Poppins

To cool my burning mouth I drank the milk only to realize my mistake in a short span of 1 second. The milk was hot and I got hiccups. I landed up doing sit ups every few seconds. I was so angry with the waiter for giving me hot milk, with my dad for laughing at me and at myself for thinking that I can eat spicy food.
Eventually I had no choice but to give up the soft fluffy appam. My father lovingly took the remaining appam from my leaf and enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast.
As we waited at the counter to pay, I noticed a line of glass jars filled with colourful candies.
“Appa will you please buy me a candy?” I pleaded
“What candy you want?” he asked me
“Poppins” I didn’t want to lose an opportunity to buy the most expensive candy in that shop.
I was expecting Appa to give a long lecture about dowry and how we should save money. But he didn’t
He bought me a poppins. When he handed me the poppins, a long tube of rainbow coloured candies wrapped in a silver foil.I was so happy. I hugged him.
As we walked to the bus bay, I slowly opened the silver foil. I prayed that the top candy is red. I liked eating the red candy. It colours my tongue red.
I was so delighted to see that the top candy is red and immediately put it in my mouth. It felt heaven. The sweet candy melting in my mouth was a delightful feeling and my hiccups vanished. After I finished eating, I wanted to see my red colour tongue.
I tried to stick my tongue out to see.
“Don’t blame me, if strangers hit you for sticking your tongue at them, Nina? Appa spoke
My father must have been watching me all the while
“I am not sticking my tongue at anyone. I just wanted to see my red coloured tongue”
“Are you not going to share your poppins with your old man, he asked me?”
“If the old man wants, then he can buy a new one, besides you know candies are not good for you” I spoke, trying to hide the candies as far as possible away from my father.
“Look, it is Shankaran”, My father pointed to someone behind me and I turned to look. In a second Appa snatched the poppins from my hand
“Give me back my poppins”
“try and get it” Appa held the candy above his head
“don’t forget, Candies aren’t good for you”. He spoke.
I tried to jump and get the candies from my father’s hand. Unfortunately he was way too tall and I gave up trying like the wolf in Aesop’s story.
I sat on the bench with a pouted lips and a small tiny tear in the corner of one eye. I knew Appa’s heart will break if I cry.
aiyeee How can my Kochumaharani cry for silly things like this”
Appa lifted me up and gave me a kiss. He lowered me down and still took a candy from the poppins tube before giving the remaining poppins back to me. He got the green colour one and I didn’t mind. I don’t like the green candy that much.I ate the rest of the candies while waiting for the bus.
Finally after a long wait the fast passenger KSRTC bus to Trivandrum arrived. Everyone stoved and pushed and crowded near the door. Appa lifted me up and carried me up to the bus window.
“Nina, climb inside the bus and save the spot for me” he commanded.
I did as he told me and climbed inside the bus. I was so worried, what if Appa didn’t get to enter the bus and the bus leave without him. Where will I go?
People were trying to sit on the seat next to mine
“This seat is taken” I kept telling them, while at the same time looking for my father.
I was so relieved when I saw Appa getting in to the bus. Somehow he pushed and came near where I was sitting. He sat down next to me. The KSRTC buses didn’t have any window glass. Each window has a black canvas that passengers tie to the corner. if you didn’t tie well, the flap will swing and the rain water will enter the bus making the passengers wet. I enjoy seeing people struggling and holding the canvas sheet, so that it won’t open while the bus is moving. Appa tied the canvas tightly. Only a little bit of the corner was open and I could still see the fields rushing past as the bus travelled.We got of near the Junction. I looked for the thatched roof and I couldn’t spot it. The fields were flooded.And the bund was not there in most places. The strong current in the creek has washed away most of the bund.Appa held my hand and we walked carefully over rocks and stones and as we reached our paddy field I cupped my hand and shouted
“Thangammoo, Methran Thambi’s Thangammoo”
My father looked at me stunned
“What did you call your grandmother?”
“Thangamma. Didn’t you know her name is Thangamma?” I asked him cheekily
“Wait till she gets you for that, then you will know the pain of her beatings. even I have never (dared to) called my mother by her name”
“We will see” and I could see my grandmother standing on the verandha and trying to see who the visitors are.

parle poppins
http://www.parleproducts.com/poppins.html

20 thoughts on “Poppins

  1. ??????????,
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    ??????? ????????????? ???????? : techhelp (at) thanimalayalam (dot)org

  2. Ah we’ve all had this candy denial towards others 😀 I remember my days giving the same excuse to my grandpa 😀

    I still love him for his uncoditional love even when it came to the most expensive edibles 🙂

    Nice to discover your blog. Also tnx for the visit.

  3. yeah, whose days of poppins were a delight.. and to get a popins it was a big achievement. But in between poppins vanished.. and last year again i was able to see poppins.. and this time i had schol so was able ot eat as many as i can.. without any trouble :)… nice narration .. of your past:)

  4. Just the tittle is awesome. I used to love poppins. Even when I was a kid dad rarely bought us candy. I used to love eclairs and caramilk.
    So u r back to Cheganur.

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    ????? ????????????????????????? ??????????????? ????. ?????????????..

  6. Poppins was part of my childhood too. whenever we used to travel I used to keep asking till my dad or mum buy me poppins.. There used to be some candies similiar to poppins ..but poppins was the best.Another popular candy was called “Deccan Mithai” came in green wrappers ( I never used to like it) and ofcourse the “narayanga mitahi” was also there. My grandfather used to get it for me when I was small but my mother used to scoff at it saying its full of saccharin and bad for health.

    Your put down your memories very well. Every day I check your blog to see if it is updated. It reminds me of my child hood.. It is like I too am taking a walk down the memory lane.

  7. Shaniyan:Thank you for visiting my blog and for all the encouragements.. njan valeduthal, athu korangente kayyil poomala kodutha sthithi avum..pinnengane payattum?

    Dro2: Thank you for visiting my blog. and yes I cherished those candies of my childhood

    Sujit: I hvn’t eaten poppins for a loooooong time. Infact I was so jealous when I saw Dhanush blog the other day and read that he was eating poppins.

    Thanu: Before a request for candy, I would normally say atleast 5 novena and one bribe( like I will light a candle when I get enough money!!). Cadbury was a luxury.

    Annam: was the deccan mithai, the one in green wrapper, the wrapper that made kiri kira sound and we would make dancing dolls? The candy was hard and you get to crush it with your teeth and eat? I used to take candies on my birthday to school and always bought the green one..so I could use the wrapper and make dolls!!!

  8. Thanks for digging up so many childhod memories some sour (chilli) and some sweet (Poppins).
    I still pick up Poppins if I see one in obscure shops. And orange is all I am interested in. Do you remember the Poppins adventures behind Amar Chithra Katha comics? I used to love it.

  9. hee hee that was a fun read.i love red coloured candy too for their looks but I love the orange one’s for their taste but i love getting my tongue all coated in red.I never liked the green candy much either.
    and that was a great way to catch a seat in a crowded bus.

  10. Kochumaharani, that was great storytelling. We still get poppins, naranja and palli muttai in small shops in the villages–“murukan kadas”. It is the very same place one will get very tasty soda naranjavellam. Soda, naranja juice, sugar syrup and little salt. Heavenly taste. But you can’t find these exotic things in the cities.

  11. Parle Poppins.. Some good memories there. Parle really has some iconic products, the other one being ParleG biscuits. Nothing beats ParleG + tea. I don’t settle for any other glucose/arrowroot biscuits.

  12. “Look, it is Shankaran”, My father pointed to someone behind me and I turned to look. In a second Appa snatched the poppins from my hand.

    lot of time I had faced the same issue.Nice to recollect the old memories.

    Many people had already said, But I can not resist myself to say … Cool Blog!!

  13. Q8techdrive: I used to promise myself that when I earn my own money, I will have a kalavara full of 5stars!!!

    Jac:I am sure after my grandfather I am the only one who dared to call her by her name.

    Silverine: I remember those books of my childhood and how I used to wait for them. And I am glad you can relate to it.

    UrsJina:thank you for visitng my blog and glad you liked it

    Maya: That was one fun way to catch a seat, but those moments till my father entered the bus was really scary,worrying about where would I go, if he missed the bus. I liked the red poppins better..

    Dhanush:When you blogged abt poppins it was like a floodgate opened. I remembered the eri mutta curry and the poppins later. Thank you for helping me to remember all that. Am sad you didn’t get anymore poppins.

    Alexis: ah..that uppu naranga vellam..especially from the shops around the bus stands.. I cherished them. Palli muttai was my favourite.

    Mathew: We get Parle G here 5 packets for $1. My kids are crazy for them.( ofcourse, when they see their mother sitting down and eating a whole packet, they know it is good) and when we buy it from the Indian shops, people look at us funnily, like ‘you buy parle G?, CHEAP Indian biscuits in Canada? I like Parle G with milk!!!

    Joju: I always fell for that trick. My father changed the story often, ranging from snakes under the seat to my school teacher going there across the road.. thank you for liking my blog

    Known Stranger: http://www.cic.gc.ca is the govt owned web site..I used tht to migrate.

  14. yeah i can understand.even i used to worry each time my dad used to get off a train when they halted for three-four mins.I’d get so worried that the train would start without him.
    what I didn’t know then was that he would be more worried and stood by the train door thinking what would happen if the train left with me alone in it;)
    so both our worries were pointless then

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