Nothing Can Replace

My last article on the chest of drawers was not just the proverbial trip down memory lane; it prompted questions on Hollywoods itself, a place I called home for nearly 22 years of my life. When I was growing up, Hollywoods, with its high ceilings, tall windows, trellised doors and spacious surroundings was a veritable mansion in the eyes of a child. When I last saw it in 10 years ago, it seemed to have shrunk in size, was worn down by over 60 years of use and was a far cry from the very first images I have of this place I once called home.
I have been researching my family tree for nearly four years now and the experience has been an interesting one, leading to the discovery of a possible fourth cousin living in Bangalore, a Renaux far removed, but probably related by blood, living in England and even visits to cousins I never knew existed! In the course of these discoveries, I came to learn that my great-great-grandfather was Samuel Charles White, a reputed surgeon in the Madras Presidency who once had an estate called El Dorado, in Madhavaram, Madras,. This discovery led to a lot of further thought and I pondered on the possible birth of Hollywoods. Questions rained. “Why did Samuel White’s son, Archibald, leave the luxury of El Dorado for obscure Arkonam?” The Anglo-Indian, even in India of those days, was a migratory bird. “Was it, perhaps, because of a job on the railways in a developing railway junction?” “If so, why Hollywoods? Why not a house in the newly established railways quarters?” These are but some of the questions that haunted me as I foraged into the past. Interestingly enough, during these forages I made quite a few possible “family connections” one of them being a Michael Ludgrove, the fourth cousin in Bangalore., but that is another story for another day.
Back to the questions on Hollywoods. At this juncture, I would like to warn the reader that the content hereafter is pure surmise and imagination on my part. Perhaps, I was told the story about Hollywoods a long time ago and if that was the case, I must have been too young to remember: so, after I made the connections between Samuel Charles White and Archibald White (my great-grandfather), I started on the process of premise and surmise. There are only three things I know about Archibald White: whenever he was mentioned, he was Archie Papa; he was a fine fencer; he was fluent in English and Telugu. He had died a long time before I was born; therefore when I unearthed his link to Samuel Charles White, I tried – given my knowledge of Norman Charles White (my maternal grandfather) – to put together some sort of character sketch of Archibald White, the creator of Hollywoods, 76 Mosur Road, Arkonam.
Hollywoods has absolutely no connection with its singular relative in California. At the time of its creation, the house was built in a wooded area in Arkonam and Archibald White named it after his second wife’s pet-name. Back to the surmising. It is possible that Archibald wanted to forge a name for himself just as his imperious father, Samuel, had done. It is possible that Archibald had visions of grandeur much bigger than his father’s. It is also possible that, like all men, Archibald wanted to build, live and bring up his children in his own home and not his father’s.
I have seen one or two pictures of Hollywoods in the 50s and/or 60s. Those dated and now blurry pictures, along with the hazy pictures formed by a vivid imagination that ran along with my research, led to further surmise. Perhaps, also, Archibald wanted to create his own El Dorado in Arkonam and that is why he bought a huge plot of land with woods all around and built – for those days, and in that small town – this mansion in the middle of the woods. And, in doing so, perhaps he had created a romantic, lushful and very English-countryside atmosphere for his children and his grandchildren, thereafter. I say so, because the one picture I have seen of Dawn Renaux (my mother) against the backdrop of Hollywoods, shows a six-year-old with lush trees stretching into the distance in the background. I am sure she, her sister, Mary and their many friends enjoyed walks in the woods and many other interesting games in a place and age that had yet to see the advent of television.
