CHENNAI: Perhaps the most endearing thing when talking to people about their childhood memories is these little glimpses into the past. It’s almost like a curtain or a veil is pulled away and you get to see them as children without the masks and trappings of who they are today, the public persona, the seniority, the adulthood. Anita Ratnam, the effervescent dancer and performer, says the same thing.
“I think that for all of us, whatever the social media mythology projects about us, somewhere we want to go back to that unfettered innocence of childhood,” she says. She remembers playing Parama Padam with the family, and shouting and screaming for the right number to fall on the dice, and groaning with despair when she went down a snake. She also recalls her grandmother, who married at the tender age of 12 and used to play many games with her.
Anita recollects that they would step back a little as her grandmother would play with such gusto and competitive spirit, it was almost like memories from a stolen childhood that she was trying to relive. Her cry of naan jeichitten or “I have won” was uttered with such delight that Anita remembers it with fondness even now. Perhaps the advantage of looking at childhood through the eyes of adulthood is that you see things with the wisdom of age, and yet realise that as a child you did understand these things at some level.
It was equally endearing to listen to MV Subbiah, former chairman of the Murugappa Group, talk about how he played Gilli Danda and marbles, and how his pockets were always full of marbles. He also remembers the game of Pallanguzhi. “My mother was excellent at Pallanguzhi.
The mathematics and the counts...
no one could beat my mother. She was a champion.” These endearing and nostalgic memories of childhood of the comfort of play and fond memories of parents and grandparents are what make these conversations so wonderful.
Timeri Murari, the popular author also remembers his childhood with great fondness, and how he spent all his pocket money on marbles. He reminisces about the fine collection that he had. “We had wonderful colours,” he says.
“And at that time, there was such a huge collection, so we always kept looking for a more beautiful one. And when you were playing, you were trying to capture someone else’s marble or you lost your beautiful marble to a friend who was a better player than you.” He also remembers how they flew kites, and his brother was always borrowing his pocket money because he was a kite fanatic.
They never made their own because they couldn’t get the bamboo to bend just right. So, they decided to go professional and buy it from a kite expert. Sowmya, who has wowed audiences with her mesmerising voice also talks about the marble collection.
Her eyes light up with glee as she describes them. She also remembers a fight with her mother who took a few marbles. “How dare you touch my trophies?” she asked her mother.
Vidya Singh, an event planner and fitness enthusiast has different memories. She remembers picnics on Elliot’s beach. “Nobody picnics anymore,” she says.
“Elliot’s Beach was deserted, so we would take packed food and picnic there.” She also remembers, time spent at her grandparent’s farm nearby, where they all slept, dormitory style, and spent hours playing wonderful games, especially four corners, a popular game typically played in pillared courtyards. Dr Krishna Rau, a leading medical practitioner from Chennai was a classmate of MV Subbiah at PS High School.
He laughs when he hears MV Subbiah’s comment that Krishna Rau was “not the gilli danda type.” Dr Rau’s fondest memories are going to the cricket matches at Chepauk and sitting on the wooden slats watching the match and carrying packed food. He also remembers with a smile, enjoying the thenga manga sundal at Marina Beach.
He reminisces about Madras as it was and remembers coming home in a jatka, when he was 6 or 7, from the station with his mother during the Madras floods. “Some things have not changed in Madras,” he says with a laugh. M Ct.
P Chidambaram or Chiddu as he is known, remembers growing up in T Nagar, running, playing, and enjoying himself with his cousins. He also enjoyed watching the plays being staged at Vani Mahal next door. He remembers being in awe of the actors who had no stage fright.
But for him, it was the pleasure of growing up in Indian culture with numerous cousins and enjoying their time playing together. As the secretary and correspondent of the M.Ct.
M Group of Schools, he recognises the need for children to have more balanced lives. “The parents need to switch off,” he says. “There’s too much helicopter parenting.
Parents want to make sure children are busy all the time. There is very little time for unstructured play.” One of the most delightful conversations I had in the last week or so was with Letika Saran, the former DGP, and her 95-year-old mother.
It was delightful to hear the camaraderie and teasing that went on between them, with her mother accusing Letika of stopping their weekly Scrabble games because she was afraid that her mother would beat her. Letika shrugs this off with a laugh and talks about how she used to play with her younger sister. “The problem was,” she says, “that her sister would start howling if she lost.
” “Would you ever give in and let her win,” I asked her. “If you let her win once, she was happy, but if you let her win more than once, you would never hear the end of it.” The childlike glee that permeated all these conversations and the fact that almost everyone ended by thanking me for taking them back to those wonderful childhood memories made this a memorable experience.
What better way to see life in Madras than through the eyes of a child? To capture these delightful video interviews, do check out our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@Kreeda_Games/featured and enjoy the Memories and Madras playlist, or simply scan the QR code.
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