I have pleasant happy memories of my sister Ida.  
There was a ten year age difference between us - and that meant Ida used to take up my lessons in school, teach me table manners and the like.  She was a teacher at St Mary’s at Mazagaon, Bombay and I recall her taking me along with her on one occasion for her class picnic. Perhaps that sowed the seeds in me too wanting to become a teacher many years later.  I missed Ida so much when she got married and moved away from our home.  I remember not eating for some days - I really missed her. 


Ida and her husband Joe were an inseparable couple.  I remember them for  their generosity.  On one occasion when I went to Karachi to visit them by ship, they saw to it that I returned by plane.  I also recall the pretty dresses that Ida used to send me.  I remember them for the great ambitions they had for their children- they wanted them to have accomplished good lives - one of the reasons they choose to move to England.  


Ida’s favourite song was ‘Joey’..... I guess because of the reference to Joe.   She used to sing the song ever so often and the words still ring in my ear..... 


‘Jimmy kissed me in the springtime
Tommy kissed me in the fall
But I remember only Joey
Joey kissed me not at all


Jimmy sang the sweetest love songs
Tommy watched me openly
But I remember only Joey
Joey stole my heart from me


Every now and then Joey wandered by
How I wished that he would stay'
Then I breathed a sigh as I wondered why
He never ever looked my way


Jimmy always sent me flowers
Tommy often did the same
But I remember only Joey
Joey made me change my name’

Marie D’Lima