Book Review: A Bit of Appreciation for Life

A Fortunate Life by Albert B. Facey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Struggling to decide between 3 and 4 stars for this. Let's say 3.5 stars. Before I write my review, I want to apologise because this isn't going to be very thorough. This story has a lot of aspects and I am going to talk about those that I enjoyed the most. Also, I must admit, I skipped over a lot descriptive bits and had to 'speed-read' at certain points.

I picked up this book as a part of the 'Around the World in 12 Books' challenge that I am doing with my friends. Through this book, we were exploring Australia! The author's childhood was heart-breaking. His mother abandoned him and at a very early age, he was sent to work. A lot of the places he worked in were unimaginably cruel to him. Once he was flogged almost to death. It is very difficult to read about the cruelty, the abandonment, the lack of education, the lack of opportunity to form long term bonds with people that Bert faced as a child. I was very touched by his courage and tenacity through it all. He showed great skill and promise while working in the farm. Through very trying times, he appreciated even the littlest of things. As mentioned in the 'Afterword', the role of a child in the house was very different back then. The one person who stood by him was his grandmother. She was a constant support in his life. She played the role that his mother failed to play. The saddest bit of his childhood was when he met his mother again and she inevitably asked him for money.

To me, the story has two parts. Before Bert joined the First World War and after. I felt like the descriptive bits were far less during in the second part and the story finally picks up pace. Surviving the war was no small task. The atrocities he described were chilling. One in particular was how he was horrified by the face of a man being bayonetted to death. He returned with very serious injuries and took a long while to recover. As soon as he did, he wasted no time in rebuilding his life. In modern times, with a growing awareness about mental health, I cannot begin to truly appreciate the effort it took to move past those horrific experiences and integrate into day to day life again.

One might think that a difficult childhood filled with hardships would make Bert a bitter man. That did not happen. He was a loving husband and a loving father to his children. The years he spent as a family man was also filled with many hardships. From his house burning down to crops failing. He lost his grandmother, his siblings and even one of sons. Finally, he lost his wife too.

Nevertheless, he truly believed he had a fortunate life. It was very inspiring to see his undiminished spirit, like a flame that keeps on burning. This story makes you truly appreciate how much you have in life. It is no small feat for a child who was illiterate to grow up and write a book which is so detailed. I was quite taken by Bert's memory. He wrote this book after retirement and yet he remembered his childhood in vivid detail. Bert's kindness and humility truly shows through his writing. You will often see him appreciating a good meal he had as a child and even how he slept that particular night. The book ends with his wife passing away and the last few lines bring tears to my eyes.

"The loss of my lovely girl, my wife, has been a terrible shock to me. I have lived a very good life, it has been very rich and full. I have been very fortunate and I am thrilled by it when I look back."

View all my reviews

Pandemic Puri

Merry Christmas from Puri Beach

This year I had the pleasure of celebrating Christmas while baking in the warm sun on Puri beach. Bliss! Sand in my shoes, the incessant roar of waves, foamy waters and a constant supply of seafood. Best Christmas ever! When I was a little girl, we would go to Puri and Digha on alternate years. I remember toddling about on the sand, looking for shells, building sandcastles, running after tiny crabs that disappear into holes. In fact, waves washing over my ankles while I stand in the warm sun and the sand being pulled from under my feet as the waves retract is my happy place. This holiday, however, was unique because of the pandemic.

We set off on Christmas Eve with our sandals, sunscreen and a good book. As a child, we would take an overnight train and my grandfather would pack us cucumber sandwiches for dinner. Mine were easy to distinguish because there were no tomatoes in them. Travelling was a far more social experience. We would quickly make friends with other people sharing our train compartment and soon we were sharing food and stories! Now, we put on our facemasks and shields, boarded a flight and reached the town of Bhubaneswar in just under an hour and a half. A taxi ride of another hour and half took us to Puri! My heart soared with excitement at the first glimpse of the sparkling waves and the clear blue of the sea. 

Mahodadhi Palace Hotel

The pandemic and the lockdown has all but ruined tourism for Puri. Trying to find a sea-facing room in a hotel would be totally impossible or very expensive in other years during an occasion. Many hotels are now shut or partially functioning. Some are yet to open after the lockdown. Another reason for the lack of tourists is the fact that the Jagannath Temple is still closed to visitors. This temple attracts devotees all year around and will not open before the new year. This seemed to work in our favour as we managed to book a hotel across the road from the sea beach and we could see the sea from our balcony. So romantic! It was probably an old stately house that had been converted to a hotel. High ceilings, four poster beds and carved wooden furniture still remained. They confessed to having reduced their staff considerably and were just about starting back up. Service was slow but we could hardly blame them! However, they were friendly and very hospitable even when the demand was relatively higher. 

Sparkling Waves at Puri Beach

All I did was sit at the beach and/or eat. No deadlines, no rush, nowhere to be. It felt great! When I was a child, we would head to the beach at sunrise and spend the early morning playing around in the waves. As the day would progress, the beach would get excessively crowded and finding a spot to sit would become a challenge. The mornings were very foggy on our this trip and we couldn't see the sunrise. This time the place was quiet and plenty of chairs empty for us to sit at all times of the day. We sat for hours under the umbrellas, watching waves rolling and crashing again and again, countless times. There was a meditative quality to the experience which made me feel like I could do it forever but reality beckons. I relived my childhood memories of looking for shells with my mother and eating monkey nuts in newspaper cones. I remember, peeling the shells off those nuts would keep me busy for ages as a child. The authorities have become very strict about the cleanliness of this beach and rightly so. Every vendor who sell you food, reminds you to use the dustbins to dispose off the packages and waste. The beach is the cleanest I have seen in my lifetime! Once tourism picks up again, it would be great to see the same level of cleanliness maintained. We ate some sweets and samosas, drank loads of tender coconut water and enjoyed every moment!

Food at Puri Beach

Seafood at Pink House Restaurant

My mother being quite the detective on social media found a great place to indulge our love for seafood, Pink House Restaurant. You truly feel like you are on holiday with the sand beneath your feet and fresh fish being served piping hot while the sun shines brightly on the white beach. We returned to this restaurant repeatedly during our stay and tried fish, prawns and crab. Our favourite was a simple preparation of fried King Fish with butter and garlic. After wash it down with some fresh lime soda, it was time for a nap! 

Sunset at Puri Beach (26/12/2020)

Sunset at Puri Beach (24/12/2020)

The Foamy Sea

Unfortunately, the sky didn't clear up for us to see a proper sunset. I managed to take some pictures before the sun set behind the haze. After sunset, you can see authorities coming to clean the beach and evening markets being set up. The temperature which was pushing close to thirty degrees during the day, started to fall close to fifteen. Sitting on the balcony in our hotel rooms, we continued to listen to the sound of the sea while reading. 

We left on the 27th with a heavy heart, saying goodbye to the sea by staying on the beach till the very last minute. I remember a time when going to Puri was so easy and done so often, we had stopped valuing it. In fact, I was reluctant to go the last few times. The pandemic and the lockdowns made going on holiday an impossibility. Finally being able to go, no matter what the destination, feels like a great blessing. If it includes the sea, that's a huge bonus! On other
holidays, we would be in a hurry to explore everything we possibly can in and around Puri. This time, we slowed down and just appreciated the beach across the road from our hotel. It felt very different and refreshing. Lockdowns have forced me to revaluate everything I was taking for granted and pay attention to things closer to home. This trip will remain close to my heart for this very reason.