Childhood Memoirs - 1

This incident happened when I was 4 years old, staying at my grandparent’s house in Kottayam. My dad was posted in Ernakulam, and he used to stay with us, at Kottayam. He used to travel the distance of 68kms daily to reach his office. I was in the upper kinder garden and was suffering from severe cold. Over the 25 years, I have been unable to find remedies for my sensitive nose, stomach and skin. They react badly to any changes.

My mom was taking care of me, and she was trying to get me to drink some hot milk. I was not feeling well, and was irritated with my condition, which did not allow me to go out and play. The frustration, which was building up due to the restrictions imposed on me, prompted me to ask her to let me out for sometime, so that I could get some fresh air and also drink the milk. Since it was hot and sunny outside and also since my mom knew how frustrated I was, sitting in the house all day. So she agreed.

I went out into our gardens, and in a particular corner of the garden, there was a tank, which was built during the renovation of the house, for watering and curing of bricks. The construction work was still going on and the tank was holding muddy water. The tank was 4feet deep, and I was a little under 3 feet tall at that time. I went over to the tank and started going around the sides. I did not know when I slipped and fell into it. To make matters worse I did not know swimming. I cannot swim even now, which is one of my biggest regrets in life.

Suddenly what I saw before my eyes was so different. While going around the tank, I could see the trees and plants in the garden, my mom shouting at me to come back and drink some milk and other normal things of the garden. Now what I could see in front of my eyes was water, muddy and yellow in color. I could see the dirt floating around, dirt which was lying in the bottom, but was brought up due to the impact of my fall into the water.

I don’t know how, but I knew that I should not continue breathing normally, so I did not try to suck anything through my nose and mouth, and looked around the tank. Suddenly, amongst the yellow water, I spotted something at arms reach, which was shining and was dark yellow in color. I caught hold of it, and to my amazement, I was lifted out of the water immediately. The shiny object was my mother’s bangle.

In one swift movement, she pulled me out of the muddy waters and took me out, and then gave me two painful spanks. In addition to this, I got a sound scolding from my grandparents. I was fully drenched in the dirty water, and I had to be given a sponge bath inspite of the fact that I had cold. All the precautions went waste, as I had to be taken to a doctor the next day, as I was running very high fever. So much for my first adventure in life.

I would not have drowned in the tank, but since I got to mom before she fished me out, makes this event a special one for me.