Indian Mama’s Writing Dream
First stop of India, I headed to the house
located at the suburban area of the city, belonged to Indian Mama. Through
Couchsurfing website, I managed to find Indian Mama’s daughter’s profile, who
is now doing her studies in Germany. Her daughter just registered in
Couchsurfing for a few months, wishing it may bring travelers to her India home
to meet her lovely parents. I, then became their first surfer.
Indian Mama’s real name is Rosemary, 56
years old lady with 2 sons and 1 daughter, is a poet and author, used to study
English Literature and Journalism.
Indian Mama grew up in Kottayam, a hilly
area at the north side of Kerala state of India, where rubber was grown
everywhere. She has 6 brothers and 2 sisters. All 9 siblings spent their
childhood together and had very good relationship. They would take shower in
the rain, swam in the river. Everywhere were trees, flowers, cows, goats. Life
was wonderful and everyone loves nature. Their parents would sing for them,
shared fairytales and stories. Her dad would talk about the geography of the
world, making Indian Mama started dreaming traveling in the world. However, her
dad passed away when she was 16, her mom raised them up.
Indian Mama’s best friend’s husband tried
to match her up with his good friend. The guy was working for Air France and
stationed at Doha, Qatar. He wrote and read very well, and wrote a lot of love
letters to Indian Mama. He even promised to take her to travel around and see
the world. However, they belonged to different Christian groups, mother of
Indian Mama was an open-minded and liberal person, still objected the marriage
with practical and frank reasons. However, Indian Mama decided to follow her
heart, marrying the guy who promised to take her to see the world. She was only
23 when they got married.
After getting married, Indian Mama thought
she could finally pursue her traveling dream. However, her husband decided
staying at a foreign country wasn’t what he wanted to do anymore, and decided
to continue living in India. Indian Mama’s traveling dream was broken, and felt
so disappointed.
Indian Mama found her life filled with
wonderful time again when her children were born, but she started feeling
lonely again when her children started going to school. At the age of 31, she
wrote her first poem, expressing all her loneliness, sorrows, and sadness from
her soul. The poems became very popular because they touched so many readers’
hearts. Indian Mama finally published 4 books of poetries. She also published 5
books of memorials, telling stories of her childhood lives in the villages.
Indian Mama also did translation. She
translated fairy tales, bible stories from English to her mother tongue
Malayalam, so that more children could read them. She also translated Russian
poems into Malayalam. The Russian Cultural Centre even granted her an award
with her enthusiastic hard work in this area.
Other than writing, Indian Mama had another
dream. She wanted to be a film director. When she was little, she always
watched a lot of films because her uncle owned a theatre. However, being a film
director is a tough job, as it involves many other things, people, money, technology
overrides imagination. Unlike writing, all she needs is paper and pen, she is
on her own, no need to involve other people. If the writings are not good,
there is no consequence to anyone. When directing films, everyone in the team
needs to face the consequence if the films are not good. However, Indian Mama
believes in reincarnation, she will be a film director in her next life.
In the past two years, Indian Mama started
facing hiccups in her writings. She suddenly lost her magic and charm. Her mind
was blocked. Just like all activities stopped in winter. Through writing, she
felt connected with people, just like writing letters to her close friends. Her
writings were like a bridge, connecting her with her readers. But now, all she
felt was sad and silent. However, Indian Mama believes, when spring comes, the
strong sun will melt the snow. She will wait for the moment to come.
Now Indian Mama’s children have all grown
up, are all studying and working overseas. They all invited Indian Mama to
travel to their places, they will settle the fees. Indian Mama thought, may be
this year is the time to start her traveling, beginning in India, going with
her cousin or traveling alone doesn’t matter, what matters is to travel, and to
see the world.
May be, God has all his plans. Wishing
Indian Mama all the best in pursuing her dreams.
P.S. Indian Mama gave a North Indian style necklace she bought in a travel fair as the exchange gift.
4/3/2014 written in a guesthouse of Kollam,
Kerala
Description of picture:
Will I ever be like Indian Mama, have all my writings published into books one day?
