Living Spaces
Personal Essay
The breeze was bracing and it stirred the leaves of the elms, oaks, and the Moreton bay figs into a genteel dance. I touched the scarred trunks of the River Red Gums as I passed by them. I told them I was far from home: and asked them to send a message to my trees back home — the Gulmohar, the mango, and the laburnum — that they were still, and always, a part of my heart, wherever my feet and my fancy took me.
That early in the morning, there were not many people in Flagstaff Gardens. The broad swathes of tarred walkways, the wide, wide sweep of ancient tree trunks, the cheerful chirps, whistles, twitters, and cheeps of birds I have yet to know the names of, lent the atmosphere magic that I was glad to be part of. Being tropical creatures, both of us burrowed deeper into our hoodies, as we breathed in the freshness of the morning. It is summer Down Under and we welcomed the touch of cold before the raging heat of the day began.
There are beautiful things happening in life, I thought, as I superstitiously touched living, breathing wood. We get to meet our sons when we want to, and our two-year-old Diva, Anya. Yet, we have decided that we won’t stay with them, but separately. We value our space as much as they do theirs, and it is not fair for either family to encroach on each other’s spaces.
This is not the Indian way: and I faced some banter when I told some of my relatives that we would have a separate establishment. “Why do you want to go there, then?” I was asked bluntly by some of them. Thankfully, my husband, too, feels that it is an encroachment of personal spaces if we insisted on staying together. I could have: many Indian parents do. But since we are looking at a longer stay this time, I thought we should stay separately.
I know that the jury is out on this one: but what do you feel is the right course of action? Would you prefer staying with your children, or separately? Do let me know in the ‘comments’ section. Tagging a few writers here for feedback and opinions and anyone else who would care to join in: Sandra Ravyne Hawke Sujona Chatterjee Patsy Fergusson KSHernandez Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles Parvathy Omanakuttan Suja Sukumar Kannan Natesan Margie Willis Somsubhra Banerjee Tamil Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) Dr. Preeti Singh Neera Handa Dr TzeLin Sam Umme Salma Shanice Lawton Carolyn Hastings Jane Frost (Jane Grows Garden Rooms) I. Trudie Palmer
Thank you for reading.
©️ 2022 Suma Narayan. All Rights Reserved.
Tagging three wonderful pieces of writing by veteran writers with magic in their words and the flair they use them with:
