THE NAME

Valappottukal, literally means broken bangles..almost every girls collection until some time back ( i dun really know what girls would like to collect nowadays though!). Neverthless, i never had any such fancy for bangles during my childhood or rather didnt get a chance(to be explained later). Instead, i fancied collecting 'manjaadikurus' ,the small shiny red seeds of the manjaadi tree, which was in bounty during summers, in the backyards of ma paternal home. i used to collect it, competing with fellow collectors, with a sense of urgency which perhaps i never gave to anything else then. It was as though we were fighting for survival.But i did neither spare the local boys who came along with us. I had my own favourites out of them (influence of films at a young age!!). Every tym i made a collection i wud add it to the tumbler/bottle which served as the warehouse, and wud count it from 1 onwards...i wanted to make it 1000...but i dun remember reaching dat figure anytime.

Coming back to valappottukal..well, the first thing that comes to my mind is the kaleidoscope. Remember those colour paper covered slender things with mirrors and broken bangles inside, giving an illusion of colouful pattern formations everytime u shake and view through it. Initially, i thought it to be magic! It did take some time for me to digest the truth when someone told me about the broken bangles inside.Dunno y, didnt want to believe it then!

But it did teach me dat even broken bangles can make meaning! and brighten up a child's world by its simple display of colours and patterns.

But it was until i saw deepas private collection of broken glass bangles, i realised what it means to a common girl. One of those b-tech days, when i was at her home for the so called 'combine study' for the first time, she led myself and nitya to her bedroom so that we could gossip with greater ease, without disturbing others at home.

It was then that i noticed something sort of an old powder tin i guess, or maybe an opaque plastic bottle kept close to the window.On enquiry, deepa took the bottle and proudly displayed the contents...it was full of colouful broken glass bangles!! of all colours and lengths...i was quickly reminded of my brief association with bangles.

Glass bangles were banned at home, for the simple reason that it could make my hand bleed any time. Once my aunt gifted me with green glass bangles, 'kuppivallakal' as we call it and i immediately adorned it assuming myself to be a film star. And after a while everyone heard me scream, u can guess what happened.That was the end of my tryst with glass bangles. My overprotecting mom never quite allowed my association with them again. I guess i must not blame my mom coz at dat age i was many times more destructive than any other girl. I would spoil anything dat comes to me, toys , clothes or watever of that sort within no time of its attainment.And why wud i spare bangles, in fact all other kinds of bangles which i owned ( really dunno wat crap material it was made of) had shapes anything other than round shape which rendered it impossible for use. Now, i dun think dat was my fault...they just got so easily squashed...!

Guests were educated about my behaviour and discouraged from bringing gifts and toys for me. I remember with great grief how my mom locked up a multi purpose pencil box out of my sight during my UKG,which saw light only after my graduation!!! just imagine!! The box was a 'gulf' one with magnetic tops on either sides gifted by my uncle who was very generous before he got married(:P). It was baby pink in colour( it still is) and had push buttons all around for all kinda things to pop out, ranging from pencil sharpener and eraser to glue, scissors and cellotape. My intelligent mom took it away even before i could cast my eyes on it properly and diverted my attention to some other trivial tit bits of gulf junk!!

Ya...coming back to the topic...well deepas collection of broken bangles made me think of the number of bangles she would've owned during childhood! Perhaps every girl has such collections which need not always be the same.I believe all such small things matter a lot and add meaning to our small cute life!

This blog , i would like to transform into such an endeared collection of my stupid thoughts, big and small :) and hence the name!

My! one might guess whats in name but it jus terribly matters at times !
wanted to register it as www.valappottukal.blogspot.com but alas thats not available.
then i tried www.entevalappottukkal.blogspot.blah blah ...dat too isnt available.
was surprised to know that ppl think the same way as me.

At last, i settle down with www.kunjuvalappottukal.blogspot.com . phew!! wat a relief!
ya maybe i am destined to own smaller pieces of colourful broken bangles !!

Whatever...dats ok..and i think i really like blogging!
Not very sure...dun quite know if i can really cling on to this.
Nyways, dats it for now.