Do You Remember?
Kamini Gupta
A reflective journey through a mosaic of images that each hold a memory of experience of life in Bristol.
Transcript
What can I tell you about my life in Bristol? I wonder as I sift through my memories captured in a mosaic of images… frozen moments in time. Each picture holds a story filed away somewhere in the bottom drawer of my mind. What might seem like a random collection of disconnected thoughts to you, are each snapshots of my experiences layered with meaning and charged with feelings.
Bristol: A city in which I have lived, loved, laughed, cried and almost died - a city that has held my precious moments, delicious secrets, and deepest despair. When you see these images what memories do they hold for you? On a cold, grey winter’s day in February as you walk with me through monochrome Millennium square what colours your thoughts… warms your heart…what do you cherish… who do you miss?
Do you remember a warm summer evening at the harbour festival, holding hands, strutting your stuff and later jostling for a good place to watch the fireworks? Maybe you were the bloke standing next to me who’d had a few too many… or the little girl riding high on her daddy’s shoulders, whose smile lit up my face like the rockets ripping open the sky.
Where have you lived, loved, laughed cried and almost died?
Have you got a favourite restaurant that transports your taste buds back across the ocean of time to another city in another land? Do the memories awaken a hunger for what has been…and gone. Have you got a delicious secret… can it be found on St Marks road…at the Sweet Mart? OK, but you have to agree the Sweet Mart does hold most that exists that is delicious… Have you gone wild in Mivart street… were you there that night…is that you?
Where have you lived, loved, laughed cried and almost died?
Who rescued you in your darkest hour, that summer when the balloons flew overhead so close you could hear them hiss but were too weak to stand and look out the window. Did the angels at the BRI hold your life in their hands, gift-wrap it and give it back to you just when you thought you wouldn’t see another birthday? Maybe it was you who wiped my brow and answered my call… do you remember… was that you?
Where have you lived, loved, laughed, cried and almost died?
As I stand here listening to the water falling over my thoughts the sun breaks through the clouds and I am brought back to this moment. I capture it and hold it close… can you see the silver lining?
