P K Raghavan

The author was born in a coastal village of Malabar in India. It was after five years of my birth my country got freedom from Brit. Thereafter India was progressing at its own pace. My Child life was divided between two places separated by a large river. One is that of my father's native and the other one my mother’s birthplace. My parents were living in joint families at that time. These two villages are though geographically not far off, geologically very different. Its soil, land, and natural resources and even the Malayalam language is spoken were have some variations. But cultural bonding was very strong and similar. The childhood excitement was not all those things for me but the Railways brought in India by Lord Dalhousie the erstwhile Governor-General. The majority of rivers originating from the Western Ghats and flowing towards the west to the Arabian sea are in South Malabar. Because of this, there were many bridges constructed. The rail cum road bridge Cris-crossing in between my parents' villages is one of the great engineering marvels of that time. The shuttling between the two villages was very thrilling and educational for me. As a child, I started loving the natural beauty of scenic hills, valleys and rivers and above all enjoying the adventurous walk on the wooden footpaths on either side of the bridge when the train is passing. I would continue the hoping on the track sleeper wood logs till the last lap just before parting ways. After the studies, I had to move out and finally settled in Madras. My vivid memories of childhood are finding expressions now.