I was 16, when I listened to Bruce Springsteen’s My hometown song for the first time. I was studying for the MBBS entrance exams and was already planning to screw up the Kerala state entrance exam, so I won’t get admission to do Medicine in Kerala. I wanted to escape from Kerala and eventually India. It was not luxuries or comfort that I was after, but my freedom. I couldn’t live with the cultural taboos that forced me to conform to rules that I didn’t agree to. I felt Mallus (and Indians) are hypocrites. I was not willing to change, so I could conform to the expectations of others. Leaving was the only option I had. I am still a Malayalee, that will not change, but I live following my heart, chasing my dreams and am happy because I am in control of my destiny, not the society that I live in.
And now I call Australia home…
This is my home in Australia.
The lounge is extremely small and when I bought the house, I was planning to knock off the wall that separates the lounge from the kitchen and build a small kitchen at the far end. I wanted an open plan home and my idea would have been brilliant if I could do such a simple job. Unfortunately, It turns out that there is a cross beam support in the wall there and it will involve a lot more work to create a new load bearing support, ( not to mention the permission from council)
When I have a large number of friends over ( which is very often), I host garden parties because there is no place for everyone to sit in the lounge room…The house is small..but the heart is big and I am happy..
House looks nice.. not too big, but enough and cozy.
People in general are hypocrites. In India, atleast when we were growing up, everybody knew everybody’s business, and they gossiped ad infinutum, ad nauseam. Today less and less people care. India is truly getting to be lot open!
You all seemed to be much ahead regarding the music scene. I did not know that Bruce Springsteen existed until my mid twenties! 🙂 and I still listening to some old hindi songs, when they were still singing nasal.
Today someone begged me to stop singing the nasal song that I was singing..;-)
MS: I had a lot of cousins who outside India and they were all forced to visit India by their parents every summer holidays..I looked forward to their visits to get my hands on their music collection.
My children too beg me not to sing ” sou salu pehele, mujhe tumse pyaaaaaru..” or jeena yaham..marna yaham…
I was singing..”jab dil hi toot gaya.. hum jee ke kya karengae”.. when the plea to shut up came along!!
Another nasal fave is “Dekhi zamane ki yaari..”
MS: You reminded me of the songs of my youth.
So was your happy for you when you bought the house?
Lux: No one in my family knows that I bought a house. I haven’t had any contact with them in the past 3 years.