We lived on Languard road in Shirley, Southampton.Everything I saw was reason for excitement. There was one large window in the house which i lived. It had a frame and a thick glass, no grill that was new and then! the window opened out upwards. All my life i saw windows that opened out sideways.our house was on the roof LITERALLY and when i stood looking out through the window "I am the kling of the world" i screamed inside. (ok ok........... queen of the world)
Every morning at 6.30 am I looked out of the window and I saw a lone cyclist brisk past my window, she seemed to love to be up early. Then slowly a few cars kinda lazily moved on the road.
8.15 am and there bustling activity down in the street.A mother of four took her children to school.One baby on the pram, one little fellow on a skate and two walking along her briskly. they rattled of tales about school to her and she pushed hard and hurriedly as she nodded incessantly.
About 5 mins later I saw a black woman dragging herself, with her son's school bag in hand.The son was a lively fellow, stopping to peer at stuff on the road, asking her questions, telling her something..........always bubbly but the mother never looked like she was intersted in what the boy was saying.On some days the dad came and then I knew where the boys liveliness came from.
I had to leave the window for a while,.. my husband must be leaving to work anytime now. Soon I was back at the window waving him bye bye and staring at the long haired little girl who went to school with her mum. golden hair, two braids, down to her knee almost ,she was I suppose 7 or 8. By 9.15 am the street below me fell silent I saw the strech of cars lined up on the road. They looked like army tanks to me,just waiting for one whistle!
For the rest of the day till about 3.30 pm there was just the occassional Zoooom of cars. Then came all my morning favourites, children filling the ears of mums and dads with the days stories.
When it was 6 pm I was looking out through the window but dint see much 'cos I was hoping to see my husband's car. When he did come with tea cups in our hand we stared together at the bright sunlight at 7 pm (unheard of in India). He kept looking out the window and slowly told me "everyday I try to figure out where the south east is and look at it thinking, ah thats where home is"
Out of that huge window I saw, ships, airplanes, fire engines, trash trucks, cats, dogs, birds and much much more. For the window made be feel SO out of the house when I was still in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.thats why i liked it best.
Thursday 8 November 2007
Monday 30 July 2007
I walked into my english books
It would have been a dull world if we all spoke the same tongue!........oh no!, may be there would have emerged so many dialects and accents for that one language and the world would have been as amusing as it is today. I long to learn many languages and talk and talk and talk no matter wherever I went in this whole wide world. Alas Iknow just 2 languages Tamil and English and, man! I love them both like mad.My dad put in me a great thirst and love for English.So in my mind's eye I SAW every poem and lesson that was taught at school.Wordsworth's 'solitary reaper' and I SAW a lass reaping, it was a vivid picture,his 'upon westminister bridge' and I SAW a bridge on the Thames.Tennyson's 'brook' and I literally SAW a tiny river.When my teacher taught -as a lesson- an essay of G.B.Shaw's I SAW picaddily circus,paddington and charing cross. Yes I saw them all in my mind's eye
And then one day in may 2007,I walked into all my mind's pictures. I saw the moors of Southampton and wordsworth's words I could hear, I was in London on the westminister bridge and I heard Wordsworth again, I was in the isle of wight and I saw Tennyson's house ,then I heard him say the 'brook' for me.I was in paddigton and charing cross and I heard G.B.Shaw.
oh yes yes I went to England to live, to visit, to enjoy but most of all i went to England to just walk in to my English text books.My heart leapt,danced, laughed and indeed wept for sheer joy
Tuesday 3 April 2007
Faces without names
“As I wrote the previous entry I realized that there are faces of people I remember so vividly but their names I had never bothered to find out or remember”.
After school everyday my mum would come and pick us up for the long bus ride home. She would come at 5.00pm and by then we would have played for an hour. There was a boy about my age with whom my sister and I played. He was'nt from our school (a school for girls) but he lived in the convent. He was so much fun, he was very fair and his hair was golden in colour. A couple of years he was'nt there. If I had the ability to draw I’d draw his face to the last detail even today. I just never asked for his name.
In the school canteen were sales women, all- as if made to order in the same height and shape. I remember 2 faces both spectacled but one brown the other fair. They and their blue aprons I remember and yes! They would speak Malayalam and call it Tamil. Buns, samosas, elantha vadai and a whole lot of things I had bought from them, and sometimes fought with them. Umhum never knew their names.
Under one of the huge trees in school sat an old cobbler, really old. I just loved to sit next to him and watch him work on my torn shoes. I fell in love with mending shoes. He narrated incidents as he stitched and was such a kind man. As I write in my mind’s eye I can see his face- haggard, mouth with no teeth and white hair…………… his lungi, his soiled white shirt and his paraphernalia. I wonder what his name was
Opposite to my granddad’s house was a workshop for auto rickshaws, many mechanics and painters worked there. As children when we played in the street we stopped to see them work and even spoke to them. Believe me I saw one of them on a scooter, after a long gap of 15 years and I recognized him. I waved to him he cud place me only after seeing my dad who was with me. I shd have asked for his name.!!!!!!!!!!
The list is long and the nostalgia strong, as I recollect those faces without names, they bring back to me the sweet aroma of childhood
…………………….Oh the unforgettable “iceman” at school waving his hands menacingly when we touched his cheap displays: mangoes, oranges, sweets, candies…………….he surely must have had a name?
