ZOOM AND CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

Zoom Fun and Childhood Memories

Thanks to Mahen and Rajan, Zoom has made it possible for us to see and chat with our batchmates again, some of whom we had not set eyes on since our days in med school. Their task of trying to accommodate those of us from the North Sea to the Antarctic has been a challenge, to say the least, and I am ever grateful for their efforts

I participated in my first Zoom meeting on the 23rd of April. My appearance on the screen elicited an immediate exclamation -“Rohini, you’ve changed so much”! It was no surprise to me, as most of my colleagues had changed not an iota since I last saw them in med school. I wished they had shared their secrets to eternal youth with me!

The second Zoom I attended on the 8th September elicited a few similar responses followed by personal emails of surprise at how unrecognisable I had become! It led me to search for a verse I had written some years ago, of a time when I thought youth was forever!

The verses describe my childhood in Kurana, Negombo. Many details in the verses may not interest anyone, as they were only my reminiscences of a time long gone. However I have now sent it for posting in the blog if considered suitable.

My thanks to my friends who triggered the retrieval of these forgotten lines.

Childhood Memories
(photo by Vickie Wade)

 Of eternal youth I dreamt
 As glorious years of childhood I spent.
 The tortuous journeys that lay ahead
 Uncharted then to comprehend.

 Life was full of laughter and mirth,
 I felt I inherited the sky and the earth.
There was nothing I’d long for - there wasn’t a dearth
Of anything I fancied as my life unfurled.

A childhood spent in nature’s splendour
Of acres of flora and fauna to savour -
Watching Woodpeckers, Kingfishers, and Parakeets I‘d favour
To musing on beetles which rolled dung with fervour.

I wandered enchanted in our garden
Of trees with flowers and fruits well-laden -
Mangoes, Cadju Puhulams, Blackberries and coffee,
Pomegranates, Gauvas, Damsens and Lovis,
Uguressa, Nannang, Avocados, Billing,
And Oranges green! Who’d think it could be
This Eden would have no Apples for temptation!

‘Neath the Nelli tree I walked with trepidation -
It’s trunk and branches blanketed each season
With furry caterpillars who with acrobatic contortions
Descended to the ground down gossamer silken.

There were squirrels with nuts, and chirpy birds
And butterflies so beautiful beyond any words.
Even centipedes and millipedes with myriad legs
Precisely synchronised like trains as they sped.

Scorpions and snakes weren’t absent from the scene
As under flower pots they played hide and seek.
The occasional victim of their sting
Wouldn’t dare to risk another fling.

Sirisena the gardener was Hercules on show!
Who loved to landscape and clip and mow,
His grandma was our cook- she held the floor
After tasty meals, to relate folklore.

I watched the cows and goats being milked
And herded to shelter in their sheds on stilts!
Trixie the terrier - had his ears in a twitch
Eyeing fluffy, cuddly, yellow chicks

Came tea time there was fun on air,
With picnic times for teddy-bears !
Or walks with Alice through looking glass
In “curiouser and curiouser” wonderlands.

At eventide the circadas played
Their high pitched melodies for fireflies to dance
Over roses which lit up and swayed to entreat
More of the flickering troupes to prance.

The lakes and marshes over the hill
Had their own orchestras when nights were still.
At a much subdued and baritone pitch
The amphibians sang their own little gig.

Times by the sea were a special treat
With buckets and spades and sand-caked feet.
Watching boats go out as the sun dipped to sleep,
Colouring the horizon a crimson deep.

The night sky had its own enchantment
Spotting Orion was a pet recreation.
Shooting stars - I awaited with patience,
Across a sky of twinkling constellations.

At Vesak the garden saw much fanfare,
With ‘Atapattams’ and bucket lanterns everywhere
For us children to light under supervised care
Once been to the temple for worship and prayer.

Christmas time was as much fun,
On tall fir trees glittering baubles were hung,
Kinsfolk gathered for a sumptuous lunch
And around the piano carols were sung.

Gifts were galore, but the greatest fun
Were the games we played whether lost or won
Amongst cousins and aunts and uncles young -
I wished the day would ne’er be done.

What a life it was!  I take no blame
For thinking I was in heaven made!
Such enchantment could not fade
From my memory after all these decades.

Infinity then I held in my hands
And ‘worlds’ I could see in those grains of sand.
As only Blake did understand -
A “speck” in a cosmos unfathomably grand.

The joys of childhood were beyond measure,
I couldn’t envision it changing ever-
My dreams that youth would last forever
Now priceless memories I’ll always treasure !

Rohini Anandaraja