September 30, 2003

Our House

 

I was born at home in railway quarters in Gaya, India. My brothers and sisters tell me they remember coming back from school and finding they had a new baby brother. To be honest, I have no recollection of this house at all, though I do remember the next one we lived in and I might put up a picture of that up sometime.

These photo were taken in the late 1980s, but I'm pretty sure if you were to visit Gaya and were to walk around near the station you would still find the house standing. We lived in the half shown on the picture on the right-hand side. A lot of people who visit India do go to Gaya - especially if they are of a religious bent - because Bodhgaya is where Buddha was enlightened.

Click on the photos for an enlarged view.

Posted by Joe at September 30, 2003 12:28 PM
Comments

Joe, just want to say that we all want to see more items like this! More info about life and times chez Banerjee!

(If I may speak for a bunch of other people I mostly haven't met ... )

Posted by: DJ at October 1, 2003 10:50 AM

More writing on Gaya and the like might be interesting 'cept I was seven when I left and there's not a whole lot I remember. Current affairs might be much less interesting. :+(

I posted these two pictures elsewhere and one brother said the place hadn't changed at all - down to the goats!

Milan's response to seeing the spot on earth his Dad entered the world was 'cool'.

Finally, I made a mistake on the entry, the photo was taken in the early 1980s, not late ... as if it matters a whole lot. ;+)

Posted by: Joe at October 1, 2003 11:38 AM

Well, here's what my brother wrote elsewhere on seeing these pictures. Some clarification first though: Teresa, Liz, James and Angela are my siblings and Poppy was our dog.

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I remember Liz, James and Teresa had great ambitions to start up as a circus act and used to practice (mostly) inside the house on the right where we used to live of course. Because I wanted to be in on the act also (about 5 yrs old) they reluctantly let me join in. I quite clearly remember that Liz used to hold me in a horizontal position behind her back and used to spin around. Liz was the most dedicated member of the act and used to regularly practice balancing like a ballerina or gymnast on that 'verandah' wall in front of the house. As you can see there is a spiky wooden decorative piece hanging downwards and in line with the wall beneath and she used to regularly hurt her head on those spikes.

That big chimney does not exist anymore. When I was there in 2000 I was hoping to use it as a landmark to find the house as all that area is very densely populated now. The whole area is like a maze now and totally unrecognizable. We searched for our house for the best part of an hour I reckon and couldn't find it although I'm sure it must still be there because in this picture it looks like the Taj Mahal compared to the ramshackle that is Gaya now. I couldn't believe I couldn't find the house as I was sure I knew exacly where it was. We were totally lost and had lost our bearings in the end and also our rickshaw wallah was such a dummy that we decided to abandon our quest.

As a matter of great interest, Angela was born in the room on the right hand side and I'm not 100% on this but Joe was born in the room on the left. i.e. the one opposite the portico.

Who remembers that ferral cat that climbed up to the top of the tree at the back of the house and the drama that went with it? It happened shortly after Poppy gave birth.

Posted by: Joe at October 1, 2003 06:12 PM