![]() Once we reached the other side, there was no stopping us as we ran towards the inviting waters and had a frolickin’ time while the adults sat under the shade of the Casurina trees (called as chapkanche rook in Konkani if im not mistaken) and had their own silly stuff to talk about (ahem!). ![]() I still remember the age old Konkani hymns that were meant for a safe journey sung by my cousin’s grandma. Along this 5-7 minute boat ride kids were again asked to shut up & sit still while the ladies indulged in fervent prayer asking God to keep our boat from toppling over. ![]() Anyway, we would all assemble at Sultan Battery (Tippu Sultan’s watch tower simply called as ‘battheri’ in local lingo which is now ‘renovated’ instead of being ‘restored’ and is beyond recognition) situated on the banks of the river Nethravathi and some rickety boats would then ferry us across the river to the other side from where we trotted towards the beach. In our case it was always ‘Thannir Bhavi’ (the beach got it’s name from the island close to it which had a sole borewell with fresh water – in Kannada, Thannir means cool water & bhaavi means well – so it was the only refuge for the inhabitants of the island which was surrounded by unpalatable saline water). The star attraction of this childhood fun package was the bi-yearly family picnics that we had at the nearest beach. It was so much fun! The games we would play during the day – usually indoor board games (Scrabble, Ludo & Monopoly) & Cards and the chit chatting that started right from the time when each of us took turns to bathe in the traditional bathroom where water used to be heated in a baan (large copper pot ) fuelled by firewood or dry katti (coconut shells) or sudethi/pido (coconut palm or just it’s spine) or just koli (dry leaves usually of the jackfruit tree) till the time we fell off asleep – yapping away to glory, well into the wee hours of morning (or till the time a disgruntled & dishevelled parent came knocking on our door asking us to shut up & go to sleep!) When we ran out of fresh clothes (it meant it was time to return home) we always got coaxed into staying an extra day or two by borrowing clothes and a mandatory call was made back home to inform our parents that we wouldn’t be back for another few days. We would wait for our annual exams to finish so that we could pack our bags and go to each other’s homes by turns. Ours was a close knit family and I grew up in a big family – with plenty of cousins my age and we always had a blast visiting each other’s homes during vacations.
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