Highlights In The Shadows: 10 - Early Life
Owen Clement set out for school for the first time in 1934 in Kharagpur, an Indian railway town, wearing a short-sleeved cotton shirt, brief drill shorts, socks, sandals and a Topee, a pith hat.
I arrived into this world on a chilly morning on the 21st December 1928, which happened to be my parent’s first wedding anniversary. My mother’s dearest friend and mentor, Mrs. Daisy Newman assisted the local midwife in the upstairs bedroom of my parent's house, a semi-detached Mock Tudor building on Second Avenue in the railway town of Kharagpur in West Bengal.
My parents Rupert and Dorothy Clement had me christened,Owen Rupert at All Saint’s Anglican Church in Kharagpur
My sister Gloria was born exactly fifteen months later on 21st March 1930. Having one child of each sex, my proud parents decided that our family was now complete.
Both my sister and I were doted on by our parents. The tragic experience of their losing their mothers at such a young age, I believe, was a major factor.
I began my schooling in 1934 wearing a short sleeved cotton shirt, brief drill shorts, socks, sandals and a pith hat (Topee) with a couple of dozen other children using 10" by 8" wooden-framed slates in Mrs. Huston's one-teacher private kindergarten. Our 'classroom' was the shade of a large Neem tree in her front yard. The only memories I have of this school are of a bullying older girl, and the peculiar behaviour of a couple of male servants. During lunchtime the men would go into a room in the servant’s quarters in the grounds of the house to scream, yell and generally carry on as if they were trying to kill each other. They came out looking sheepish and dishevelled. I still have no idea as to the reason for their bizarre behaviour.
After refusing to go back to that school, I was sent to Mrs. Isham's private primary school, of which I have no memory at all.
A good-natured though dreamy child, I did not relate to other children my age easily. From a very young age I spent much of my time drawing and painting. I remember being fascinated with drawing cartoon characters and later, movie stars. I have always considered myself a copier rather than an artist; which is why I decided not to take up art as a profession. It was only after I became a mature adult and read "How to Paint’’ books and attended artistic workshops that my interest was rekindled.
The railway town Kharagpur where I grew up was an enclave built exclusively for its management and workers. As my father said, I led a privileged life protected from the outside world. To escape the stultifying small town environment I delved into the world of e The Boys Own Annuals, Wide World magazines and books by P.C. Wren, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson and Alexander Dumas.
I have often wondered how different my parents’ and my lives would have been had I not had phlebitis just after my ninth birthday.
It was early in January 1938, the day before I was due to leave for St Paul’s school in the hills of Darjeeling as a boarder that a large lump appeared on my inner right thigh. The doctor warned my parents that if the clot worked its way to my heart I would die. This was a prophetic sign for my superstitious mother, who immediately said that Kismet had declared that boarding school was now out of the question for her son. My father, no stranger to his wife’s sometimes irrational behaviour, agreed. I was overjoyed, as I had been dreading leaving Kharagpur having just finished reading Thomas Hughes’ book Tom Brown's School Days. The image of Tom's behind being roasted over the fireplace by the sadistic Flashman was enough to terrify someone as timorous as myself.
After a few of days of complete res', or as much as any nine year old otherwise healthy boy is capable, the lump dissolved and disappeared.
© Clement 2006