After school everyday my mum would come and pick us up for the long bus ride home. She would come at 5.00pm and by then we would have played for an hour. There was a boy about my age with whom my sister and I played. He was'nt from our school (a school for girls) but he lived in the convent. He was so much fun, he was very fair and his hair was golden in colour. A couple of years he was'nt there. If I had the ability to draw I’d draw his face to the last detail even today. I just never asked for his name.
In the school canteen were sales women, all- as if made to order in the same height and shape. I remember 2 faces both spectacled but one brown the other fair. They and their blue aprons I remember and yes! They would speak Malayalam and call it Tamil. Buns, samosas, elantha vadai and a whole lot of things I had bought from them, and sometimes fought with them. Umhum never knew their names.
Under one of the huge trees in school sat an old cobbler, really old. I just loved to sit next to him and watch him work on my torn shoes. I fell in love with mending shoes. He narrated incidents as he stitched and was such a kind man. As I write in my mind’s eye I can see his face- haggard, mouth with no teeth and white hair…………… his lungi, his soiled white shirt and his paraphernalia. I wonder what his name was
Opposite to my granddad’s house was a workshop for auto rickshaws, many mechanics and painters worked there. As children when we played in the street we stopped to see them work and even spoke to them. Believe me I saw one of them on a scooter, after a long gap of 15 years and I recognized him. I waved to him he cud place me only after seeing my dad who was with me. I shd have asked for his name.!!!!!!!!!!
The list is long and the nostalgia strong, as I recollect those faces without names, they bring back to me the sweet aroma of childhood
…………………….Oh the unforgettable “iceman” at school waving his hands menacingly when we touched his cheap displays: mangoes, oranges, sweets, candies…………….he surely must have had a name?
Thursday 8 March 2007
I remember their names
Over the years i've realised watching people is far better and enjoyable than watching TV. Names of people are to me more remarkable and interesting than people themselves. We lived with my granparents till I was 8 and during that time an old man sold puffed rice every evening. my grandma bought puffed rice on and off.That man had a limp and I knew nothing about him, but I remember his name was why-ya-puri.
One lonely lady lived in a single room house and we ran passed her house as we played every evening,thats abt all I knew of her .I remember her name was Saroja
Then we moved to our house which was then very very far away from coimbatore town. one huge family lived there the father brought us drinking water and the mother was our maid. one of their sons brought home a pigeon he had trapped and displayed it proudly. he was'nt a friend and i never spoke to him. The next thing I know he was dead -electrocuted a week later. And that was 20 years ago. I remember his name was Aaran.
There was just one small shop that would provide petrol and air for the vehicles when v were starnded in our village vadavalli. Oh yes the owner rented out bicycles for 60 paise an hour. His wife I had seen, never spoken to, no one spoke about her and she died a few years ago . I remember her name was Rita.
My sis and I travelled in the famous 1C and we had numerous bus mates whom we only saw every single day. One guy who went to Carmel Garden travelled with his mom who was a teacher in a neighbouring school. He completed school in a couple of years and I never again saw him. He died in a swimming accident in the USA a couple of years ago. I remember his name was Suraj
I wonder why these names remain in my memory though I have forgotten the names of many of my classmates and students whom I have taught. I dont have an answer.Can any one think of one?!
One lonely lady lived in a single room house and we ran passed her house as we played every evening,thats abt all I knew of her .I remember her name was Saroja
Then we moved to our house which was then very very far away from coimbatore town. one huge family lived there the father brought us drinking water and the mother was our maid. one of their sons brought home a pigeon he had trapped and displayed it proudly. he was'nt a friend and i never spoke to him. The next thing I know he was dead -electrocuted a week later. And that was 20 years ago. I remember his name was Aaran.
There was just one small shop that would provide petrol and air for the vehicles when v were starnded in our village vadavalli. Oh yes the owner rented out bicycles for 60 paise an hour. His wife I had seen, never spoken to, no one spoke about her and she died a few years ago . I remember her name was Rita.
My sis and I travelled in the famous 1C and we had numerous bus mates whom we only saw every single day. One guy who went to Carmel Garden travelled with his mom who was a teacher in a neighbouring school. He completed school in a couple of years and I never again saw him. He died in a swimming accident in the USA a couple of years ago. I remember his name was Suraj
I wonder why these names remain in my memory though I have forgotten the names of many of my classmates and students whom I have taught. I dont have an answer.Can any one think of one?!
Tuesday 6 March 2007
Dreams
The music in my dreams
As a child I had many dreams.........u might want to call them fantasies but no fantasies r those that u know as fake and false from the very begining. But dreams fulfilled or unfulfilled let ur heart soar high. I dreamt I wud be a BBC news reader, i'd write a book about my grandad, make a movie about my dad. Sail the seven seas incessantly, make it to the army . I dreamt I wud never marry but live with my sister "until death do us part".None of them have come true yet. still when I recollect my childhood dreams I see a new me. Then for a moment I am a child again and dream new dreams, to be a musician someday, to be a tour guide, to be a cobbler.........oh cant dream now got to go............................my mom just called on the phone
As a child I had many dreams.........u might want to call them fantasies but no fantasies r those that u know as fake and false from the very begining. But dreams fulfilled or unfulfilled let ur heart soar high. I dreamt I wud be a BBC news reader, i'd write a book about my grandad, make a movie about my dad. Sail the seven seas incessantly, make it to the army . I dreamt I wud never marry but live with my sister "until death do us part".None of them have come true yet. still when I recollect my childhood dreams I see a new me. Then for a moment I am a child again and dream new dreams, to be a musician someday, to be a tour guide, to be a cobbler.........oh cant dream now got to go............................my mom just called on the phone
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