It’s amazing … isn’t it? the summers …. holidays… cousins, friends, no home works, no moms yelling, no lousy food preparations….

To my understanding, it’s the only period that we …. Vikram and I considered heaven. we always met during summers, his and my periamma stayed next to each other  and our parents were always more than happy to get rid of us…..

Vikram was crazy…he always was into the imaginative world of his own. he made sure that i joined him there.. i always was an integral part of his ad hoc adventures…. sometimes i was the princess, sometimes the police and sometimes the saviour…. for some odd reason he enjoyed playing the bad guy… and contrary to all the fables we heard and wisdom our respective periammas tried to drill into us … he was the one who always won..

i remember once he actually climbed a coconut tree while attempting to flee from the police which  was me of course… and then i had to find half a dozen annas to get him down from there….

one other thing Vikram was crazy about was cars… he knew make, the model, year of manufacturing, manufacturer, colours, launch dates, issues, pros, prices…… i mean you name it and he knew it….. i use to be mesmerised at his over growing data base and ability to remember it all….. when we grew up and out grew our age of role play we moved to car magazines…. he use to get dozen of those when he came to periammas house….  the glossy pics and new updates where always the high lights  of conversations…..

slowly and steadily the stay at periammas house decreased in proportion to increase in age… what use to the long summer now became days …. the role plays and magazines were now replaced by laptops and ad hoc talks about life and college…. the running around the groves was replaced by walks on the beach….

the cars however remained the common topic between us … he had now become a successful automobile engineer working with the brand in the market, and me i was associated with the glamours world of showcasing these cars….

Vikram and i lived a lifetime together .. joined by cars, which car for our respective marriages, which for the kids to come, which one with the dog coming in, which one with more space, which one with more luggage …..

i kind of knew all his preferences, his likes, his dislikes, his favourites, the one he count stand ….the one he loved and admired and the cars whose sight he hated the most….it was a life time spent together knowing and predicting his likes and dislikes….

Last night his wife called…unaware of time, lost for words…. dead calm yet screaming to core…. in the most poised manner she asked….. what car ?

i didn’t know… we never really spoke about it, the last car he would like to ride in…..

(Periamma – Aunty)