My family and.... etcetera (3): The Diamond Gardens on Sundays
The earliest memory is of Narulla building, of course. We had two large foldable metal cots. On some weeks, we would have them kept separate on either side of the window that looked out at the turn off of 21st Road towards Chembur railway station. On other weeks my parents would experiment placing them together so that all four of us would be together. I can never remember a sleepless night and we would always be up and out of the house by 8:30 a.m. to reach wherever we had to go.
We did not have a refrigerator and we had only vaguely heard of it. We did not know about this strange machine. We kept all our clothes and belongings in metal tin boxes almost like suitcases, below the cots.
We did have a longish balcony and on some days in that most wonderful location, me, my sister and our neighbours, Jyoti Radhakrishnan who was my age, and Ajji (probably a short form for Rajita), her sister, we would play at some games, steadily, for hours.
On Sundays, our grandfather would take us, all four of us, and Bina and Ashwin to Diamond Gardens at 4:00 p.m. to have a free run at various games. I remember that I can never recollect walking all the distance from 21st Road to Diamond Gardens and back, especially for my grandfather, who would have been 71-72 in those years of 1970-1971.
He had never used a walking stick until much much later. Jyoti and Ajji were our closest friends in those years and we have lost contact with them since we moved on to Wadala and later. I do wonder about them on certain moments and I hope they remember me and my sister.
Bharat Bhushan bharatbhushan@yahoo.com
7 September 2022
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