When I see the family of construction workers living in makeshift dwellings on site, I wonder at the memories their children will carry of this early home.
We never forget our childhood :first playmates ,the games we played,the trees we climbed,the aroma of food and a million other details.
If you take me back to the home where I lived as a child,I can even show you where I ate watermelon and launched the seeds directly into the small pit -a washing stone in the backyard.Or where I grazed my arm really badly,or the point I launched a used tire to set it rolling down the slope,or where in the gutter I crashed when I forgot how to turn on my cycle......
At least for me I remember vividly my childhood home and all my friends.There was a permanence to those memories that was a solid block in my recollections of childhood.Happy childhood is a treasure that many of us take for granted.
The worker's children have fun playing with other children on the streets.Their mother is cooking a meal outside on the ground.The children go to a government school nearby.They are clothed in clean hand- me- downs.They seem well fed and contented.Yet ,as the house their parents are building with their hands will soon be complete,they will pack their meager possessions and start life again at another construction site.Their friends from the wealthy homes will soon erase them from their minds.
Children babysit their younger siblings and some older ones help carry bricks and sieve the sand.Another earning member and the family breathes easy.Maybe they can now afford tidbits from the hotel,a new dress,a pair of slippers or a movie.
The parents continue in making the new place a home.If the father isn't drinking and beating the family in fits of sudden anger,they are able to provide a reasonably good home in every new home they help build.
I hope these children carry happy memories of the people who lived in the various streets and treated them kindly.They got to play owners of a dwelling they helped take shape by living, eating and sleeping for a year under its roof.Their tears and laughter are in the very bricks they carried with their small hands and the sand they frolicked on with the stray dogs.
The smell of hot food and voices of sleepy children drift through the streets and the poor playmates slumber for a time in a large house with a solid roof,electricity and water.I hope this life impels the young to work harder and desire to own a strong little home of their own.Their children will have their own neighbors as playmates and they don't have to live on borrowed joy for the most precious and innocent phase of their lives.Let them carry good memories of the place we call home.
We never forget our childhood :first playmates ,the games we played,the trees we climbed,the aroma of food and a million other details.
If you take me back to the home where I lived as a child,I can even show you where I ate watermelon and launched the seeds directly into the small pit -a washing stone in the backyard.Or where I grazed my arm really badly,or the point I launched a used tire to set it rolling down the slope,or where in the gutter I crashed when I forgot how to turn on my cycle......
At least for me I remember vividly my childhood home and all my friends.There was a permanence to those memories that was a solid block in my recollections of childhood.Happy childhood is a treasure that many of us take for granted.
The worker's children have fun playing with other children on the streets.Their mother is cooking a meal outside on the ground.The children go to a government school nearby.They are clothed in clean hand- me- downs.They seem well fed and contented.Yet ,as the house their parents are building with their hands will soon be complete,they will pack their meager possessions and start life again at another construction site.Their friends from the wealthy homes will soon erase them from their minds.
Children babysit their younger siblings and some older ones help carry bricks and sieve the sand.Another earning member and the family breathes easy.Maybe they can now afford tidbits from the hotel,a new dress,a pair of slippers or a movie.
The parents continue in making the new place a home.If the father isn't drinking and beating the family in fits of sudden anger,they are able to provide a reasonably good home in every new home they help build.
I hope these children carry happy memories of the people who lived in the various streets and treated them kindly.They got to play owners of a dwelling they helped take shape by living, eating and sleeping for a year under its roof.Their tears and laughter are in the very bricks they carried with their small hands and the sand they frolicked on with the stray dogs.
The smell of hot food and voices of sleepy children drift through the streets and the poor playmates slumber for a time in a large house with a solid roof,electricity and water.I hope this life impels the young to work harder and desire to own a strong little home of their own.Their children will have their own neighbors as playmates and they don't have to live on borrowed joy for the most precious and innocent phase of their lives.Let them carry good memories of the place we call home.
Mam, I am spell bound after reading this. This is so common in the cities, as new infrastructure is building up, but yet never gave a thought, or rather never had enough time to give a thought... This is one good article, that will compel everyone to rethink on where are we heading towards... A happy childhood is every child's dream, that many of us take for granted... But a kid who has been through tough times only understands its value... Let's cherish our happy childhood days and try to make other kid's days a happy and beautiful memory to the extent possible.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding us of those golden days of life...
Days spent well, that will never be relived again!!!
Yes Aman childhood memories are very important.
ReplyDelete