Sharing Spaces-A personal exploration of the idea of 'sharing' through lived places - Special Episode 1.1

This is a special episode which is a collection of memories and thoughts which I gathered from comments I received both via the blog and mainly through personal conversation after publishing the first episode. 

    My father (to whom I refer as 'Appachchi' - the Sinhalese upcountry word for 'father; or as 'Appu'_the shorter fondly version) shared a memory of him saving three of us from falling a balcony during our stay at Gampola. Government servants moving places like gipsies from one city to another when they receive a transfer after 4 years was a common experience during those days. From the year my parents got married in their mid-30s (doctors married late due to their academic and professional commitments in the early stages of their careers) to the year we settled down in Kandy, my parents have had moved a number of times; Hemmathagama, Ankumbura, Kandy (few times- at one occasion my father was working in Kandy while at another he was at Dambulla_a city which we did not moved our home to), Katugastota, Gampola, and Kururnegala.    

    Apparently, we three had taken three plastic chairs (red colour as per my Appachchi's description) to the balcony and kept them on top of each other and we 'two' were standing on them looking down (surely must have been fun). Seeing that your lives were at risk, he slowly (yet swiftly) opened the field door and held the two of us. 

    He told me that it's a memory that he won't forget. Nevertheless, there are important aspects which need to be discussed, other than figuring out the obvious culprit who initiated such dangerous mischief...HINT - No offence, but my two brothers being wiser than me and perhaps being thoughtful 'elder' brothers (which they are required to act out by 'culture' and partly self-loaded themselves for their own satisfaction - I'm not complaining)  doesn't have 'it', to execute such stupidity. 

    On a serious note, while I did not remember this heroic act of my Appachchi (probably because I was 2 to 3 years old), vague visuals of looking down from a balcony while standing on red plastic chairs started to seep into my memory (though it's hardly complete). My guess is that my father's memory is perhaps because of the heroic act of saving our lives (which are the most precious), while my memory depends on the adventurous experience tied up with my stupidity.

    Though I may have a vague memory of this particular event, the sharing of this memory made a lot more similar adventurous memories flood in. I remember during our stay in Kurunegala, I used to walk across the well (on the steel mesh on top of the well to prevent objects from falling into the well) in our garden and walk around in a circle on the parapet wall (of the well). I am surprised that I am still living! (more stories will pop up in later episodes).

    My twin told me that he can't remember him making flowers inside a coconut shell as I have mentioned in the first episode. This is interesting because I do not have a shadow of a doubt about my memory of him making flowers inside coconut shells.

  Perhaps the most important understanding which I gathered is that our memories of space are interconnected and intertwined. We do not simply share spaces, we share memories as well. While our memories are influenced by our own biases, 'myths' that surround us, and fictions that we construct in our heads, our memories of lived spaces and places are hardly discrete or complete. It is perhaps the collection (through 'sharing') of memory, that enables us to reconstruct the whole.

Next Episode - 'Seeyala Gedara'

Notes

(1) I have improved and updated episode 1 with a few additional details that I had missed. Hope you'll be able to spot them.

(2) One of my friends had commented on my previous post, that reading the article made her feel, to quote..."like reading the chapters of Martin Wickckramasinghe's books that describe the hamlets, customs and feelings in detail and that it paints vivid scenes in the mind as she read." I think (my reply) Martin Wickramsighe's works have the finest elaborations of 'everyday life' that unfolds within spaces. I think everyone interested in architecture must read his books.

(3) The fact that articles do not have dates mentioned was intentional. While I understand the time factor is critical to understand the context, I prefer the article to be more of a story than a historical account. For any who is interested in knowing the time period; these are events that unfolded in mid 1990s to early 2000s. 

(4) As many had suggested, I have included a photograph of the house at Kurunegala.

Three of us in the front garden 

Twins on Appachchi's shoulders_seated in one of the cane-woven chairs in the Living room

(5) Refer to Prof. Yuval Noah Harari (Historian, Professor at the Department of History at Hebrew Univerisity of Jerusalem and bestselling author) to read more about (the notion of) 'myths' and 'fiction'.