Gone Machine

This may have become museum piece.

But if your fingers effortlessly do a நர்த்தன் in your modern key board, we owe a lot to our training in these years ago - lower, higher grades.

My memory goes back.When a bunch of cousins, we approached the Master at Lakshmi Institute, behind age old Lakshmi Theatre at Devakottai. The Master said, "sorry, all slots are full. I can't help."One ingenious cousin, not a one to give up easily shot back, "Is your 4 a.m slot also full?".

Master stared and hesitantly said, " we open by 6 am only."My go-getter cousin said, "Master you give the key, we will practice from 4.30 to 5.30 or six and we will leave after 6 am slot students walk in."

Master handed over one key out of his two sets.

For about two months we practice till our college opened after summer vacation".The adjoining one is 100 years old Narayana Vilas restaurant. There too, after type practice, in the restaurant too we were the first to walk in and enjoy the steamy ghee Pongal sprinkled with roasted cashews. Can Pongal go alone? Yeah, it went with its accomplice, the piping hot methu vada. 

The days we can't go back but live in happy memory only.