Sunday Rituals: Down Memory lane

I remember a long time ago,almost two decades ago,when Sundays used to be very simple,wonderful and something I would always look for.The day would start as usual at 6 or 6.30 am with mom's Green Label Coffee in my glass/cup(Believe me,I had this "ever"silver tumbler with stripes and I would drink anything and everything from this cup alone).Whatever part of the year it was,I remember mornings were always quite pleasant.I would walk the thirty or forty feet in my compound to the gate and wait for the newspaper guy.We used to subscribe to "The Hindu" and I continue to read it even today.I believe it was and remains to be one classy,objective paper.Their Sundays were special,as were the other newspapers.It carried the magazine section which had sections on literature,art,music and the stars.When i say stars,i mean astrological predictions.There also used to be the matrimonial and employment section which caught my attention in my late teens and early twenties.It served as my window to the world.An indicator to the complications that would arise in the years to come.
After reading the newspaper on the stairs,keeping it away from my dad and sister,I would take my bath with the luke-warm water in the three-fourth filled green bucket.Chennai has always had a drought as far as i could remember.So I had to satisfy myself with the little water I had.With the perfume of "Hammam" still in air,I would dress up to go to the nearby temple.Later or there were times when I would take a bus to go to favorite temple of mine. As I grew up,I started combining a trip to the market to get fresh vegetables and greens.It was fun to haggle with the vendors.There was an advantage to this,Whatever extra money I saved,I could keep it!That saved up money would dutifully go towards buying used books at the store.
Once I was back,at around 9 am I would have fresh, fluffy,hot idlies with egg korma waiting.This would be consumed with much relish watching the program on Doordarshan.
Lunch was had with a huge number of relatives at my grandmothers place,with a huge spread and the usual national movie with English Subtitles.Post lunch slumber followed.As the family was asleep I would creep out to the nearby public library to read tintin and later on maybe catch a movie at the nearby theater.
After dinner,the family would make its way back home in a hand pulled rickshaw.It used to cost three rupees.Later on we started using autorickshaws.We would all got to bed by 9.00pm with the transistor playing old tamil songs.We would have been rested and refereshed,ready to welcome Monday.This was years ago.