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A day in my life...




This morning I was having breakfast - the usual fare. 

Bread bought by Vidya and butter spread and St Dalfour jam by Subash. It brought me memories of my growing up years with Ava and my 6 siblings. Only four of us remain today. Shows how temporary life is. It was a holiday in 1952, I think Coronation of QE2. As is usual holidays are spent with my uncle in Batu Gajah and my cousins of whom you have heard from time to time. Much later I realized Ava and her sister-in-law had a tiff that previous evening and we had to leave the house. Ava took us to the Batu Gajah Train Station. We were all excited that we are perhaps getting our first train ride. But Ava got on the passage way next to the tracts and started walking. She told us we are going to Malin Nawar a town forty minutes away if you walk as we were doing. She had Kamala in her hips and was clutching Saro’s hand. 

She told us to go ahead of her. So we were walking by the path next to the tracks. Every often we heard cries from Venu who complained that Jeyam has overtaken him. Ava woulf admonish Jeyam for his indiscretion. Venu was the youngest of the boys and very early on, he learnt that he could get Ava’s attention if he cried. We were young and excited about the walk despite empty stomachs save for a cup of black coffee we had that morning. It was a winding path and every so often trains pass. Ava would tell us to get on to the grass patch next to the walking path to avoid being hit by trains. Walking along the railway tracks were common then as the ordinary mode used to be by bullock carts or omnibuses - the fares often were beyond our reach and the buses were few. Throwing stones at moving trains was a past time we indulged in during our school days.(that’s for another day). Anyway Ava was with us and we dared not indulge in this game right now. After an hour’s walk we arrived at the Malin Nawar Station. Ava told us to go along the sandy path along the station that leads to an housing area. Soon we arrived at a big Bungalow. Later I knew it as the house of the Chief Engineer. All of us were waiting  at the gate tending to our affairs while Ava was talking to the Lady of the house. She was a kind lady and took us to the back of the house to a dining area next to the kitchen. We were excited that we were going to have some meal. We washed our hands and legs and sat at a table. Soon a maid came along with bread and some yellow spread which I later learnt was butter. We ate clumsily and with a lot of noise while Ava still on empty stomach was pouring her woes to the Lady of the house. That was my first taste of butter and it took me another 15 years to be able to buy butter.


content (c) Ganapathy Ramasamy, mynameisgana.blogspot.com

image (c) sourced online. Please drop me a comment if this image belongs to you, for attribution.

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