reminded of a Mexican proverb that says: "Oh to do nothing at all and then to relax! What heaven!"

That was us years ago. Lazing around, eating, being naughty, doing everything we were not supposed to, living life, being totally, really, really happy........

7 comments:

VENU VINOD said...

a perfect brahmin house, which slowly getting disappered. such houses are making way to concrete houses even in villages, even though the houses are bit raw, they carry good old memories, thats why they are invaluable

Deepshikha said...

hi deepa,
yesterday waheeda mam mentioned you had a blog which reminded me to visit..:) its a nice house you have there, unluckily i have seen none like it, up north its a bit different and i must admit i have a visit to some village pending..thus its nice to see a lifestyle thats in synchrony with nature..
take care..

Ashley said...

really, really happy is the way to be! never forget those times.

Shiv said...

Deepa,

>fruits, meals, wild berries, raw mangoes, cashew fruits....

Brought back all those wonderful times

And the cattle shed..
Those 'ambaaa' callings from the cows

Had a similar post which relishes the good old days in my kannada blog.check this out
http://chittey.blogspot.com/2006/06/blog-post_04.html

San Nakji said...

I really like the style of the first house. do you happen to have a photo of what you consider a traditonal Karnarka (sp?) house to be ? Or perhaps this is it? I love your photos Deepa! I miss you not posting so often. I guess you are busy though, which is good!

Deepa Bhasthi said...

Deepshika: nice that mam still remembers!

Thanks a lot San! These are one of the kinds of traditional homes in Karnataka. Every district u go to, u will find a different style of architecture. these are typical to the coastal parts of the state. in India, the culture, people and language and everything else seem to change every 100 kilometres. that the diversity you see here!
i miss posting too. but with my new job (see my other blog), i will have more time to post

ರಾಜೇಶ್ ನಾಯ್ಕ said...

must admit that this pic and post of yours reminded me of my fantastic childhood days in uttara kananda in exactly same kind of house. good one.