Tales of Treselda Cottage

Tales of Treselda Cottage, Part 5. Janaki. Ava felt a sudden twinge in her heart. What good friends they had been. They were in and out of each other's houses in those days. Janaki's house was set in a large compound, full of trees, on the road at the start of the lane that led to Treselda Cottage. She would join them on their walk to school, where she was one class senior to Ava. In the evenings, Mama would let Ava spend time in Janu's house. They would sit together on the low verandah wall, chatting, speckled by the shadows of leaves of the Mango tree. Or they would be on verandah floor, playing Five Stones. Janu had a collection of smooth, light stones for this game, just big enough for five of them to fit into a small palm. They would scatter five stones onto the floor, and like jugglers, throw one up and scoop up a set number in time to turn the palm and catch the falling stone. The game had more complicated variations as it progressed, and the girls considered the...

Tales of Treselda Cottage, Part 3 Margaret had a pot of tea ready on the table, kept warm with an old, worn out tea cosy. On a plate, she had laid out some Kannakkubol from Queen's Bakery. "Here, your favourite", she said, passing it to Ava. The Kannakkubol was crisp and light, crumbling slightly at Ava's bite. Trivandrum's version of shortbread cookies. Mama's tableware wasn't fancy. She had a few beautiful pieces gifted by relatives from England on their visits back home, but Ava remembered that she never considered them prized possessions, worthy of display. She was a practical woman, not given to frills and flounces, or fussy tableware. Treselda Cottage never had the "showcase" that was the pride of most other houses then, filled with souvenirs and foreign crockery. Whatever she owned was put away in closed cupboards, taken out and used when needed, and given away if not used. The cottage belonged to, and was named after, Margaret's s...

Tales of Treselda Cottage (Part 2). The solid, long rosewood table at Treselda Cottage would be buzzing with activity on school days, as the children would gather around for breakfast. Mama would have mixed Puttu into even-sized balls with bananas, butter and sugar. The children would help themselves to it, four balls each for the bigger ones and two or three each for the small ones. Breakfast was never Ava's best meal, but that was the one she remembered most from the old days. The taste of butter, coming through the steamed rice flour with every chew, the crunch of grainy sugar that spiked the gooey banana bits. To wash it down, there would be hot milky tea for the bigger ones and milk for the smaller ones. On most days, she would eat her share up in a flash. She remembered the day when it wouldn't go down and she had to keep sipping her tea to swallow her food. Her mind had hurried out of Treselda Cottage already, and was on its way to school, down the lane, past the roa...

Tales of Treselda Cottage (Part 1) The lane was rain-washed. The stone compound walls were moss-green in patches. Ferns peeked out of crevices, curling their way carefully upwards. Crotons and flowering shrubs spilt out from compounds, over the walls, unable to contain their exuberance. Ava's cheek brushed against a shoe-flower as she passed by, damp pollen leaving a hurried trail through her hair. She was nearing the bend. Just after it, there would be the Jambakka tree, dropping its baby pink fruit heavily onto the tar. Further up, there'd be the pot-hole, which someone would have laid stepping stones across when the rains had started. She'd cross it on tip-toe. She could run home then, straight to the little house at the end of the lane - Treselda Cottage. Taking a quick, sharp breath, Ava picked up speed. Nothing had changed. She'd run down this lane countless times in her childhood and it still held the same feel. She had told herself that the lane was too narr...