That Patch of Green Behind the Bright Yellow House -- A Snippet of Life

ojaantrik · Jan 6, 2015

Aria said: ↑

Dear OJ,

The unwavering reason for my FB being the third entry though I chanced on this post the day you posted (holds good for other posts where probably I've never responded) is that you are redoubtable, yes formidable to me that I judder when I think of ack-ing your post. Where and how do I even respond to this literary luminary.

As Satchi highlighted, I doubt if it is a pen or a brush you hold to sketch vignette of sepia days. There are posts that depict poignancy but educe pity, that express hilarity but elicit grimace. You are someone who take the readers on a frenzied ride of emotions that it is impossible to express when one gets off from the rollercoaster and feebly mumble "ineffable". You outstand here for various reasons but you still reign here for only one reason —unexceptionable writing. I'm being very selfish here. Do write more, one day I'll be able to type a commensurate feedback.
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Dear Aria,

I am wondering why our ways never crossed before this day. Clearly I need to catch up on your work. Thank you for your wonderful words. You appear to have understood why I write at all. I write because I simply love this hobby. And I write about all kinds of stuff. However, my habits are not too regular. So, I disappear every now and then, occupying myself with I hardly know what. Let me see if I can change my ways. I had revised what I put up yesterday and requested Cheeniya to repost it for me, but I am not satisfied with the output yet. I will work more on this and see which fairyland it transports me over to. I guess I am gradually building up a version of my own Malgudi Days. It's part fiction but part true life as well. This is the world I live in now, at least when left to myself.

Best wishes friend.

oj

ojaantrik · Jan 6, 2015

Viswamitra said: ↑

Dear Sri Ojaantrik:

What a lovely recall of your past experiences with great language and catchy love story. When you started off with Kamala Bastralaya, I thought it was a related experience but apparently other than the location, KB has no relevance in this post.

I am not sure whether your objective is to keep your writing skills sharp at this age but I see clearly a peripheral benefit you derive by recalling your childhood experience. You keep your memory strong.

Let me address first the tragedy that struck the Dr.Sen's family. What a nerve-wrecking experience it should be for the young widow to lose a husband so quickly after the marriage especially in the yesteryear when remarriage is farfetched. No wonder, the whole family pampered the child of the lost son to make up for the love he would have enjoyed from his non-existing father.

Bachchu's love story is so attractive especially when we think of the years in which it happened. Your friends' circle should be one heck of a disciplined group to keep that secret away from the parents.

I wonder what made you not to call Bachchu when you happened to see him pass by after so many years. Perhaps, you enjoyed a magnificent life of Bachchu so much so that you don't want to hear any sad part of his life.

I am not sure how you feel every time you see the apartment complex replacing the old traditional house you had seen always as a young boy. As Kamalji, your posts bring Calcutta in front of my eyes, a city I had never been to.

Viswa
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Dear Viswa,

I don't have a sharp memory of anything other than my own Malgudi days. Everything else that happened to me or I saw happening to others appear to have too insignificant by comparison. I think I write because I enjoy writing. Actually, I was not even aware of my love for writing till I aged.

Yes, you are right about the peculiarities of those bygone days. I feel happy that young people like you find them interesting. That makes my life today worth living. I too wonder why I didn't rush out to speak to Bachchu. Perhaps, despite the fact that I live in the past, I may want to keep it a part of my memories. I want Bachchu to remain the young lovelorn chap I knew and Dahlia the fabulous beauty that she never can be again. But I did commit a stylistic error in this story by refusing to reach out to the middle aged Bachchu. I had said earlier in the tale that the universe turns back on itself and that I was caught in the trap as I inquired about the past from a friend from the same old days. So, what made me simply watch Bachchu pass by?

I don't know for sure.

ojaantrik

ojaantrik · Jan 6, 2015

Balajee said: ↑

IJ welcome back. another moving trip down the memory lane after Kamala Bastralaya.
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Thank you so much Balajee. I guess I am travelling back in time these days. The world around me has begun to look like an absurd drama that I cannot follow anymore. But these wonderful characters still live in my heart and they make sense. Who knows, I may slowly by turning into the inventor of the Time Machine created by H.G. Wells. Once he applied the reverse gear, he simply never came back to the present.

Thanks again Balajee.

oj

ojaantrik · Jan 6, 2015

kelly1966 said: ↑

Dear Oj Kaku
HAPPY NEWYEAR!!!
it is always a treat to read your snippets!!.. loved the description of old Kolkatta.. got me thinking of My Father in law's house was in Ballegunge Place not too far from Rasbehari.. lovely shopping at Gariahat and the Bedouin chicken rolls!!.. HMMM..
BUT kaku.. I wish yopu had gone and met Bacchu and Dahlia.. they would've felt good too
Kerman
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Quite right Kerman. Ballygunge Place was not too far away from Jatin Das Road. And right now I live closer to Ballygunge Place than to Jatin Das Road. Physically speakingF only. For my mind still searches those nooks and corners of Jatin Das Road alone. The road looks so totally different now than it used to during the age of innocence. I want to bring the players alive in these pages, for I do love them all. I knew that the Bachchu question would bother my friends here. Why did I not call out to him? I am not sure if I know the answer clearly. But one answer could be that I didn't have the courage to face a Bachchu who had changed from adolescence to middle age. I didn't want my world of illusions to be torn asunder by a Bachchu who would never ever fall in love again.

