I always loved writing. All kinds of it: essays, compositions, letters, reviews and stories(wasn't very good though). Lately i have been feeling, i have done wrong to myself by not doing stuffs that i once loved. I used to love to sketch and paint too, like everyone else, i used to feel happy about the attention and appreciation it brought. Anyways i don't do any of it anymore. I don't write/draw and its been years since i penned out what i feel/think. But today is one of those days where i took a Personal Time Off from work. I spent some Me time without any one's company and obviously it was wonderful. I had gone shopping to buy myself a couple of Tees and a straight Jean(something that was long due in my list), had a lunch in a really big restaurant alone. Ordered my favourite Chinese food and watched an episode of HIMYM and had a lovely time. Later, I went to watch a movie alone, had a bucket full of popcorn with just my favourite seasoning and then started home and just when i got out of Phoneix Mall it was raining cats and dogs. I really would have waited for the rain to come down a bit, any other day, but i had to be home before Rohn comes so i rushed out and had a ride in the rain, drenched fully but didn't bother at all. All that mattered was, i was home before him. I finished my leftover lunch as soon as i came home. Had a hot ginger tea with few biscuits with Rohn. My day couldn't be better. And when the day is winding i was thinking i should do something that i love, draw/write and the decision i went for is to write. Here i am now.
Now, what is that i want to write? Just silly memories that din't mean anything when it happened, but means a lot to me now. When i was a child i used to think i had a worst childhood life, We din't do stuffs that most kids did. My parent's were both working and anytime they got leave, went into prepping for the working days. Typical sunday at my home, Wake up at 6.45, see Daddy already dressed up and ready for Church, Wake up lazily, brush, have tea and get ready to leave for Church. Fast forward... Mass.. Catechism... Breakfast at home... Homework... Shakthiman... Chicken 65... Lunch... Forced sleep... DD Podhigai... Vasanth & Co Food Program... Oliyum Oliyum... Movie... Dinner... Sleep. Very rarely do we go out on Sundays and if we did it would be a punishment for Amma to do everything beforehand so she could join us. Amma would rather be at home and do prepping in her own time, i don't blame her... at least now though, i understand how she would have felt. More of that later..
When i said prepping, buying grocery was an important ceremony that was performed start of every month, and the initial participants were me and my Mom. My duty was to write Amma's narration and turn it into a List... Technically a Table with 3 columns. "Name", "Quantity","Nos". Always it started with Kadugu 100g, Jeeragam 100g.. and it continued, One A8 page both sides was sufficient. You would imagine why would i do that? Because it was a privilege and to be honest, Mom needed me. What is the privilege? Firstly, You get to remind all the stuffs Mom's forgotten, because it's stored in your memory permanently. I could write it down even now like a Pro.. just boasting :) Second, You get to choose different brands of toiletries, Biscuits and these were both very important to me. We always had two sections of biscuits, One was for us(Me and Anna) and the other one for Daddy, a lite one with less sugar. Now i loved the thrill of experimenting with various brands of biscuits. Earlier it was just Milk Bikis - 4 packs and Marie gold - 2 packs, And then as choices grew, Parle-G replaced Milk Bikis because of all the ShakthiMan stickers they gave as a compliment. And when i had all cupboards and writing pad filled with them, i switched the biscuits to Tiger another cheap and good alternative. Slowly Sunfeast came in with their Orange flavoured marie biscuits. Why not! gave it a shot too. Then if my parents were feeling generous, we had options and bonus biscuits of Good day and Bourbon peeking in. It became a regular grocery item after 6th pay commission. Extra money 🤑
Get it? Some people might, 90s kids probably. Now you might think, What's the deal with Toiletries though? Oh! it was more than that. You have the power to decide what soap everyone uses? What tooth paste everyone brushes with! Real power am i right? Ha Ha no kidding! I had to experiment with all kinds of soaps and toothpaste. Soaps were however not my thing, but Toothpaste, After being bored to hell with Colgate, When Mom says "Paste ezhudhu ma", with a smirk, i started writing my fantasies "CloseUp red". Initially the grocery list had to be handed over and waited till evening and the shop would pack your things ready to go, But as days passed, the City Malligai shop in Cuddalore got advanced and they had door delivery and boxes would be delivered at home. This was before the super markets started their way into small towns like Cuddalore. A whole new level of excitement gushed to me when the box arrives at night. Again there were multiple possibilities of things getting mixed up, missed or incorrect items delivered. When i imagine them today, i was indeed an amateur Tester those days too, excited to find bugs there as well. And getting applauded for saving a couple of bucks for Parent's and them feeling proud. I know! right?
After checking all the items, i would keep the new toothpaste in the holder, Sometimes my Father would ask "Andha paste innum theeralaye?". My mindvoice, "Adhu varaikum epdi porukuradhu?":P Somehow i had to spend the whole night thinking of how the new Close up Paste tastes tomorrow morning. Somedays i could not hold on till the next morning, I would sneak up the sink and brush my teeth at night itself. Ah the pleasure !!! This brushing at night was never a habit for me those days, so you could imagine the motive under all this. This was a cycle, Next time it was "Close up blue", "Aquafresh" damn it , they made three coloured paste all in one tube. As if one wasn't tempting enough already? "Pepsodent" not quite excited after i tried it though 😛
The reason i wrote about this tiny episode of my childhood was because, thinking about these made me realise how little my heart was, to be excited about these silly stuffs then. How innocent is childhood. Oh i wish i could go back and feel excited about all these teeny tiny things one day 😢 Sometimes i couldn't help but feel if my son is having days like these now? Am i making his memories or not. I wish i am.. wouldn't that be something though?
