Sunday, January 5, 2020

For POETS and STORY TELLERS UNITED ~ Writer's Pantry ~ Home is People ~ Childhood Home



At first it was a big house, with many rooms and open space all round it.Spacious lawn on the front side,and an open verandah or shaded space about eight feet wide which had to be crossed to enter. It was an 18th Century British style house with the kitchen built on the side about 10 to 12 feet away from the man building...so it was..a building but as the family members began arriving and settling down, it became a home.

By arriving I mean migrating'.Leaving the home in another country, yes that was our real home. The place now occupied by the enemy army, forcing people to flee,escape,save their lives by running as far away as possible, across the barbed wire borders and to reach safer avenues with nothing but the dress on the body and if fortunate, the slippers on the feet. Helped by Refugee camps guided to reach surviving loved ones and hoping to make a new home, in a new land on a new space, in a new place.

Home where I was born is no more. The photograph shows a place I may call my childhood home as  my parents siblings uncles and aunts ,all lived in it together.

Home is where the heart is . This house with the number 24 was a real home –where we shared food, the games, the movies joys and pains, and books and stories. The best time where we sat in the warm sun in winters and often cooked outside. Where  Summers brought home made ice cream with fresh fruit specially mangoes. Where I started school and fell in love…with stories fables and fairy tales…unforgettable.

8 comments:

Magaly Guerrero said...

War is a terrible thief, a taker of life and security. I am so sorry you and yours had to suffer that. But I'm happy that you are in a new place, where you feel safe, your new home.

The bit about cooking outside made me smile. We used to do the same, when I lived in the Dominican Republic. All of my grandmother's children and grandchildren would come over on the weekends, and we would clean and cook and make merry. It was as your words describe, "unforgettable".

Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

Wonderful that some refugees do arrive in a safe haven! I loved reading your story – or this glimpse of it.

Sherry Blue Sky said...

Oh that lost home is unforgettable indeed. I am glad you made it safely to another home....and am sorry that war forced you to flee.....as so many are fleeing now, in so many places. I have lived in around 40 places in my life. Three of them were home. We can only be grateful for it all. Many are not so lucky.

Anjum Wasim Dar said...

Thank you All I am so honored and grateful Alhamdolilah

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

One's true home is impossible to forget.

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Thank you for this glimpse of your life your history and most importantly the treasure of your family.
I have read Manto's short stories and know of the horrors of separation through this. Humankind will never learn from its past.
Anna :o]

R's Rue said...

Tres belle.

Anjum Wasim Dar said...

Thank you Friends

Magical Mystical Teacher
Anna
R's Rue

I am grateful for your kind visit and words.