Remembering What I Had Long Forgotten at Jumpstart ’15

Has it ever happened to you that you remembered a day just because you got to meet a special person on that day? And though you met that person for even less than an hour, the encounter triggered something deep and profound in your mind. Something that you found hard to dismiss, hard to consign to oblivion.

I had the privilege to meet Leonie Norrington during a session at the recent Jumpstart ’15 in Bengaluru. Leonie is a children’s author from Australia. Her life is nothing short of an intriguing story itself. Her childhood crossed between two different worlds that had nothing in common – the world of aboriginal and the world of Irish Catholic. She gave up on schooling and worked as a farm hand. She was in her 30s, married and with three children, when she felt compelled to go back to school. Her back to school stint made her realize that she loves storytelling. Once she started to write, she was driven by the responsibility she had towards the aboriginal culture that she spend her childhood in.

During the session, Leonie talked about things that inspire her to write, how she structures her story, how she gives depth to her characters and many other similar things. And to convey each and every point, she kept coming back to the aboriginal culture and the belief of their people. It seemed as if she is immersed in the culture that she experienced as a child. As if everything about her is the culture that she saw, the “once upon a time” period she lived in, the soil that she played on and the water that she drank then.

Yes, I was mesmerized for those 45 minutes.

On my way back home, after I came back home and even days after that, I kept thinking about my culture. How did I grow up? What stories did my grandparents told me? How was I cared for by my parents? I had too many questions and too little answers. I had become so urban that I forgot about the indispensable events of my own childhood. I realized that my roots to my culture weren’t as strong as Leonie’s and it hurt me. I suddenly felt shallow. And I asked myself, “What am I going to pass to my daughter about my culture, about the time that I once lived in?”

So started endless telephonic conversations between me and my parents. I asked them stories from my childhood. I asked them stories from their childhood. I asked them if they knew stories from my grandparents’ childhood. I listened to those stories with patience and with awe and then retold them to my daughter.

And we have been doing this back and forth telephonic story-telling ever since. Thanks to you Leonie for making me recollect the essence of my being that I had long forgotten.

Thanks to JumpStart ’15 as well for getting me storyfied.

To read more about Jumpstart, click here.

To know more about Leonie Norrington, click here.