“Life takes its course, and one must move on ‘in sync’ with it!” But this is easier said than done, and so I grieved as I recently left my home of four decades. Permit me to assuage the pain, with a trip down a happy ` memory lane’ known as 4, Ahmed Sait Road, Fraser Town.
It was in June 1958, after Dad retired, that we moved lock, stock and barrel from Bombay to our new home in Bangalore, My parents and six of us seven children (still to be settled or educated), started on a new chapter of our lives. My eldest sister who had married a few months earlier, continued to live in Bombay where her husband worked. The house in Bangalore was selected for us by one of my future brothers in law. He already had his eye on one of my sisters, and wanted her to live in the same area as he did!
Our home was called `Deer Lodge’ because of two stone deer that graced its portals. Soon however, the rather unappealing deer (and the house name) were dispensed with, to allow for extension of the house for it’s numerous occupants. I the youngest, at eight years of age, shared my parents’ bedroom in one wing, my three sisters occupied the other, and my two brothers took over the back cottage, which they named ‘The Pavilion’
(My brother Joe is a great cricket enthusiast!) Like typical Bangalore houses, this one too had a large airy verandah, which led to the central wing consisting of a drawing cum dining room and kitchen with attached storeroom. High tiled ceilings kept the need for fans at bay, for many a decade. The garden had its fair share of fruit trees – banana, papaya, guava, star gooseberry and mulberry; also enough space for everyone to indulge their gardening fantasies of colourful flower beds, which soon became a reality. Next, we hired a maid named Rosemary Ammal , who served us for a long, long time, producing mouth watering delicacies. A dog called Fido and a rooster and some cackling hens were added, thus making the household complete, in true Bangalore style!
My sisters settled into the teaching profession, while my brothers and I continued our studies. Fun, laughter and music flowed through our home as did streams of relatives and friends. The first decade was one of many joyous occasions – the first grandchild was born and many followed. My other sisters all got married. These were real fun times - preparing for and enjoying the special milestones in our family. My brothers and I used to have great fun at the expense of their suitors, and often would pile on to the romantic expeditions, like picnics and boating in Ulsoor Lake, because the poor chaps would find it impolite not to invite us out too! When my first sister got married I was `flower girl’ at her wedding. By the time my fourth sister did, I graduated to being `bridesmaid’ – a sort of ‘coming-out’ for me at seventeen, dressed in a saree for the first time and trying to behave `grown up’! I was now the sole occupant of the other wing of the house and continued to remain so till the day I left, as I chose to stay single and live in the parental home. Soon after, my brothers moved out too, to work and live elsewhere. But they would often pop in by surprise, while my sisters and their families continued to visit for confinements or holidays through the seventies. Grandchildren began to grow up and enjoy the warm simplicity of their grandparents’ home in Bangalore. Plain bread and butter and coconut muffins from the local bakery at tea-time satisfied their hungry little stomachs, and till today, widely travelled as they all are, they still want to eat the same fare, as do ‘their’ little ones. “The food in this house has it’s own special touch”, they say. Simple pleasures like cycling on the road , or rides on our scooters, boating in Ulsoor Lake and picnics to Cubbon Park and the family farm on Mysore Road thrilled them as they did us, in earlier years.
My parents disciplined us in a nice manner. “Why can’t your parties be from 4p.m.to 10 p.m.” said Dad. However, if we were home by midnight, he would not protest too much. If it was later, you could be sure he would be standing right behind the front door looking out anxiously for us to return. It irritated us then but now I understand the wisdom of his concern and also wish that parties that I have to attend now could end at 10:00 pm! When grandchildren reached their teens, it seemed to us that they were given a few more liberties. Thus life went on for us through many happy decades during which a highpoint was my parents golden wedding anniversary. The family converged for the occasion and we had much fun sharing in the celebrations which were repeated in the same church and my maternal grandparents house, where they had taken place fifty years earlier, in 1933. My brother Peter documented their lives and times on slides prepared from old photographs, and we had a whale of a time viewing those fifty golden years and earlier, during our family gatherings.
We were a blessed family, with sad times too few to remember. Our parents passed on -each at the age of 86, having lived their lives to the full, and having inculcated in us the values and principles they lived by. It was a difficult time when the seven of us had to decide to part with our ancestral home. But the bonds of unity that our parents had forged among us, took us through this process smoothly. Although I left with much sadness in my heart, I now look back at all the happy times, which I hope will sustain me through the years to come -wherever I am and whatever I do!
added ten years after…… Although I left ‘HOME’ in 1999 with much sadness in my heart, it gives me a warm feeling now to look back on those happy times. New memories of this decade are being created as the family grows and milestones continue to be celebrated. Like my eldest sister’s golden wedding anniversary earlier last year. These ‘happenings’ will certainly sustain me through the years to come – wherever I am and whatever I do! Moreover, Fraser Town has regretfully changed its face so much in this past decade,my grief at moving away is assuaged now.