That's a good enough reason I think. But you might turn back and ask me then why it was that I probed the past with Tapas, a friend from the same generatio. Should I not have avoided Tapas as well? The answer is probably a "no". Tapas too had a story of his own and I had no way of finding out where that story had led to. One of these days, I will write about him. That too is a story with tear stained smile.

Love.

kaku

ojaantrik · Jan 6, 2015

satchitananda said: ↑

OJ-da, I am already there, moving back in time. I am often chastised by my older sib who tells me I need to live in the present, but I am quite happy to exist in any period of time that my mind takes me too and where I find some peace and happiness. :-D
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Dear Satchi,

Yes, we all have a past as well as a present. Some have a future too. Finding the right balance between requires you to be a genius. I am yet to come across one.

oj-da

Srama · Jan 6, 2015

Dear Oj-da!

Happy New Year to you! Nice to see you back here and what a beautiful narration. No Oj da I am not saying that just to say so. I have been on and off IL, saw your post and finally when I found time to read....my mouth is still wide open. You did take us through the house and its happenings with precision and perfection - it was like watching a movie! If only the house could tell that story, it would be nodding and telling us that you have done a better job. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Kamla · Jan 7, 2015

Dear Oj-da,

This is my second attempt! Erased my looong feedback with one bad click, unfortunately!

Why Oj-da, seeing the picture of your house, I felt I too am a resident there!! Bengal or Bangalore, the heartbeat is the same in all of our cities I feel! I recognize the green windows, the grills, the trees and the compound wall! Only, ours was a corner house and had a little garden surrounding it. The opposite corner was an empty common ground and the other corner was the house of the Iyengar lawyer and his large family. Next to them lived a doctor uncle with his wife. They had one daughter who paid rare visits to them with her White husband! I remember gawking at them from behind the windows for it was a rare sight those days!

Well, see what you have done to me! I am all ready to write my own snippet about my old home inspired by you! Nostalgia! Goes to show how you take your readers along with you, same thing with Kamala Bastralaya! I feel like I have just stepped out after watching an offbeat movie by say Rituparno Ghosh or his likes! Leaves us wanting more.

Only, you have an amazing memory of which I am envious of. My memory is very vague now hope that is not something to worry about?! Those three brothers have nestled in your heart. I totally understand that you could not call out to your friend when you saw him after all those years. It can get awkward I guess. Better to live with the memories, they are somewhat sweeter?!

The title in itself is so catchy, who can resist it? That patch of green behind the bright yellow house? If anything beats it, it is the last line, that you wake up to the yellow house that the Chinese occupied to this day! Come to think of it, I do too, wake up in my bed facing the window where a strand of bougainvillae peeps in from the outside parapet wall above the window....Childhood memories may be foggy, but not erased!

Nice to have you back this new year dada. The year seems to be giving..brought you back along with Aria, Satchi who was away for a while, Kamala and wonder who else?!

Happy New Year to you and thank you for the treat!

And yes, Kamalji has already brought this to our Finest Post nominations! Cannot be any other way!

L, Kamla

Aria · Jan 7, 2015

Kamla said:

Nice to have you back this new year dada. The year seems to be giving..brought you back along with Aria, Satchi who was away for a while, Kamala and wonder who else?!
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@Kamla,

I'm an orbital poster who intercepts luminescence ("Good to Read" forum in IL) periodically. I had no clue about the resident posters and the visiting posters anymore these days. But the irradiance from the posts, in a week after crossing 2015, is too bright that I reasoned it was that time of the galactic celebrations where flashes of intellect, wit and banter produce bursts more radiant than the celestial gamma rays.

No wonder the lost travellers are reaching home following that glow as compass.

ojaantrik · Jan 7, 2015

Dear Srama,

Happy New Year to you as well. Great to hear from you. Right now I am travelling and will be back home tonight. This snippet was written partly on my cell phone which explains why so many typos have creeped in. I tried to make amends with my laptop but it didn't help much. I try to remain tech savvy but love the good old desktop the best. Anyway, I am happy that you enjoyed reading my post. Clearly I am receding backwards in time these days. Perhaps I want to relive my life, or at least parts of it. Bitter sweet memories. They are what keep me going.

Love.

oj-da

iyerviji · Jan 7, 2015

OJ da nice to see you back this New Year. Wish you a very Happy New Year. Congratulaions for the nomination. It was a nostalgic trip as Satchi has mentioned. Its always interesting to read you posts. Thanks for sharing your sweet memories. You made us feel that we were also there with you. Some of our great writers are missing here in snippets , hope to see themback. I am still there and will be completing 8 years this September in IL