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Something of Myself SOMETH ING OF MYSELF FOR MY FRI E NDS KN OWN A N D U N KN OWN NEW YORK CH A RLES SCRI BNE R’S SONS 1937 CONTE NTS I . A VE RY YOUNG PERSON “ I I . THE SCHOOL BEF ORE I T S T I ME 22 I I I SEVEN YEA RS’ HA RD M I V. THE I NTERREGN U M WA YS V. THE COM I TTEE OF A ND MEA NS VI . SOUTH A FRI CA — WN VI I . THE VERY O HOUSE — VI I I . WORKI NG TOOLS I NDEX SOMETHING OF MYS ELF A V E RY YOUN G P E RSON ( 1 865- 1 878) ’ Give me the fi rst six years of a child s life and you can have the rest. C KI N G a t ear O b ck from this my seven ieth y , it seems to me that every card in my working life has been dealt me in such a manner that I had b ut to a it as it m . T o s r pl y ca e heref re, a c ibing oo tu to the e e all g d for ne Allah Disp nser of Ev nts, I begin M o t y first impressi n is of daybreak, ligh and colour and golden and purple fruits at th e level T o he f of my shoulder . his w uld be t memory o early morning walks to the Bombay fruit market with my aya b and later with my sister in her per ul t r of our tur t our ur e amb a o , and re ns wi h p chas s o piled high on the b ws of it . Our aya k was a Portugues e Roman Catholic who would pray — e at os . ec I b side her a wayside Cr s M ta, my ou o o to tt Hindu bearer, w ld s metimes g in li le m e of t Hindu te ples wher , being below the age cas e, a o at the - I held his h nd and l oked dimly seen, friendly Gods . Our evening walks were by the sea in the shadow - o I e e the of palm gr ves which, think, wer call d n the the t Mahim Woods . Whe wind blew grea 3 SOMETHI NG OF MYSELF t u t —m a ab nu s wo ld umble, and we—fled y y , and my sister in her perambulator to the safety of the open . I have always felt the menacing darkness of o t I tr pical even ides, as have loved the voices - of t u l or e nigh winds thro gh pa m banana l aves, and the th - song of e tree frogs . - The re were far going Arab dhows on the pearly ss s waters, and gaily dre ed Par ees wading out to worship the suns et . Of their creed I knew noth in I o t o tt n g, nor did kn w hat near ur li le house o e the Bombay Esplanad were the Towers of Silence, where their Dead are exposed to the waiting vul u s on the of the to uf and t re rim wers, who sc fle spread wings when th ey see the bearers of th e ’ t Dead below . I did not unders and my Mother s “ ’ ” dis tress when she found a child s hand in our gar den I not to ask u out it . , and said was q estions ab ’ I wanted to se e that child s hand . But my ayalz m told e . t oo o o our In the af ern n heats bef re we t ok sleep, she or Me cta would tell us stories and Indian u er on n rs y s gs all unforgotten, and we were sent to the n n - o e in di i g ro m after we had been dr ssed, “ with the caution Speak Englis h now to Papa and ” “ ” . So t n t Mamma one spoke English, hal i gly rans lated out of the vernacular idiom that one th ought th s u and dreamed in . The Mo er ang wonderf l songs at a black piano and would go out to Big s . n u Dinner O ce she came back, very q ickly, and 4 A VERY YOUN G PERSON “ to me t t o ld , s ill awake, tha th e big L rd Sahib had been killed and there was to be no Big Din T o o t ner . his was L rd May , assassina ed by a na i tive . Mec ta expla ned afterwards that he had “ ” n s been hit with a knife . Mecta unco sciou ly saved me from any night terrors or dread of the ’ . Our d a ll th e t u ou tu e dark y , wi a s rvan s c ri s mix r of e ffe t o o to de p a c i n and shall w device, had ld me ’ that a stuffed leopard s head on the nursery wall n But was th ere to s ee that I we t to sleep . Mecta “ ” f i s m f l as the e of spoke o t co u ly h ad an animal , o off as or and I to k it my mind a fetish, good bad, “ ” for it was only s ome unspecified animal . Far across green space s round the hous e was a marvellous place filled with smells of paints and of I e . oils, and lumps clay with which play d That ’ e o of was the atelier of my Fath r s Sch ol Art, and “ T e t to om a Mr . rry Sahib, his assistan , wh my e e ot our eat . small sist r was d v ed, was gr friend e on the t e o the e Onc , way h re al ne, I passed edg f u e n oot e n e o a h g ravi e a f de p, where a wi g d t tt and fled mons er as big as myself a acked me, I t tu of and wept . My Fa her drew for me a pic re the tragedy with a rhyme beneath T h ere was a small boy in Bombay Who once from a hen ran away . “ ’ e t e sa : You re a a Wh n h y id b by, “ re l ed Well I ma be : He p i : , y ’ e a But I don t like these h ns o f Bomb y. 5 SOMETHING OF MYSELF T n of his co soled me . I have thought well hens ever since . Then th ose days of strong light and darkness t wa t an passed, and here s a time in a ship wi h - immense semi circle blocking all vision on each of the old side her . (She must have been paddle ’ 8: r . w t . T e wheel P O Rzp z . ) h re was a rain ac oss a desert ( the Suez Canal was not yet Opened) and t in it a e on a hal , and small girl wrapp d in a shawl s t O o me s t . the ea pp site , who e face stands out s ill re e t a o u The was n x a dark l nd, and a darker ro m f ll of o one of t o c ld, in wall which a whi e w man made e I e for nak d fire, and cri d aloud with dread, I had e s nev r before een a grate . T hen came a new small house smelling of aridity t t n in h and emp iness, and a par i g the dawn wit t o who t I u Fa her and M ther, said hat m st learn quickly to read and write so that they might send me letters and books . in i I lived that house for close on s x years . It belonged to a woman who took in children whose t an old parents were in India . She was married o n an Navy Captai , who had been a midshipm at v r o an d t n in Na a in , had afterwards been en a gled o - -fis hin a harp on line while whale g, and dragged o n t o s m d w ill he miracul u ly freed hi —self . But th e k a dr line had scarred his an le for life y, black I u to o at t nt scar, which sed lo k wi h horrified i erest . The hous e itself stood in th e extreme subu rbs 6 A VERY YOUNG PERSON of S ut t to o t un n o hsea, nex a Portsm —u h cha ged in most particulars since Trafalgar the Portsmouth ’ ’ of t t B Celia s A rbour The Sir Wal er Besan s y . timber for a Navy that was only experimenting - ' with iron clads such as the I rzflexz ble lay in great oo th r Th t ni - b ms in e Ha bour . e lit le trai ng brigs t h O o u h an d kep t eir walks pp site So t sea Castle, o ts o th as e n P r m u Hard was it had always b e .
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