The Hills are alive

Long over due post but have been on the move and living out of suitcases almost all weekends this month..But sit down I must and savour the memories of that last weekend up the hills. All of us arrived Saturday morn, sick with anticipation and for some with that familiar queasy feeling as one ascends the mountains..My daughter wanted to throw up and we stopped at a hairpin bend (as these curves are called ) and who greets us as we open the car door but a sombre looking rhesus monkey who refused to make space . We went further up and stopped .But there were rows and rows of monkeys seated like welcome committee members.. Finally the poor child had to resort to her burf bag she'd carried thoughtfully.

It's been a long time but Coonoor remains pretty much the same..we made our way down to Brooklands. Straight out a picture postcard, the cottage stood before us abloom in a riot of colours. Smiling happy faces came out to envelope us in that festive spirit...our bags disappeared inside and we soon scrambled on to a little bus for a trip to school. As we made our way up the familiar drive , we noted the changes the years have brought in. Every space available has been swallowed by concrete structures..more class rooms , labs, computer rooms maybe..(remember Computer was an alien phenomena at the times we lived there.) Orchards, rock gardens have all disappeared.. Only the nuns' garden remained florally magnificient.Thankfully the Chinese guava tree remained ..how many generations have climbed that tree furtively in the cover of many a dark night and shared the spoils among friends with triumph..The taste still lingers in the tongue...A tour of the dorms proved another disappointment as the entire block lay ravaged to make room for renovation..The wash rooms, the infirmary, the dining room was all set for a make over.. We spotted some lockers lying forlornly in the corner of the washroom..they looked the same..the stories they said to us ....we remember all you people who left a part of your lives here inside us- oh those devout ones who enshrined their dieties inside and lit little lamps in worship, the drama queens whose nail varnishes, kajal ,make up and accessories cluttered the little shelves .( all for those sweet Saturday afternoons ) and people( like yours truly) whose lockers remained mostly empty - friends remind me now- becoz I would lend everything I had to needy souls..other times , people took the stuff assuming I would be okay with it ! All I can remember is trying to break the locks becoz the keys I would perpetually lose..Finally I found the solution..Mobaj locks! The lock that opens with a clever twist of a hairpin !
The school ground had aquired an impressive stadium..sports obviously was big even today... When we left without meeting a familar soul there was a little bit of regret tinged with sadness..what did we expect? For the clock to stop or simply turn back..All things must change..Change we found in the neighbourhood eatery from where we used to source our masala dosas and biriyanis ..Sharing a wall with a hotel had its advantages..Even now I guess kids in boarding schools are perpetually hungry and looking for variations to the staple hostel diet...Give us a break from the "transparent vegetable" ( what was that? Chow chow ??) and the watery beet root !But now eating legitimately. seated respectfully on tables and placing our orders as "normal '' customers, the food didn't taste half as good. Menu had expanded but the flavour was missing...Changes.....
Afternoon saw us visiting some old teachers in their homes...Our Math teacher had just become a grandmother..her home which we'd visited while in school looked so pretty that some of the kids wanted to know if we could stay there! Our Biology teacher insisted we eat dinner at her place and our PT teacher cooked us an elaborate and delicious lunch . It was all a coming home feeling..Our Math teacher even brought out our class picture..The day ended and we spent the night talking, getting updated on each others lives ..story so far kind of thing..ofcourse some lives had taken extraordinary turns...bottomline was that we'd all come a long long way....

As a friend had asked before we set out on this pilgrimage, have people changed? Well, Yes and No... One can't be fifteen for ever I guess..but look closely..we have all shaped out the way we set out in the first place..our beloved slumber- loving sloppy friend remains the same but she has reached a higher plane and gone where none of us ever will..Those of us who had a heart- to- heart with her will marvel at her spiritual quest, knowledge , commitment and dedication. Hats off to you V!
As our two- day reunion ended, people began making plans for the next one ,two years from now...We'll be back..Adios Amigos!!