Fond Memories
I drove around the city today and while waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, I happened to look up at the sky. A beautiful white cloud sailed past and I wondered, ‘oh! yes, it looks like a baby tortoise.’ My mind drifted back to the nights when my little granddaughter would read the story of the book that I authored, My little Baby Tortoise, in her baby language, to her mum. Her mum had shared a photo of one of those delightful moments with me. Beautiful thoughts always bubbled into my mind whenever memories of my grandkids and their stories crowded in.
The maple trees that lined the road had many leaves glowing in orange and brown hues of Autumn. It was an artist’s delight, I thought, looking at the trees adding to the blissful moment I was enjoying. The thoughts of my grandkids crept in and danced in my mind occupying most of its space until the traffic lights finally changed to green.
Something about these little darlings is always etched in my mind. I remember during Ganu-Denu of the Aluth Avurudu time, one of my little granddaughters came up to me with a one-dollar coin wrapped in avocado leaf to give me. It was so cute. The elder granddaughter brought two dollars wrapped in an avocado leaf. It was so much fun, and we blessed them solemnly.
While busying myself around the house, I noticed that my little granddaughter had a runny nose, so I asked her to drink some hot water. But the water I poured into her cup was so hot that she couldn’t drink it. ‘Olu, I will show you how we used to cool tea in Sri Lanka.”
And then, just as we practiced in Sri Lanka, when making tea, I poured the hot water slowly from one cup into another and then back to the first cup. My granddaughter watched with rounded eyes as the water flowed from one cup to the other.
Then she very sweetly asked, “Aththamma is that the way you make tea in Sri Lanka.” She remembered that I came from Sri Lanka!
I said, biting my lips to suppress a smile, “In way-side tea shops, that’s what they usually do when they are in a hurry to prepare the tea.” And wasn’t she happy when she got her water fast and at just the right warm temperature to drink!
My granddaughters also held a pretend class at home during the Avurudu weekend. I was made a student along with Olu,the younger granddaughter, while the elder one became the pretend teacher.
“Girls, if you want to talk to the teacher, put up your hands, don’t talk out of turn.”
The little granddaughter, who was also a student in the pretend class, quickly put up her hand. I also raised my hand at the same time, just for fun.
“Aththamma, two girls can’t talk at the same time. If you do that, one of you will be sent to the naughty corner,” the pretend teacher said very seriously.
“What is the naughty corner?” I asked, surprised.
Remembering that when we were at school if we were naughty, we were sent out of the classroom or made to write sentences a hundred times, such as “I will not talk out of turn.”
And the pretend teacher then took great delight and took a long time to explain the meaning of the naughty corner!
Again, biting my lips, I had to suppress a smile.
Their concentration span is so small that in five minutes time, they wanted to play musical hats instead. That was really funny. Every time Olu, the younger granddaughter, was caught with the hat on her head when the music stopped, she burst into tears. She still has to learn to cope with the idea that everyone cannot win at the same time. So, it took a while to explain the rules to her again and again.
When we were playing musical hats a car horn tooted and in came Mithu, the youngest of all the granddaughters, just two years old.
She met me after two whole months, but she came running from the car straight to the porch to greet me. It was such a tender moment, and I still wonder how she remembered me after such a long time.
Time flies and with it, memories. But some fond memories will linger long after the moments themselves have passed. Grandchildren and the times spent with them are fond moments like that.
Diyamanthi Galpoththage – Auckland
