My Books

  • John Donne (my best)
  • Shakespeare
  • Anything by Terry Pratchett
  • Lord of the Rings
  • The Little White Horse
  • Wind in the Willows
  • Secret Garden

Monday, 28 February 2011

A Long, Long Time Ago

When I was a small baba a big treat was to go on a picnic. We would go out towards Dum Dum, find a green spot and sit and eat from a dekshi warmed over a makeshift fire. No matter how lonely the place seemed within minutes we were surrounded by children curious to know who or what we were.

One of my enduring memories is of playing George Harrison's Within You Without You to them - they understood the sitar music but not the words - in fact the gramophone was in itself a thing of wonder. Desmond sat and sketched and we played rounders. I remember talking with Gail on one of these picnics about how we would have a horse farm out here one day and breed racehorses. They were magic days - as the Cornish would say 'given days' of beauty and charm.

There were other country days - some people owned houses out of the city and we would go en masse to spend the day - still rounders and sitting under trees listening to music.

I remember one day being allowed to drive a jeep by Kalden Dorji - shrieking with delight as we bounced over pot holes. I also rememebr being very miffed that Gail was a natural!

Why is it that we look back on these times as such golden times - ~I remember feeling hot and bothered and yet it still looks like a golden mindscape to me. It was on one of these days that Desmond found Clive's house and mess, another spent on the river watching old Calcutta pass us by and another at Diamond Harbour squelching merrily knee deep in mud. Children in England have their bike rides and days at Alton Towers - I was so lucky to have so much more.


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