Page 23 - Cherished Memories of Yesteryears - A Collection of Grandparents' Life Experiences

“Share and care foster
close family ties!”

My Grandma’s name is Rajeswari.
My Grandpa’s name is Ramkumar.
My Grandpa worked as a manager
in an engineering company.

Grandma has eight siblings and ten
cousins. There were 18 adults and 25
children in the family. In their old
house, they used to have five rooms, a

beautiful garden and a small lily pond with little When she was 22, she graduated from the
guppies and goldfish. Five kids would squeeze university with first-class honours. After she
and sleep in one of the rooms while the adults married, she joined the teaching fraternity as an
would put a mattress in the living room and sleep. English teacher and later retired as a principal.
A few grown-up cousin brothers will take the bed It was great fun as she enjoyed teaching curious
to the open terrace to sleep under the moonlight. kids, especially her daughters Archana and
Grandma used to envy them for sleeping on the Bhuvana. It was a great experience.
balcony but felt grateful when they complained
of mosquito bites. When the ladies insisted they She retired in the year 2013. A fortnight after
also sleep on the terrace, they used to scare us by she retired, her first grandchild was born. Her
saying a secret terrace monster shows up at night. name is Aryamba. His two grandchildren, Poorni
So they felt scared to go up in the dark. and Skandha, were born four years later. My
granddaughter Aryamba always loves to hear her
We learned to accommodate and care for each other. childhood stories, and she has promised to share
We also learnt to share our books, toys, stationery, new stories every other weekend over video calls.
bags and almost everything. Grandma, the
youngest, always wore her elder sister’s loose- Aryamba Baskaran
fitting clothes. Primary 3.5 (2022)

Cherished Memories of Yesteryears 19