Sarada Panicker Memories Moments and Milestones

Annotation

Our mother, Sarada, has been writing poetry for decades. Sometimes at her desk,sometimes while stuck in a traffic jam, pretty much anywhere inspiration strikes. So, there was a lot of material to choose from. This book represents some of this writing. Left out are pieces that are either toopersonal or obscure in their references and context to make sense to anyoneother than the person or persons they were written for or about. However, someof the writing while deeply personal, reflecting moments of pain, poignancy andjoy in her life, still carry emotions that are universally experienced. We've left thesein for this very reason. As we read, shortlisted and compiled her output for this collection, we wonderedif our mother may have had a different career...with different life experiences... hadshe chosen a different path in life. Perhaps that of a writer. Yet the path she chose -that of the Teacher - brought her rich experiences from Malaya (as it was thenknown) to the United Kingdom and eventually Singapore. She had an illustriousteaching career. Old school. Strict. It served her well, and more importantly, itserved generations of students. That she has a gift for the written word is clear. It made her a remarkable teacherof the English Language.