Share A Favorite Summer Memory

I remember one summer holidays which I spent in Coimbatore with my cousins Manoj, Sandhya & Navin and their parents. They lived in Coimbatore for a few years between 1986 and 1991. The summer I was with them must have been 1989 and that was the also around the time that Manoj & I discovered Guns n’Roses. We were both huge hard rock fans; I still am but I am not so sure about him now as I really don’t know what all stuff he listens to now.  I spent around 4 weeks or so with them in their rented place in Coimbatore. Which was a 3 bedroom plus den kinda apartment house. Manoj & I slept on mattresses in the living room as we watched movies till all hours of the night.

I have fond memories of those days. The four of us kids would spend the day yakking our heads off probably driving their mom nuts. She was a saint, always looking for goodies to cook up for us while we either played games or watched tapes of recorded music videos that they got from their friends in the UK (my cousins were all born in the UK and raised there with the exception of a few years that they lived in India). So we sang in harmony (badly at that) with the songs that we loved and must have competed for air guitar solos and rock god poses. The only reprieve we gave their mom was when we went to a local library nearby – I distinctly remember reading a few Astrix comics that year and some novels. But during the afternoons and evenings post dinner it was movies.

My three cousins introduced me to the brilliance of the comedy duo Abbott & Costello and I love them for that. When I recently watched some of the movies towards the end of last year I remembered those days spent in that apartment living room, laughing our asses off, rolling on the sofas with laughter filling the air. I also remembered some of the silly kid stuff – Manoj & Sandhya fighting for the nth time and he insulting her with “You are so dumb, you don’t know what 2+2 = is?” and silly girl (she was 12 at the time) haughtily replying “I know, I know…..5!” (no Sandhya) and all four of us laughing at her dumb mistake! Good times, I will always hold those memories close to my heart as long as I have life in me.