I am sure you felt special, remembering your dear friends who embrace your soul without embarrassing you ever. Childhood friends are always special; they stand by you no matter what and support you unconditionally. This goes beyond caste, creed, culture, cash and gender.
Anita by virtue of having older sisters and brothers knew much more about films and film stars, not only Malayalam but Hindi too. She knew all the famous Bollywood actors by name and one day, she decided to have a hobby for herself, very unique for our times, to collect colour pictures of Bollywood actors. We had many types of collectors amidst us, marble, match box, mayil peeli, (peacock feather) etc, but movie stars was first time.
Whenever our press got orders to print notice of Hindi movies with Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Rajesh Khanna, etc, I took one or two, cut the pictures with my zig zag scissors, and tucked them carefully in the Life Magazine or Illustrated Weekly, these were really bigger than A4 and would hold the pictures without creasing.
I want to take you along with me, let’s go doubles in my Appa’s Raleigh cycle, I don’t know how many of you are there, looks like I will just walk with my cycle, my Mayil Vahanam growing up. I have to make a delivery at Anita’s home.
Let us go past the Janayugam press, in Kadappakkada, the CPI newspaper from kollam, and ride by the idavazhi (alley) and then to the back of the press, we will go past the veli (fence) all woven intricately like the braided puff pastry. I want to warn you, if you are walking with me, you have to keep a sheemakonna branch with you from the veli. I had a bad experience of being bitten by a home raised dog, belonging to my good old buddy, which I will tell you later.
I will keep ringing the cycle bell continuously, before I reach her house and I can tell you for sure Achachen would be there right in front, gardening.
Achachen greets me and calls out for Kochumol saying Kochu, beenaaki has come. That was my christened nick name in their family and Anita still follows it. Anita was the baby of the house, she was called Kochumol (little daughter), incidentally her nieces and nephews to whom she is a guardian angel calls her Kochichy (little older sister).
I never got down from the cycle as I would have lined up another errand on my way back, the delivery was always like the exchange of the token by the locomotive driver in Indian Railways.
Anita’s home was built in a typical bungalow style, tiled roof, white washed walls with verandah around the house. The living room in front projected out on its own say about 4 to 5 mts and there were 4 steps to get to the verandah and then the room.
I believe the rise of each step was 25cms and tread 23cms, it was perfect for my small feet but I know it can never be taken for the perfect design, as the rise was too high and tread too narrow. The plinth was pretty high I would say a meter at least. There were 2 windows in the front on either side which were 2 ply and had a light bluish paint.
We have more to see and know, shall do that tomorrow, keep checking on your friends and keep saying the sweet nothings…..
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