It must have been beautiful, even romantic and I am sure Archibald White beamed with joy and pride as he took his wife and young children to their new home. I am also sure a thirteen-year-old Norman’s eyes gleamed with joy and his mischievous mind might have already devised many naughty schemes in this huge house and even bigger woods! The girls, his sisters, I am sure would have started dreaming up tea parties and evening walks as they entered this lovely piece of “English” countryside. And what of Archibald White? He must have lived the life of the typical English squire, lording and surveying all before him. At the same time, he must have been quite popular with his fencing and his ability to converse extremely well in the vernacular. He must have also been quite a sturdy and swarthy man, for Norman Charles White definitely inherited those attributes.
What of Holly, his wife? I had the privilege of knowing her, if the knowledge of a three year old is worth anything to the reader. There are only two memories I have of this grand, but diminutive old lady: holding her by the hand and walking her to lunch or tea one afternoon and her funeral. I remember the wails and cries of the many ayahs and other domestics who must have worked under her as her body lay in the room she must have slept in for over a good part of forty years. She was a gentle old lady and the reader would agree once s/he realises that a widow herself, she married Archibald, her dead sister’s husband so that she could look after his then very young children, the eldest of whom was only ten at the time. Perhaps, then, Hollywoods, was Archibald’s tribute to this valiant and generous young woman?
What then, happened to the pomp and grandeur of Hollywoods? Perhaps its story is the narrative of the Anglo-Indian in general. By the time I was born, in 1976, Hollywoods was still impressive and spacious, but the veneer was slowly fading. The expansive woods had gone, much of it sold to other Anglo-Indians wanting to build their own homes, but there was still sufficient space – maybe even an acre or more – of land that belonged to Hollywoods. And, I remember climbing up custard-apple trees, hiding behind bushes and even taking the “back route” to the sugarcane fields behind Hollywoods, but it wasn’t as impressive as it must have been decades ago. The Anglo-Indian was perhaps no longer as privileged as he used to be and the same must have been the case with the White family. This slowly eroding level of status must have meant that something like Hollywoods was too huge to maintain, especially when the Anglo-Indian’s position was trending towards the tenuous. While Norman had a steady job on the Railways, perhaps it wasn’t one that could be accorded the same level of respect that was given to his grandfather, Samuel, whose photograph was once supposedly on display at the Egmore Town Hall in Madras. The Anglo-Indian’s lot was on the wane and I suppose that was reflected in Hollywoods as well.
I am not saying that I grew up in a dilapidated house. Far from it! It was wonderful, roomy, airy and spacious enough for a lot of hide-and-seek. Seven spacious rooms made for a lot of fun and my brother, Mark and I, enjoyed ourselves tremendously especially in the evenings when Norman White regaled us with stories. I must have forgotten much of what he told us, otherwise I am sure I would not be on this journey of premise and surmise! It is just that we could no longer maintain the grandeur that Archibald must have had in mind when he first crossed the thresholds of Hollywoods.
Today, Hollywoods is no more. There were moments when I felt I could buy it off my Mum and Aunt when they put it on sale, but my remoteness – all the way here in Zambia – meant the possibility of even further neglect. So the question is: “Should I be another Archibald White, and create my tribute to Hollywoods, here in Zambia?” That would be an idea, but the real problem will come when I have to give a name to the place for nothing can replace Hollywoods!

