SPEAK, MEMORY

Extract from email sent to Jay: U will be surprised by this mail! I have a neighbour who is connected with ecology and at times gives me some literature to read on related subjects. I saw in a copy of THE EXAMINER your appeal to TREE FRIENDS for volunteers to help in conservation. I saw your email ID in it and am sending this msg! U are now a foreign citizen but were born here and were educated here. Your family were our valued tenants at 4 COCONUT AVENUE for about three years and U went to collegel with me Tanya.  After my wedding to an army officer we lived in various places and finally have come back to settle in 4CA. Having found U I thought we could renew contact.

Extract from email received from Jay: Dear Tanya, Your msg indeed came as a total surprise. I long to hear about CA, as the memory of those days still lingers.

Communication from Tanya to Jay:

At our ages while in college we didn’t quite understand CA. My dad has given me the full details handed down in turn from his grandpa who was a headman of the village which became a town and then a city. The town came up in the midst of a large coconut plantation. My dad’s gramp it appears planned the first road wide enough to allow two bullock carts to pass together! That road became CA and cut through a number of coconut besides other trees. You will remember the neem tree which faced 4 CA with its huge trunk. I was told it was over a century old. We were sorry when lightning struck the tree and felled it. It had blocked CA for full two days till the logs from it were hauled away. With its exit CA remained bereft as it were. Despite the name there are no coconut trees left on this road!

Perhaps you remember the roadside tap at the end of CA where people used to collect water. Next to it was a large solid earthen basin. My dad told me the basin was to provide water for horses harnessed to carriages in days of yore. This was removed as the road was widened.

I’m sure you remember the open ground opposite our house where kids played hopscotch. It was next to a large vegetable garden from where we used to receive vegetables. The entire area has been converted into a school with four floors. Movement of children, parents, vendors, traffic and so on creates noise which has to be tolerated. That is the price for development!

We had a bicycle repair and hiring shop opposite. It was shut and converted into a motorbike repairing shop. But that too was closed and it has become a fast food joint. The odours of the dishes has becoming inviting. We often order dishes from that joint.

You may remember the well which had existed behind our house. It was 40 feet in diameter and water from it used to be lifted by levers with men riding on it. We have watched the process with great interest seeing water flowing to crops in the fields. The agricultural area has vanished giving way to big buildings. The well has been closed and in its place there is a 3 storey building housing a gym.

 You might remember the old building on CA which was owned by Abu the tailor. He had lost customers due to the flourishing trade in readymade dresses. The building remained unoccupied for a long time but now it has been torn down and houses a post office on the ground floor and a bank on the floor above. And above it is a medical shop. There is one more floor  which is vacant and it is said a software company is taking it on lease.

I have referred to the tailor Abu. He was quite competent stitching the old style of clothes. It was he who stitched our dresses when we enacted a drama in college. He had a sister who would stand and stare at us sucking her thumb as we went to school. The poor thing was mentally handicapped but was nice looking. I remember the shock in the faces of our neighbours when they learnt that the girl was in the family way. She had no way of communicating who the culprit was. The family didn’t want the foetus destroyed and the girl delivered twins who were normal in every way. Her story doesn’t end there: On CA we used to go past a printing press equipped with ancient machines of Caxton vintage owned by Pete. Pete was friendly with Abu and would visit him now and then. With Pete’s wife producing twins wagging tongues started rumouring that Pete could have taken advantage of Abu’s sister. The truth came out and Pete had to provide for Abu’s sister also. Pete couldn’t support such a large family and sold the house and machinery. It was bought by someone who wanted to build a movie theatre but it seems he lost money playing the stock market. The property was auctioned and now after years of litigation houses shops selling kitchen ware.

 You might remember the big house number 7 on CA which had a tiled roof and was unoccupied as it was said to be haunted by the ghost of a woman who had committed suicide in the building. The owner died intestate and it was years before the successor was established. The man who inherited was quite rich and he demolished the old structure and has built a massive edifice where lectures are held besides music performances. Besides, it has become a place for holding family functions with unlimited guests. The result is streams of vehicles coming in. Though CA has been widened, it is is congested with cars and two wheelers parked everywhere. I shall upload photos to show the present state of CA but unfortunately I have no pictures of the street as it was in the days we were together!

This excavation of memory showed me the meaning of time passing and nostalgia for the past. It saddened me as I write about a time which will not come once again. I will love to hear your response.

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