夢想專訪1 - 印度媽媽的創作夢
「印度媽媽相信，當春日的太陽再次出現，冰雪就會溶解，她，會耐心等待那個時刻的來臨。」
來到印度的第一站，是印度媽媽位於城外小區的家。透過借宿網站認識印度媽媽的女兒，她女兒數月前才在借宿網站登記做會員，因為她現正身在德國讀書，希望透過借宿令身在印度的爸爸媽媽認識這個世界，於是，我成了印度媽媽家中第一位借宿客人。
印度媽媽名叫Rosemary，今年56歲，有兩個兒子一個女兒，是一位詩人和作家，從前主修英國文學和傳理學。
童年生活 無憂無慮
印度媽媽小時候住在南印Kerala 北面的小山區村落Kottayam，那裏盛產橡膠。她有六個兄弟和兩個姐妹。他們九兄弟姐妹小時候一起在農村玩耍，關係很要好，他們會一起在雨中洗澡，在河中游泳，四周都是花草樹木和牛羊，生活多姿多采，他們都很喜愛大自然。父母會給他們唱歌，給他們說故事，父親會給他們講解世界地圖，印度媽媽也開始對世界產生好奇，希望能去外國旅行看看這個世界。不過，她爸爸在她16歲時已過身了，是她媽媽一手養大他們的。
嫁雞 隨雞
印度媽媽透過好朋友的的丈夫認識現任丈夫，那時候她丈夫在法航工作，身在中東卡塔爾。那時候他給她寫好多情信，行文流暢，用詞浪漫，承諾能夠帶她環遊世界。不過，他們信奉不同的基督教，印度媽媽的母親雖然是一個思想開通和自由的人，不過，對於印度媽媽要下嫁一個跟自己不同信仰背景的人，基於實制角度考慮這件事，母親始終不支持。不過，印度媽媽最終還是跟隨了自己的感覺，下嫁了這位承諾能帶她環遊世界的丈夫，那時，她才23歲。
婚後不久，印度媽媽以為能夠開展她的環遊世界夢了。不過，她丈夫卻覺得住在國外始終都不適合自己，決定繼續留在印度生活，印度媽媽的旅遊夢破碎了。
天無絕人之路
孩子出生後，印度媽媽重拾她的人生樂趣，生活好不快樂。但孩子上學後她的生活又再次沉寂了下來，非常寂寞。在31歲那年，她創作了她第一首詩，去表達她內心的寂寞、哀愁、感傷，因為詩歌內容的誠懇和真摯，很多讀者產生了共鳴，印度媽媽的作品變得越來越受歡迎，最後總共出版了四本詩歌集。除了詩歌，印度媽媽還出版了五本記念冊，記錄了她小時候在農村生活的故事。
印度媽媽還會做翻譯，她翻譯了許多童話故事、聖經故事到她的母語馬來亞拉姆語(Malayalam)，讓很多小孩子可以閱讀。她又把俄羅斯的英文詩歌譯本翻譯到馬來亞拉姆語，令更多人欣賞俄羅斯的詩歌作品，俄羅斯文化中心更因此給印度媽媽頒發了感謝狀。
除了寫作，印度媽媽原來還有另一個夢想，就是當導演。小時候她的叔叔開戲院，所以她常常去看免費電影。不過，當導演可是一份困難的工作，要兼顧很多東西，牽涉其他人、金錢，還不像寫作那樣可以天馬行空，因為需要考慮到科技的配合。寫作可不一樣，只需紙和筆，不需要理會其他人，是自己的事情，就算作品不好，沒有甚麼後果會發生。但當導演的話，作品不好會令合作團隊一起面對後果。不過， 印度媽媽相信輪迴，她下一輩子會去當個導演的。
生命 滿希望
近兩年，印度媽媽的詩詞作品遇到了難題，遇到了停頓位，她失去了那股創作的魔法，頭腦變得有點閉塞，就像冬天來到，所有活動都停止了。透過創作詩詞，她能夠感覺到與人的聯繫， 就像給好朋友寫信一樣，詩詞就像一條橋，把她和她的讀者連繫起來。可是現在，她只感覺到悲傷和寂靜。不過，印度媽媽相信，當春日的太陽再次出現，冰雪就會溶解，她，會耐心等待那個時刻的來臨。
現在，印度媽媽的孩子都已長大成人了，都移居外國讀書和工作，孩子都邀請她到外國遊玩，都承諾給她付旅費。印度媽媽想，也許，今年是時候開展她的旅遊夢了，在印度本土開始，可能跟她的表親一起，也可能是一個人出發，都沒所謂了，最重要能去旅行，去看看這個世界不同的一面。
也許，這一切都是上天最好的安排，衷心祝福印度媽媽，繼續活出她的夢。
4/3/2014寫於Kollam的旅館內
相片描述
不知未來的日子裏，我會不會像印度媽媽一樣，有機會出版那麼多屬於自己的作品呢？