A Chest of Memories

Sometime in the middle of last night, I found Elizabeth, Calvin and myself sleeping in the right wing bedroom of Hollywoods in Arkonam. The dream was so atmospheric that I could feel it in every fibre of my being. I could smell the dark night, hear the rumble of a train in the distance, feel the coziness of the room as the fan twirled overhead, taste the custard apples on the rustling trees just outside those windows and, most important of all, open my eyes just enough to see shadows of the furniture around the room. So content was I that I could feel the glow of the dream and longed for it to continue! As the reader should know, dreams have a tendency to come to an abrupt end and mine was no exception. Long after the visions had faded away from the drowsiness of sleep, I kept closing my eyes tighter than usual hoping to get a glimpse and feel of such nostalgic magic at least once more for the night. And therein lies the irony: in trying to fall asleep to replicate the dream of a moment ago, I stayed awake and ‘dreamt’ of a bedroom I shared with my grandmother for the last four years of my life in sleepy but wonderful AJJ.

And as I dreamt, faces and moments came to life. It was in that very room that Norman and Agnes White told a curious eight-year-old that babies were sent by Jesus from heaven. It was in that very room that I began a lifelong love for reading: in fact, last year when I visited the JFK assassination site, did I remember the Warren Commission report which I had read over a couple of warm afternoons in that room. It was in that very room that wrestling matches would be held by four cousins every summer holiday, supervised and refereed by an equally, if not more boisterous, grandfather. It was in that very room where I sat and listened to J E Renaux’s stories as he lay in bed after fracturing his hip. It was in that very room one afternoon where I read an article that would create an enduring passion for travel: a Reader’s Digest dissection of the Serengeti.

Thus Memory began inundating my mind by creating a collage of timelessness! Past became present and present became past. The past was even engulfed in a future it had already achieved; the future was being mapped out by a past so sure of itself. So Memory propelled me on a journey beyond time and space. One moment I was in the quiet calm of an Arkonam evening and in the next I found myself in the hectic rush of the New York minute. I found myself finishing Archer’s Kane and Abel on the doorsteps of Hollywoods just moments before reading Silas Marner as trucks chugged up break-down hill in Ndola. Coconut rice and ball curry tickled the taste buds to instantly give way to black pudding on a balmy August morning in Hexham, England. I smiled ironically: Memory was giving me a globetrotting workout!

The last time Memory had me in her grasp, I had produced The Meatsafe, and as different voyages traversed my mind, I wondered what could possibly result from this particular adventure! I glanced around the room – the vicarious and nebulous one, not the real and tangible one – and those shadows of furniture became clearer and clearer until I could see another item of colonial and Anglo-Indian antiquity: the chest of drawers. There were two in that room, both running parallel to the bed and each on either side of the passage to the ‘dressing room’.

“I am sure we had around three in the house,” I tell myself, “perhaps the other one is in the left-wing bedroom.” Memory takes a rest now as I ponder on and roll the words off my tongue: chest of drawers. Is it uniquely Anglo-Indian? Surely, people from other cultures can identify with such a piece of furniture? With such questions nagging me, I decided to spend much of my morning doing research alongside my regular day job in the Deputy Head’s office of Simba International School. Between mandatory phone calls, visits by parents, clerical work and letters, I managed to dig through worn encyclopaedias, my on-going research on Anglo-Indians and the ubiquitous Internet to put a historic and personal perspective on the chest of drawers.

While the chest of drawers is not exclusive to any single group, it does have a rich colonial heritage and it is little wonder that it is most often associated with the British Raj. It actually evolved from campaign furniture that British officers used to transport their goods and perhaps that is why it is a sturdy, shoulder-height piece of furniture containing a range of horizontal drawers stacked one on top of the other. The British Raj and the chest of drawers developed an elective affinity for each other and by the end of the Raj, campaign furniture was evocative of the days of luxurious travel by the officers of the British army and navy. No wonder, then, that the 3 chests of drawers that graced Hollywoods, 76, Mosur High Road were sturdy, smelt of old wood and, though the sheen had since gone, were graced with ornate handles that pulled the drawers out. Three quarters of them consisted of three large rectangular drawers of little more than a metre long, while the top quarter had two smaller, square drawers that could be pulled out separately.

Memory, not to be held at bay for long, demands more of my time; and I acquiesce. After all, it can only offer my personal narrative on the chest of drawers. It is rather strange that inanimate objects, by mere association alone, can stir emotions, start conversations, become part of a family’s legacy and even forge one’s personal identity: but such is the character of these objects which are a part of my Anglo-Indian heritage! They tell a story, weaving a narrative that defines me and my growth from boy to man.

