tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5653188975343905818.post7423301040016330562..comments2024-03-23T15:12:26.734+05:30Comments on Reinventing memories: Reaching outSantanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5653188975343905818.post-21442758209319110832010-06-28T01:06:12.230+05:302010-06-28T01:06:12.230+05:30There is a weekly column in Metroplus a supplement...There is a weekly column in Metroplus a supplementary of The Hindu called "Madras Memories". I know nothing of Calcutta but your post Sir, is very similar to those columns. They took talk about the Madras of a golden age...Vaishnavihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08829055456233904866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5653188975343905818.post-65011944980048091952010-06-22T10:15:12.523+05:302010-06-22T10:15:12.523+05:30"....how the earth put on a pirouette dance f...<i>"....how the earth put on a pirouette dance for us with the nearby trees and houses rushing past us while the distant verdant hills moved around to meet us. It was magical before we ate off the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and discovered angular displacement and other Muggle stuff."</i><br /><br />I just love it! But don't you ever delude yourself thinking that it's only the 'muggle stuff' that needs mugging up! for, Harry Potter knows better!Kaushik Chatterjeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08712252983920471892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5653188975343905818.post-49364486470957098082010-06-07T18:56:08.911+05:302010-06-07T18:56:08.911+05:30Joe - I remember you describing the "Number P...Joe - I remember you describing the "Number Please" telephones of Changanacherry. Very interesting indeed.Damunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5653188975343905818.post-92114987404091696052010-06-07T18:48:03.722+05:302010-06-07T18:48:03.722+05:30I am an avid reader of the daily column in The Hin...I am an avid reader of the daily column in The Hindu titled "This day that age", which covers a few major events published in the issue exactly 50 years ago. Just 2 days back this column carried a news item from 1960 stating that the Queen was planning to visit India the next year. I read this aloud to Nandini, Sachin, and Pranav, puffed my chest, and spoke at length about how I had seen the Queen, as she and the Duke of Edinburgh drove out of the Race Course in Calcutta on her visit in 1961 - the same open car, I guess. After she left, I remember people whispering that the horse that she had bet on, lost !Damunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5653188975343905818.post-59607467957795683002010-06-06T09:52:29.877+05:302010-06-06T09:52:29.877+05:30Santanu,'Reaching out' reminds me of the y...Santanu,'Reaching out' reminds me of the year the Train came to Chanaganacherry. It must have been '58 or '59 because there were only three of us children in the family then - me my younger brother & the eldest of my three sisters. Even the inaugural run was an event, we stood on an overbridge and gazed down at the chugging monster below, the 'huge' funnel on the engine belching black acrid smoke. The best treat was of course a ride on the train to Ernakulam to my aunt's place, a distance of about 70 kms covered in 3 hours to 7. <br /><br />When you ride on a coal engine train the trick is to get a seat facing backwards. That way the worst of the rice-sized cinders escape your eyes. But that was for the adults. There was something specially thrilling in gazing forward out of the cramped window through screwed up and watery eyes at the landscape rushing past - the best part I remember is how the earth put on a pirouette dance for us with the nearby trees and houses rushing past us while the distant verdant hills moved around to meet us. It was magical before we ate off the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and discovered angular displacement and other Muggle stuff.<br /><br />The train may have ushered in a economic revolution but for my mother it was social chaos. Relatives and relatives of relatives used to descent on us from the hills to the east or the wetlands to the west. Since the only train was at 6 in the morning, it was perfectly logical to spent the night in our house. Those initial days our house was more like a flophouse than a home with one or more groups sitting around making small talk while my mother rustled up dinner and arranged sleeping space here there and everywhere. But coming from a family of 9 children it took more than a dozen unexpected guests to faze her.Joenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5653188975343905818.post-65335988943790600752010-06-03T11:56:46.205+05:302010-06-03T11:56:46.205+05:30I am afraid what I write below has nothing to do w...I am afraid what I write below has nothing to do with Kolkata.<br /><br />'Go back, Clinton!' reminded me of what a Vietnamese colleague of my son told me once.<br /><br />A whole generation of Vietnames once used to yell 'Yankee, go back!'<br /><br />Their progeny, the present youth of Vietnam, has put the atrocities perpetrated on their fathers by the GIs behind them. Rather than lick their wounds, they want to get on with life. They are quite taken up by the American way of life - metal music, beer, cigarettes, minis, dating and all - and cry out 'Yankee, go back, but take me along!)wannabewodehousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13203391268297565393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5653188975343905818.post-89404632247380109102010-06-03T10:06:11.293+05:302010-06-03T10:06:11.293+05:30We also stood on the balcony of a flat on G C Aven...We also stood on the balcony of a flat on G C Avenue. I still remember her lovely pink gloved hands. Even now when I see pics of the Queen I look out for the colour of her gloves. But nothing matches as well as those pink gloves seen by the eight year old!bhawaninoreply@blogger.com