I have often wondered. Wandering in my memories, breathing in my past, asking for directions. I have thought that losing oneself is the best way to find others. This much of this memory I remember:
It was a hot and sticky day, a day in july perhaps. Some relatives had just come into town and we were showing them this city, and decided to step into a large mall. Of course, we were annoying kids, like kids can be. The four of us running around was too much for the four adults to handle. One in Sears, the other splashing water onto themselves, one loudly asking where the ducks were going. It was bound to happen.
One finally got lost. It had to be my brother. We looked in all the places we had been to within the mall. We asked around. Anxiety and fear slowly creeping in, filling up the spaces my mother would usually use to breathe with. Her second child, her only son, this was horrific.
How would you explain to the family that you lost a child, with four adults watching over the place?
But no one would need to answer that question. We found him, after informing the security. They told us he had gone to a restaurant and conveniently, he tells them that he is lost. Smart kid, I wished I had gotten lost, the frenzy of it all, he was right under our noses eating spaghetti and strawberries. They had called home a few times, thinking we had gone home, he remembered that much, no not names but numbers.
That day I made a pact, if I were ever to loose myself I would do it in a place that had good food.
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November 1, 2008 at 10:29 am
Sivajini
Good plan, how old was your brother?
I got lost at Ucchi pillayar temple when I was 6/7, not a good place to get lost in 🙂
But your bro was eating spaghetti and strawberries.. man 🙂
November 1, 2008 at 10:54 pm
zb
haha, lovely post as usual, da (:
i’ve never gotten lost. but we’ve lost & found all 3 kids & kittens & chickens at some point. yet, ammah was most frantic when thambi was lost. meh. boys. the most memorable lost & found was when chickoo, our last chick in our dubai home, at about 1 month stepped into the fridge and decided to sleep there.. we found him later, alive, cold, squeaking away (:
also: you liked ondaatje’s english patient? book & film?
November 2, 2008 at 9:27 am
Geetha
film not so much, book was good, difficult to understand at times, but I enjoyed it none the less. I laugh at this incident, good things all chicks were saved, cold but alive…you named her chikoo, I named a relatives puppy in Colombo, soda kaneer, literal translation: soda teardrop. oh our similarities…
November 3, 2008 at 12:25 am
a fan
🙂 good post.
November 18, 2008 at 6:43 pm
iffster
and how old was your brother? you still haven’t answered the question, G.
so, he got lost AND got free food? i wish i’d gotten lost more often when i was littler.
November 19, 2008 at 11:11 am
Geetha
he was 6ish I think, I’m almost embarrassed to say that, I don’t remember the specificities of this memory, and yes I could ask my parents but no I like that I guess his age, each time it is replayed, like I love that uncertainty.