Susee Mable's Silent Meditations

Susee Mable age 6 (Flaiz Memorial Adventist School circa 1947) © Anandaraju Family Archives Ever since I was a kid, I have longed for a photograph of my beloved mother as a little girl. To have just one glimpse of her in childhood would have made my life. Of course, we had wonderful and iconic photographs of my mother during her teens and twenties but never one from her girlhood. Amid my desperate pleas, Mum would often lovingly console me: "Not everyone had cameras back then, Amma. That's just how those days were." Flash forward to October 2016: an inconspicuous visit by a family member living in the U.S. to an old friend paved the way for my lifelong dream to come true. My relative stumbled upon an old black and white school photo circa 1947 at the home of his friend. As school photos go, it was standard fare with rows of neatly groomed teachers and students in classic school day poses. As my uncle searched for familiar faces, the sweet-faced little girl...