The unknowing reader might ask: “What narrative can be told by pieces of wood put together so as to conveniently store undergarments, curtains, bedspreads, cushion covers, assortments of medical supplies and sometimes, photo albums, diaries and books?” But aren’t they all little items that we use in our day-to-day lives, insignificant items that are essential to our well-being and life in general? Now and then, our associations with these obligatory articles of clothing or furniture create situations, events and conversations that linger in moments of nostalgic solitude or dominate the banter at family reunions. I am sure the reader can relate to the following lines of thought: “Remember the time you hid in the almirah and locked yourself in?” “You should have seen the look on Jack’s face when we caught him with his hands in the cookie jar?” “The most hilarious of all was the time Jill’s hair caught fire at the stove!”

Likewise, the chest of drawers provides me with such wonderful moments that continue to define my character. For instance, I remember helping Mum-Mum put away Papa’s vests and house-shorts in those drawers. He had a uniform set of white vests and baggy grey shorts which he would always wear at home. When those vests and shorts come to mind, I vividly picture him sitting at the writing table in our “front room” in those very vests and baggy greys composing another ditty and writing another piece. The writer I am today takes inspiration from those moments in time; moments that will forever be a part of my psyche.

On top of the chest of drawers or in one of the top drawers, one would find items like brushes, combs and sometimes candle stands. Growing up with two sexagenarian grandparents, I remember standing up in front of those chests and having my hair combed just before we set off for school. The pat-pat of the powder puff still resonates against my cheeks as Mum-Mum or Papa told us umpteen stories each day as we got ready for school.

And then, there was THAT day! Naturally inquisitive, I had been harbouring suspicions about a rather burning affair for some time now. It had started around four months ago and events of the recent days had me more doubtful than ever. I had decided to investigate. Someone had hidden something of value in one of those drawers! So, on that eventful day when all the adults were having their afternoon nap, I played stealth with stealth and slowly opened one chest after another. Imagine my feelings, when I discovered what I had been looking for: elation nudged regret, consternation grappled with assurance. I had made an important discovery, for there, hidden in the recesses of the second drawer from bottom was enough evidence of my sleuthing: a green, gold and red package screamed at me, “There is no such thing as Santa Claus!” Ten years of an ideal world was slowly giving way to reality. Boyhood was changing and I had made a seminal discovery that almost all of us make at some point in our lives.

With much of the family abroad, those chests – at least the top drawers – would be loaded with albums and come holiday time, those albums would come out and stories would be told and retold, sometimes garnished with the Anglo-Indian flair for exaggeration. New photos would be taken and new albums, meticulously made, would add to an already burgeoning collection. The fact that Mr Ralph Renaux is now posting photographs taken over two decades, even three decades ago on this new-fangled digital repertory called Facebook is testament to the kind of history those chest of drawers held. They held the history of boys who would become men and of a family that would stay together no matter how far apart they were in reality. The history of a microcosm of the Anglo-Indian story was securely maintained in those drawers: the poor Scottish shoemaker, the reputed Irish surgeon, the philandering Frenchman and the Portuguese sailor would never have realised, when they left the shores of their respective countries, that they would one day be the creators of a legacy that can today be called Anglo-Indian.

As time went on, I began to use one of the top drawers for school books and college records. For three years that drawer held evidence of a truly life-changing experience for me: my period of scholarship study at Boston College. That simple drawer held the aspirations and ambitions of a small-town boy who dared to dream big. Every time I opened that drawer for something or the other, there was this document – a sheet of my time at BC – that told me I had the character to meet my ambitions. That chest of drawers held not only where I came from, but held on to evidence that could spur me on to where I could possibly go. At one time, in fact, just before I left the shores of India for overseas occupation, one of those top drawers held together the romantic correspondence of four years!

