This morning I received a wonderful mail about a south indian childhood and was hit by such a strong surge of nostalgia that a la the Ancient Mariner I felt compelled to revisit my own childhood. You,dear readers, are the Wedding Guest.

Summer holidays in my childhood meant trips to good old Madras and the excitement would start building up from the moment Appa discussed booking tickets.I would insist on sitting facing the direction of travel as if that would bring me quicker to my destination.The minute I reached, off I was to my maternal grand father’s house to meet up with all my cousins. Oh,we had some glorious times.

We were quite a few of us in the same age group.Those who were older considered it demeaning to play with as we did with those who were younger than us.But who cared.We were in our own world. Hot summer…