05 February, 2008

Then and Now

The next TIF challenge has been anounced.The theme is (as I understand it )is A view of the past -the things that have changed &your memories of them.I have A Real Lot to share,too.Reading In a minute ago brought back to me memories of my Holidays in our mothers native village of Mudikondan.This village is a fairly large one.The days were spent in removing the seeds from tamarind pods,rolling the blackgram & greengram on an inclined wooden plank(which doubles as a seat at other times)kept on my lap to remove the stones and other debris from the field,sitting amidst a group of farm labourers(women who also did house work in our houses)in the Open-to-sky quadrangle in the middle of our house(atleast a hundred years old).This was just one of the many that we did.I'll write about them in the subsequent blogs.
Now,of course the tamarind is still being deseeded in the same way there,but I am no more the carefree child who sat there talking to the women offering them some lighthearted occasions in which the tedium& the monotony of their tasks got relieved (I hope).My children refuse to do what we (my sister & I)willingly did.That is Change,Isuppose.
Ithought it would be easy to translate the memory these activities which are recorded in my head in my native Tamil idiom into English in which I have been trained to communicate.I find myself searching for the appropriate words that would describe the appliances/processes involved.
I find that this exercise has increased the value of my Language &Traditions in my eyes.