Geetha Narayanan

93 Naduvakkarai Geetha Narayanan

In every adult there lurks the child he or she once was. This could be the reason why memories of childhood and the events and incidents of that time lasts longer. This could also be the reason why we are able to establish an immediate rapport with similar stories of those innocent days when we hear them. The fascination for such stories could be due to the longing to recreate the magic of those years when one heard similar stories from one's parents or, and here the effect is even more captivating, one's grandparents. Though most of us have had these experiences and are able to remember them, it requires a special talent to recreate them without divesting them of the magical component. This is what Geeta Narayanan has done in these remarkable vignettes. Here are the short, elliptical excursions into that wonder world, a world that is receding gradually. In these pages come alive such quaint characters as the family retainer, the mali, the grouchy driver, the unobtrusive governor whose presence went almost unnoticed. There is the English teacher who has eccentricities, and the ubiquitous milkman who has all the cunning and wiles of the traditional peasant.