I suppose I am, in true Anglo-Indian fashion, over-romanticising a simple piece of furniture, but in doing so I am trying to keep alive – at least in my writing – a time and place when simple things gave great pleasures. Today, Anglo-Indian railway colonies all around India are dilapidated versions of their former glories as are the many plantations, barracks and gold fields that were always filled with an Anglo-Indian aura. My efforts are to re-create – in writing poetry and prose – those good old days. In this piece, I hope I have created an atmosphere of what those chests meant to Anglo-Indian families and to make any Anglo-Indian reading this piece re-create his or her own personal history, a period of life when the legacy of colonialism was slowly fading away and the Anglo-Indian was trying to find his own place in a new India; and it is but ironic that such quirky pieces of furniture like The Meatsafe, the Easy Chair, the chest of drawers did, to some degree, help him maintain an identity proudly Anglo-Indian.

THE MEAT SAFE

THE MEAT SAFE

Memory is a funny thing. It takes you back into the past and more often than not, evokes a strain of nostalgia that harks back to days of innocence and wanton abandon, days when everything looked big in the eyes of a child, days of simple needs and even simpler technology.

Memory quite stealthily surfaced upon me this morning and from somewhere within the deep recesses of my mind, from somewhere in the quiet country air of three decades ago, from somewhere in the psyche of an Anglo-Indian childhood, memory brought unto me the word “meat safe’ as I tossed and turned in bed trying to catch a little more shut-eye.

The tossing and turning might have partly been due to the fact that two days ago, in a fit of impatient defrosting, I quite adeptly managed to puncture the tubing in our fridge causing the refrigerant to leak with a viciously serpentine hiss. The luxury of refrigeration would now have to wait for Monday morning as sleepy little Ndola does very little over the weekend. And as I wondered about food storage for the next day or two, the image and the word floated in on the wings of memory.

“The meat safe: must be an Anglo-Indian thing,” I said to myself. “Can’t be exclusively Anglo-Indian,” another part of me replied. “But, I have seen it mostly – only?  - in Anglo-Indian homes”, the alter ego replied almost immediately. “Perhaps it is a colonial thing,” retaliation was instant! This mental “tossing and turning” far more strenuous than the physical one, and with much greater force as well, had tossed me out of bed and propelled me straight to the laptop.

Why not do the obvious? Let’s google the word. And I immediately went to the world’s most trusted source of information since 2001, hoping to see the ubiquitous Wikipedia rank high on the list in response to my query.

How disappointed I was! No Wikipedia entry. But, wait the images offered did strike a chord and I scrolled down the page with some anticipation. Disappointment again. “Is meat safe when I am pregnant?”, “Is red meat safe for children?”, “Detect DNA in horse meat!” are some of Google’s responses on its first page!

There was one reference though, near the top of the page: the free online dictionary which stated that it was a safe for storing meat. How mundane and unimaginative, but then, dictionaries do not offer you imagination. They offer straightforward definitions, in black and white. Life – and experiencing it as much as you can – offers imagination in a plethora of colours! And with that, I abandoned any queries on the meat safe and decided to put myself to memory’s mercy and conjure up my real meaning of the meat safe.

Tucked in the left-hand corner of our dining room, it stood there proudly, its legs nicely balanced on four square cement blocks that carried moats of water within them. The wood always smelled warm and delicious while the mesh provided a nice view of the different goodies in its three tiers of fresh warmth. I remember my brother and I taking turns to fill the moats of water around all four legs.

“Don’t spill the water, now,” Mum-Mum would say.

“But, why do you fill these holes with water?” I would ask, curious as usual.

“So that the ants and insects don’t climb up and eat the food,” Papa would say gently.

Knowledge would dawn on our faces and we’d continue eagerly. Today, as memory brings back that conversation, I can smell the dankness of the water as it filled up the moats. That is my meaning of a meat safe.

The mesh, I was later told, was not actually meant so that wide-eyed children could come back from school and gaze into the meat safe to see what goodies were in store for the night. It was meant to circulate air inside and ventilate the meat safe so that it was cool enough. It also prevented flies and other insects from flitting about those delicious treats. That is my meaning of a meat safe.

