winter cometh
The breeze is cooling down, the sun hides behind glorious clouds, the trees put on their autumn clothes and the earth has a new perfume. Winter is in the air and it's making me nostalgic. Winter has always been special. Snuggling up under the covers as a kid and trying ever so hard to let mom and dad let me stay in 2 minutes longer before waking up for school. It also meant that the harsh summers of Karachi (Pakistan) were coming to an end and finally we would have some relief.
It also meant that winter holidays were nearby which always brought loads of fun. My cousins would fly down from Australia and Saudi Arabia and it would be a kiddie party galore at my grandparents house. Their house has always been open to us for sleepovers. Think about this for a moment. My sister and I, my 5 cousins from Oz, 2 from S.A., another 2 who lived in Karachi made 11.
11 kids, 2 grandparents, 3 aunts and my mother makes 4 sisters in 1 house. It was party time indeed and my grandparents loved us all to bits. We'd spend atleast 2 weeks of the vacation time alternating between my house and my grandparents house.
There was never a moment where someone wasn't laughing, or giggling, or making plans to bug another. It was the time of year we all waited for. The boys would be let loose in Zainab market in the morning and we'd make our way home by evening and the girls would accompany the moms and go hunting for clothes and jewelery and all the other crap that little girls like.
Night time brought amazing food cooking by my mother or my grandmother which came right after the 9 O clock news. Now let me tell you something. The 9 O Clock news is when all the kids gathered around my grandfather and learnt how to cuss. Oh how he would listen to the news and cuss at the politicians and their stupid ways and my grandmother would yell from the kitchen and to remind him that there were kids in the house. Ofcourse it's hard to subdue the sound of giggling from the 11 kids hiding nearby waiting for grandpa to burst out into a new string of unfamiliar words.
The night brought rewards as well. My grandfather would fill up his Toyota Corona with all of us 11 kiddies and take us out for KayBee's Ice Cream. AH! the finest ice cream cones a kid could dream off. Deeeeeeeeeeeelicious strawberry and chocolate ice cream on a crispy waffle cone. Also let me tell you another thing, this cone was like a foot tall. About 4 inches of cone and eight inches of ice cream topped on to it in a dizzying spiral. This ofcourse was another oppertunity to hear my grandfather swear at the drivers around him. I can't tell you how much we laugh when we recall those days even today.
I walked out today and the earth's new perfume brought back some wonderful memories. The times of carefree youth days where one was discovering the world and all it's glory and the news on television was about happier moments in life. Growing up as a large family certainly has it's merits. Moments and memories of falling in love for the first time and sitting on the large swing in the backyard with 10 other kids and jumping off it in mid-swing, the endless long night talks and movies and snacks and oh I almost forgot NUTELLA!
It saddens me that life has moved on and things are different now. Almost everyone is either engaged or married now with families of their own. Gone are the days when we were carefree and could just walk out with a 100 ruppees in our pockets and feel like giants at the end of a fun filled day. I just hope that my kids will be able to experience the same. Whenever they arrive :)
It also meant that winter holidays were nearby which always brought loads of fun. My cousins would fly down from Australia and Saudi Arabia and it would be a kiddie party galore at my grandparents house. Their house has always been open to us for sleepovers. Think about this for a moment. My sister and I, my 5 cousins from Oz, 2 from S.A., another 2 who lived in Karachi made 11.
11 kids, 2 grandparents, 3 aunts and my mother makes 4 sisters in 1 house. It was party time indeed and my grandparents loved us all to bits. We'd spend atleast 2 weeks of the vacation time alternating between my house and my grandparents house.
There was never a moment where someone wasn't laughing, or giggling, or making plans to bug another. It was the time of year we all waited for. The boys would be let loose in Zainab market in the morning and we'd make our way home by evening and the girls would accompany the moms and go hunting for clothes and jewelery and all the other crap that little girls like.
Night time brought amazing food cooking by my mother or my grandmother which came right after the 9 O clock news. Now let me tell you something. The 9 O Clock news is when all the kids gathered around my grandfather and learnt how to cuss. Oh how he would listen to the news and cuss at the politicians and their stupid ways and my grandmother would yell from the kitchen and to remind him that there were kids in the house. Ofcourse it's hard to subdue the sound of giggling from the 11 kids hiding nearby waiting for grandpa to burst out into a new string of unfamiliar words.
The night brought rewards as well. My grandfather would fill up his Toyota Corona with all of us 11 kiddies and take us out for KayBee's Ice Cream. AH! the finest ice cream cones a kid could dream off. Deeeeeeeeeeeelicious strawberry and chocolate ice cream on a crispy waffle cone. Also let me tell you another thing, this cone was like a foot tall. About 4 inches of cone and eight inches of ice cream topped on to it in a dizzying spiral. This ofcourse was another oppertunity to hear my grandfather swear at the drivers around him. I can't tell you how much we laugh when we recall those days even today.
I walked out today and the earth's new perfume brought back some wonderful memories. The times of carefree youth days where one was discovering the world and all it's glory and the news on television was about happier moments in life. Growing up as a large family certainly has it's merits. Moments and memories of falling in love for the first time and sitting on the large swing in the backyard with 10 other kids and jumping off it in mid-swing, the endless long night talks and movies and snacks and oh I almost forgot NUTELLA!
It saddens me that life has moved on and things are different now. Almost everyone is either engaged or married now with families of their own. Gone are the days when we were carefree and could just walk out with a 100 ruppees in our pockets and feel like giants at the end of a fun filled day. I just hope that my kids will be able to experience the same. Whenever they arrive :)
posted by Raza Gheewala at 12:02 am
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