Veda Vilas!..The very name brings back memories...A land mark in Egmore, Madras
this house, where I spent the early part of my life, is no more. As the poet said
"Old order changeth, yielding place to new'". the house, rather my home, was reduced to a rubble and is expected to yield its place to a new four-storeyed building.
My house was laid out on a plot of over five grounds; the main building consisted of a lounge (Hall). of fifty by thirty feet dimension, behind which was another hall of more or less same dimensions. And, behind it was a verandah of about ten feet width.On one side of this main bulding was a suite of four inter connecting rooms where my father was having his law library , reference books etc., and a large desk with chairs forclients/visitors.
On the southern side were the living, washing, bathing and working areas. extending upto Samy Reddy St. On the first floor the lay out was similar but the front hall was only half the size , the rest being open to the sky. Again behind this was the tiled roof of the second hall.
What was it like to live in this ancient building?It is a chock-ful of memories.
I have , as a young boy sen my mother busy as a bustling mother-hen caring for a big family. It is now that I realise what a stupendous job she had done caring for a family of boys and girls, feeding and caring for them..bundling them off to school,,nursing their bruises.. aches and fevers..How much I had taken all this for granted! ifeel ashamed . Regrets ? I have many, the things I could havse and should have but never did for the parents .. How many times have I hugged her as a symbol of thanks ? None. How many times I have behaved caddishly without considering the mental agony I had caused. Too many , too many.
