Colonised in the 20th Century
I’ve spent a huge chunk of my life living in employee quarters (colonies). I was born in the hospital quarters where my mom worked. And then, when I was 3.5 we moved to my dad’s quarters and lived there until I was 22. I still have vivid memories of both places. At the hospital quarters, our flat was right next to the main hospital building and I used to play outside the entrance to the ER often. One evening, I decided to shove a pebble up my nostril and luckily for me, help was just seconds away! The hospital was like a second home to us, and everyone knew my brother and me. In fact, it didn’t change until we were adults and my dad retired (because it was the same hospital meant for employees of my dad’s workplace). My mom worked there as a nurse for a few years before moving abroad. All her colleagues (mostly young conservative Maharashtrian women) would not call my dad by his name and call him ‘Daddy’ instead, like my brother and I did. For the longest time, I thought my father’s na...