Deepavali With Friends...

This is Deepavali afternoon... with friends, whom the children fondly call Uncle H'dass and Aunty Praba. They've known the children since they were so young. My boy was 4 when he got to know them. Aunty Praba would always leave stuff in her fridge for the kids to go 'selongkar'. The kids used to spend lots of time with them when we were staying opposite each other. That was years ago, before they moved to SP. So many fond memories, many of which the children can't remember. Hence, when we get together like this, we get to reminisce about those times... and more often than never, they're always fond ones.

Deepavali is relaxed cos the kids feel very at home with them. They are allowed to make their own tosai too. This year it is at Uncle H'dass' mother's house. Still it was fun... the tosai came out in odd shapes and sizes in the hands of the amateurs. They'd make their own tosai with sugar and ghee, whatever they fancied. The stove is kept busy quite a bit as the kids queued up for their tosai and brought some for us who were outside.

The little photographer wannabe, practicing her trade. For her, even though she is the only small kid around, it's still very fun. Being small had its privileges, the older kids would allow her to cut the queue to get to the tosai. 8) These days it's nice for us adults cos the kids would serve us the food instead of the other way round. They are growing up!

After stuffing ourselves full with tosai...we sat around outside, reminiscing about the old days... of those days when the adults would have coffee and fried cempedak while playing carom late into the night and the small kids cycling in the middle of the road. Also of the mischievous stuffs that the kids used to do and also of unsolved mysteries. Until today, Aunty Praba is still wondering about her broken glass shelf in her fridge. Ask the two boys who used to make visits to her fridge for the treats that Aunty Praba left inside for them whether they had anything to do with it, it happened so long ago that they can't even remember.

For a good part of the remaining stay, while we talked old tales, Other Half and Uncle H'dass talked about his new toy, the camera. Seems he's going to get one for himself too! This camera thingy is rather infectious! Big boys and their toys! LOL!