Our house atop the lonely hill

By

Randeep Wadehra

I decided to live in Munnar. Old memories dragged me here where a bittersweet past haunted me. I wanted a house located exactly opposite to the one where I had set up my first and only home several years ago.

As soon as I saw it I knew that this was exactly what I wanted. Colonial vintage. Red tiled roof. The front verandah mesh painted green, as were the doors and windows. The lawn had grown into a jungle.

Atop the lonely hill it exuded a melancholy dignity. It certainly had seen better days. The Tea Estate’s Sahibs must have had innumerable tea parties on its lawns. Fun and frolic is its past, a sad solitude its present.

It somehow reminded me of the Mysore Infantry Lines quarters at Bangalore where I had lived when Dad was posted there. Only this one was a much larger version.

Like Munnar, Bangalore too was special. I had my first heartbreak there. But that was calf love. This one was a serious relationship. I looked across at my former home atop another hill.

The terraced tea garden to its left, the stream flowing right in front and clouds floating by the door.

She was spellbound when she had first set her eyes on such natural splendour. The sunrise fascinated her no end.
“Oh, this is heavenly, I never thought I would have paradise for my home!” she exclaimed in wonder.

After a few days her opinion was more down to earth. Some friends and we went for a picnic. The scenery, the mists and the people were as enchanting as ever...

Then the leeches got to her feet. She gave out a series of shrieks as the bloodsuckers bloated. I quickly pored salt on them. With morbid fascination she watched them plop like bursting balloons. Oozing blood. Just when I thought she would swoon she gave out a loud laugh. The laughter of relief, mocking at her own timidity, and happy with the world.

The echoes of her joyous wonder and uninhibited chortle still reverberated in the valley.

In the 1980s I had spent two years in Munnar. Marriage was only two months away when the head office transferred me here from Mumbai.

 “Lucky, you are going on an all expenses paid two-year honeymoon! It is a paradise on earth, better than Kashmir and no militancy!”  The colleagues&rsq

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