The Vishu that was.

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.