The morning of vishu dawned and amma’s gentle voice woke me up in the wee hours of the morning…
she had her hands clasped over my eyes, and whispered to me not to pry them
open until we reached the ‘kani’- meaning that which is seen first , on the day
we usher in the Malayalam new year.
Groggy yet excited to be prowling the rooms blindfold, with
amma’s gentle voice guiding me , we stumbled our way across the landing and
there she let go of her handmade blindfold and we feasted our eyes on the
yellow hues that twinkled in the nightlight. Dad then opened his wallet and
gave us wads of cash as kai neetam, a tradition where the elders of the house
present the younger ones with cash goodies- the only deal breaker for an adult and the moment of glee for the
youngest in the family. The day starts there… firecrackers were burst and a
feast was laid out.. the rest of the evening was spent lazing by the Television
flicking through the latest movies vying for attention and making small talk occasionally
giving in to spurts of Payasam desserts..
I sat on my couch , remote in hand, lids growing heavy ,drooping into a slumber
fed by happiness and celebration.
The tick tick of the alarm woke me.. I sat up, in the dark on
the floor beside my open laptop and realized I’d fallen asleep by
it.. I wondered why the alarm rang 5 hours before time. Then I remembered
setting it to see the kani the night before…It was Vishu! on impulse, my eyes clung to their lids and I
groped around for the picture of the goggled
image of the kani I’d kept by my side. All in vain. Too late…after several failed
swipes for the picture that seemed to have disappeared , I wearily opened my eyes and made my way to the
goody bag that had my vishu kani arrangements . there they sat, flowers ,
veggies and coloured cloth sulking in the corner of the room where I’d hastily
slung them before settling into a night of frantic phone calls and panic driven e-mails that defined my 24 year
old self.
Google was my de facto Vishu kani. I sigh, close my eyes in
a hasty prayer and slump back on my floor beside my laptop.. ITomorrow would be here soon. another day of e-mails and a disarray of frantic phone calls back and forth.
I closed my eyes, and tried to go back to the vishu back
home that almost seemed like a dream.
