Nostalgia

Nostalgia... used to be an active member in Palakkadu Gramma Thinnai group years ago... .. accidentally strayed into that group today. Found a old nostalgic post of mine also being quoted there from archives.. Evokes some happy memories. I am quoting below what I posted there.

ANANTHNARAYANAN VAIDYANATHAN : 16TH SEPTEMBER, 2012

But how many thinnais in Palakkad agraharams are open today? 

In good old days the thinnais were kept open so that some hapless wanderer could find some shelter especially in rainy and snowy seasons. Even cows which would have strayed away for a day would take shelter in those thinnais.. 

The Kalpathi thinnais were the rendezvous for the large number of visitors and vendors who would visit the November festivities of Palakkad. However  now thinnais are covered with grills and walls and perhaps a projection from the footsteps leading to thinnai, where people can sit remains as vestigal remains of the glorious thinnais of yore.

Mischievous mamas who were in the habit of going for sambandam always slept on open thinnais so that their movements were not watched by people inside. 

Young fellows of yore used to pretend to sleep on thinnais and fill their beds with pillows and cover them with a sheet and sneak out for second show cinema.. 

Those were days...

Anway how many in this group have a real thinnai for themselves?

I am far off from thinnai today... not from my Sekharipuram agraharam but from this Thinnai.. 

Happy to see a part of what I posted almost two years ago.. 

But I am sure my resume of Palakkad thinnai appears to be as realistic as that was then and would remain so.. 

Men may come and men may go but thinnais go on for ever.