I know I have been MIA again, but I did not want to bore you guys with one more post on grief, hence the deafening silence from this end. And then a dear friend suggested picking happy memories to write about. And here I am!
The other day while on my way to work, I saw a post on the real luxuries in life and it got me thinking. In fact I had nothing short of an epiphany. I realized my childhood years in Lakshadweep were just perfect and I had all the luxuries that matter. I would go so far as to say there is nothing I would change if I was ever given the opportunity to do so. Granted, our home might have been small, but there was so much love in that tiny home.
With both mom and dad working, every household chore was divided between the two of them. Life was calm, simple, even plain at times. Everyone was fully present in the moment!
Growing up on a 6×1.5km island had its perks for sure. You could cycle from one end to the other within 20 minutes and if you felt like a day at the beach, the most you had to walk was about 10 minutes! In fact, our evening walks would inevitably end at the beach.
Everything about growing up in Lakshadweep was precious. Papa was part of the officer’s club which meant spending time at the club and he was good at both tennis and badminton. I was an exceptionally good ball picker once upon a time 🙂
If I had to pick a memory from my childhood, my weekly visits to the library with papa would win hands down. So our school holidays were a bit different on the island, we had Fridays and half of Sunday off every week and our annual holidays were split into two to accommodate the Holy month of Ramadan. Every Friday afternoon. I would ride my cycle to dad’s office and wait for him to finish up so he could accompany me to the library. I would be pampered by his colleagues and clients likewise while waiting for him to finish up. Living on an island meant everyone practically knew everyone!
We would leave my cycle at his office and then I would get to ride with him on his Bajaj scooter. The library at Kavaratti, being the headquarter of Lakshadweep, was a massive one. Called Central Library, it housed an insane number of books over a couple of levels. When the first Harry Potter book came out and the Library at Hogwarts was mentioned, the first thought that came to my mind was this library from my childhood. My first impression of the library is still very vivid, rows upon rows of shelves filled to the brim with books. Of course, as I grew, the shelves seemed to grow smaller and the books manageable. By the time I finished my 12th grade and was ready to go to university, I had pretty much finished reading most of the books twice over 🙂
Having a well-read father meant my reading list was varied and not limited to any genre as such. Plus, the librarian uncle was an avid reader too and would always keep aside new arrivals for me to browse through before they made it to the shelves. As a child, I could borrow only three books at a time, while my father was allowed seven. This meant I could take home loads of books almost every week. My father had only one condition to use his account, that I should read one Malayalam book for every 6 English books. It did seem a bit oppressive at the time, but as a parent, I now understand what he was trying to achieve. He ensured I did not lose touch with my roots.
The Central Library was located near the jetty, so these weekly visits also meant getting to see all the excitement that comes with boats ferrying folks to and from islands and fishing boats arriving with the freshest possible catch. Some days we would just wait for the boats to come in and then buy fish off the boat before we headed home.
Coming back to the social media post that triggered this memory, I now realize that I grew up having all the luxuries that actually matter and for that I am forever grateful.
