I was born in 1945 in a remote village Kadammanitta in Pathanamthitta district (previously Kollam) in Kerala. This is basically a hilly area.

When I say remote, the point is that in terms of distance it was not very far from the present district headquarters but the communication system was rudimentary. It was not connected with townships. There were no roads. That was the situation in majority of remote villages in India that time.

Two years after I was born, India got independence and I must say that when I was born the Second World War came to an end. In a way, I can say that I brought peace to this world. 

At the age of five, I joined Marthoma Lower Primary School, Parayanolickal, run by a Christian denomination. It was roughly about a three miles walk from my home. 

Since we are at present in the middle of the monsoon season, I am reminded of my school days.

It would rain very heavily those days. For days, we won't see the Sun. It would be difficult to figure out the time given that we didn't have watches and clocks those days.

But we had devised an interesting way of finding out the time to reach our school. 

As we walked on the shabby roadside, there was a raised area or a boundary sort of a thing with tiny holes spread over a distance. Inside those holes were tiny spiders waiting to catch their prey. 

So, when the spiders were seen at the end of the hole, we would come to know that there is time for school to start but if the spiders were inside we would run knowing that we are late. They would work as clocks and watches for us. This is funny but true. And it worked ver well till we passed out of the primary school.

Life was very difficult those days compared to now when kids have all the facilities. But I must say that we thoroughly enjoyed that life.

To be continued.....