( 1 )
In the morning of that day, I had set out from my house with my father, saying that I would go to school, study well and acquire a job. Even when I was four years old, I used to speak about learning and getting a job. I think that the idea of studying and acquiring a job came to my mind from the continuous talks of my father and mother. They always spoke about this matter and I just repeated it! Whatever it might be, I was really enthusiastic to go to school. Here, I want to point out one thing. The nearest school to my house was an English medium school, where only pupils from rich families studied. "I am very poor, that is why I am going to a school which is a little far away from my home", I thought. It was a Government school and the medium of instruction was Malayalam, my mother - tongue.
The memories before I went to school, include mainly, three things. The first one, which is interesting, can be described like this. One day, my mother and I went to South Hill, where my father was working as a Rubber Tapper, to give him tea and snacks. The South Hill, as the name denotes, stood in the southern direction of our house, a small hill owned by one of the rich families in our village. When we almost reached the top of hill, a rabbit crossed the narrow pathway through which we were heading high. It touched my legs, and I was afraid, excited and screamed. My mother told this incident to everyone, everyday & every week. As a result, it was deeply rooted in my mind forever. Therefore, the image of a young girl, leaping excitedly, still engraved in my mind.
The second important event in my life was the birth of my brother. It was the year 1978, December. My memory is only this. I, my maternal aunts, Molly and Laly were standing in front of my house. My father was in the hospital, with my mother. When an elder woman from the neighbourhood returned from the hospital after visiting my mother,the aunts became very anxious to hear the news. She told us very loudly,"A boy, a boychild". Hearing this, the elder aunt, aged 17 years,leapt excitedly. "A boy in our house, a boychild in our house", she told loudly, dancing. The younger aunt,aged 15 years was also excited. There was a clear reason for their excitement. My mother had three sisters - one elder and two younger ones. The elder sister had two daughters and the younger ones were minors. Thus, my brother became the first boy in my mother's family. Eventhough my family was a patriarchal one, they rejoiced in that moment and I remember that the aunts came to my house to look after me in the absence of my mother. Later I went to the hospital with my aunts to see the child. We waited outside for the visiting time to start. My mother stood on the first floor and stretched her hands towards me. Eventhough my memory is a faded one, I remember that I was reluctant to respond to her gesture. I had already become a shy person even at that age and was timid to appear in public places.
The third memory is related to the building of our house. If my memory is correct, I lived upto my 5th year, in a straw - house. I remember people filtering soil for the purpose of building the house. I remember seeing a sketch of the house in the hands of my father. Everyone was proud of the new house. When the new house was built, its roof was covered with tiles. It had a chimney and the fire place was similar to one of my neighbour's house. Its walls were made of laterite stone and its flooring was with cowdung.
