AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 98 of 237 With two uncles of mine with the Army since the war years and my close friend’s father a war veteran and a prisoner of war captured by the Japanese I had some idea of what the army meant for all of us then- a PROTECTOR from the enemy. However, there are also very pleasant memories of my childhood years of growing up in a large family with its strict hierarchical rules of discipline, with every member taking on the roles in parenting, and the elders being the custodians of tradition in daily practices, and the larger external family always with you at celebrations of family events, community gatherings and building relationships. I walked to school every day, covering, about 2 miles each way, played games outdoor, almost all of the traditional outdoor games, including a South Indian form of kabbaddi! It was usual for many girls in the family, to go through school years and perhaps up to graduation and be married and to settle down to families of their own. I was married while still in college, at Queen Mary’s on the Marina, the first Women’s College in Madras. I was married to an Air Force Officer, a Pilot Officer in the Signals Branch. Queen Mary’s College Higginbotham’s – a bookstore serving customers since 1844 Central Station opened in 1873 “He is the son of a Head Master, hence he must have been brought up with a strong sense of values,” was my father’s appraisal of him. My husband had been awarded