My village, neighbours and the sweet memories

•           John Cannon was the most popular name in my neighborhood in sixties his house  was the only house with a television set. My neighborhood people were all at his house when a Tamil movie or drama was telecasted.   
• 
  
•         He was the replica of John Cannon of the "High Chaparral".So my brothers named him as John Canon and his wife as Victoria.           
  
•     The only reason why everyone went to his house to watch TV programmes was because none of the families owned Television set at that time.                                                                                               Another reason was, the family members were friendlier to everyone and  every one was comfortable to visit the family.                Being a child I was excited to watch the Tamil movies and followed my brothers and sisters to 'John Cannon's' house to watch the Tamil dramas and movies.          One day on our way back home from John Cannon’s house a snake crept on my sister’s foot.   
•      My sister came home and told us about the incident and when my father knew about it The next day my father bought a 24 inches screen television set.    
  
• 
  
•      After the arrival of  the television set the whole village was there to watch Tamil series in my house.Most of the late evenings the living room was full of crowdmy neighbours.     
•         The ladies came there only to watch Tamil dramas and Tamil news but the kids were there for every programme.   The living room  was full of kids almost evry evening.          
•        My favourite programmes were the cartoons and the cowboy movies.                                                                     Most of my neighbours were either self employed or work for others; none of them       were either worked with the government or at the  private sector.    
  
  
•          So the standard of life of the village people was lower middle class.  Only few Kids from the Village attended English school, my siblings were among those who attended English School.   My dad with the maximum number of kids managed to fulfill our basic needs and  provided us the best food and best clothing’s and fulfilled  our neccesities.                                During those days entertainment such as television was considered luxury.   None of us had the machines such as blender and grinder.   The traditional way of grinding and and making flour was considered the common way of living.   
  


•     The John Cannon has two sons and a daughter.   We were very happy and proud that our” Childhood neighbor" friend was a national player, in early eighties,
  


• 
  


• And at present another one from my village became a Politician. I mean He is a member of Parliament.
  


• 
  


•      Another one is a number one officer with the National AirLines of the country.Even though we were all from very simple background, today many of us live a life that ordinary people could be proud of. My humble and simple Village had produced many talented and ambitious individuals who are serving the nation and at the same time excelled in their personal and family life    
  


•     At times I recall the moment, when we all the village kids used to make our own kites and flew those in the sky.    
  


• Our long term holidays were something we really cherished. We all used to trap birds and catch grasshoppers for our mynas.