I thought I would add a new word in my blog every day so as to avoid the boredom of ‘my’ monotonous stories.
He is my uncle and he died when I was not even 1 year old. He was very brilliant and he had a rich poetic mind. We have a collection of some of his works and I must say that they are so beautiful. I have been using his dictionary form my childhood and I have a special attachment for that. The pages are still so fresh as was him when he died of Malaria in his 20’s.My mom says that I was the only kid in our family whom he used to play with and share his love…
Azure- bright blue and it is quite a poetic word
*Bam boo zle-mistify,cheat,trick*
The person Tom Jose is seriously misunderstood by practically everyone in our family.
My best memories of him was my brother being afraid of him, the way he would bring us all those small toys and play with us. I still remember this one time where he brought a small toy helicopter which you could launch using a small rubber thing. He tried an ambitious launch and the toy landed on the roof (The part above the present kitchen). He climbs up breaks about 10 roof-tiles making Amma/Kunjachan/Ammachi all angry as he jumps down.
But the best memory would be me waking up on my birthday, (the same day he was coming back from someplace), waiting on the steps, and him giving me “Letters from a Father to his daughter”, with a personalized message. That was not the gift I wanted. And he knew it too. I was always fascinated with his collection of electronic devices and small components. What I wanted was an access to that. I didnt say anything. That evening, he comes with a big box in his hand, hands me over his entire tool-kit, soldering iron, a box full of resistors, capacitors, diodes, a part-assembled radio, some more stuff… Tells me to always “experiment” and shine.
The next time I saw him, he was lifeless in a wooden box. Pale and his face had stitches fresh. That was the day I understood what death was, what it meant and why people cried when someone died. I cried, a lot. I still do. I cried the say Joseph chettan came home the first time after his death. Same happened at his ordaining ceremony.
By the way, I still have that box and most of the stuff with me. The soldering iron, the box in which he gave me those things, some circuit diagrams, soldering paste. The capacitors went bad (leaked) years back, ruining the jar full of components. But those circuit diagrams and his drawings : Still have them, will keep them and will give it to the next “geek in our family”
But where was i wrong in what i know about him?If its the poetic mind of him,then i had read some papers of him which is with ammachi.And what is poetic to me may not be so for u.That i can agree…And if its about the claim that i was his only pet ,then i may say that i dnt even remember a glimpse of him.But i have always felt that love for him.U need not always have special happenings in ur life where some one can prove that ‘See,..now u must love me’…Mom used to say that he is used to play with me not as it was with u bcz then i was not in an age to walk even.To play with a kid can be in a different way also and i think it needs some patience too.If he was some what eccentric, then he might have had some love or playfulness in being with a small kid..
All i wrote there under his name was that i like his poetic mind and that he was briliant(every one in our family has good brains!!).And the dictionary…I do have that with me and its looking fresh even now ,as i wrote.The only thing i think which made u nervous is my next claim,and i am ready to correct that….
Or was this whole comments equivalent to saying:’No babe ,u had nothing better than me if its his case.’
Nothing more to say.Thanks for ur comment!!!
Err. I have , nowhere in my comments, claimed that you were wrong. Did I?
. All I said was he was misunderstood a lot. And I still stand by that. Most of us still dont know what he was.
. I think you misunderstood me too.
I didnt even counter your statements anywhere, especially about a poetinc mind. All I said was that I had a different experience of him and I wasnt even contesting