Memory now reminds me of those Sunday afternoons when all was quiet and the household would be having a little lie-down. Quietly, my brother, Mark and I, would sneak up to it and open it up to dig our hands into the jars of jaggery stored on the bottommost shelf. That was as far as we could reach back then. Often, someone else would join us on these afternoon quests: Papa. More stealthily than we imagined ourselves to be, he would dig into those jars and hand over chunks of jaggery quietly whispering, “Don’t tell anyone, ok?” Happy and excited to have an adult partner in crime, we would nod vigorously. That is my meaning of a meat safe. (Eventually, a key went into it and Memory is presently not forthcoming in letting me know if we ever found that key!)

The fridge was there, of course. I do not know when it was acquired, but I was still a very wee lad, for I remember it was on the opposite end of the meat safe. Still, for all its ‘luxurious’ properties the fridge could not rival the meat safe. For on top of that antiquated piece of furniture were tins: bread tins, cake tins, biscuit tins, all types of tins. The tin that received a lot of attention from yours truly was the “appalam” tin. Just before lunch, now and then, I would get a little stool and jump up to grab an appalam or two when no one was around. Getting to it was a tricky business, for if only the tin slipped out of my hands as I stood on tip-toe there would be scattered evidence of my crime. And that is something I did not want, did I? That is my meaning of a meat safe.

Christmas time was extra special. Memory informs me of eager little children licking empty bowls of cake mixture that had just been sent to the baker or, later on, put in the oven. And as she (memory) brings such a warm family picture to mind, she also reminds me of those cul-culs, rose cookies and marzipan that the meat safe would proudly store ready for guests who dropped in for a visit during the Christmas season. Yes, Christmas was always busy and as I remember the neighbourhood uncles and aunts who visited us during Yule Tide, I also remember trips to the meat safe to fill up plates and bowls of festive cheer. That is my meaning of a meat safe.

As I grew older, the meat safe became a place for coffee and tea. It became a place of more modern mass-marketed crisps and cookies. It became a place from which we would serve ourselves lunch and dinner. It became a place from which I would serve my now aging grandmother lunch, dinner and soup. Of course, trips to the fridge became more frequent and slowly, the meat safe wasn’t as exciting as it used to be. Yet, it still stood there, an antiquated, but proud piece of furniture. That is my meaning of a meat safe.

The meat safe, I am sure, was definitely a part of Anglo-Indian iconography during my generation and preceding ones as well. Given the modern technology around us, though, it is close to, if not already at extinction. Whether the meat safe offered others like me some sort of meaning in their childhood, I do not know. Whether it has now become a repertory of childhood memory spontaneously recollected in adulthood, I do not know. Whether the meat safe that I have alluded to throughout this piece still exists, I do not know. Whether it has been confined to the scrap heap is also a question I cannot answer, for since I left home nearly two decades ago to forge my own life, the pressures and concerns of adulthood put that childhood love affair far away from my mind: until today. One thing I do know: it will continue to be a tangible part of my life! Why? Simply because today, it is the ‘safe’ of an enchanted childhood, one that I was privileged to receive from doting grandparents in quaint and quiet little Arkonam. That is my meaning of the meat safe.

For an hour now, I have been consumed with the meat safe; a significant amount of time, I’d say given my last encounter with it was ages ago. But, then memory does funny things, doesn’t it? It looks at childhood experiences from an adult perspective and offers a sense of warmth and comfort. No, I do not want to go back into the past and yearn for the good old days; no, I do not want to go out and acquire an antiquated meat safe; no, I do not want to become a child once more. I want to walk around today and conjure up images of the meat safe as I go about my daily chores. Why, you may ask? Simply because, the meat safe informs the adult me about the child I once was. That is my meaning of the meat safe.

Glossary for words that might seem strange:

Mum-Mum: Our word from grandmother. Given the double Mum it makes sense!

Papa: The Anglo-Indian term for grandfather.

appallam: A fried snack. Often called a Pappadum.

cul-culs, rosecookies: Anglo-Indian snacks made at Christmas time.