It all began…

Nick Boulos on the art of memoir writing, and why he has set up Master Storytellers to aid in the process of passing stories on to the next generation

One by one Bhaksar studied the stack of old photographs inside the dusty box, running his fingers along their frayed edges and staring at them with eyes that glistened.

His attention settled on one photograph in particular. With the very lightest of touches, he stroked its faded surface and stared at an image of himself taken more than 70 years ago. Dressed smartly in a crisp suit and standing next to his beloved mother, it was taken in his native India when he was just 14. In both, their hands were young vervet monkeys.

“I remember that trip like it was yesterday,” he said softly, his voice choked with nostalgia. “We had traveled across Gujarat to visit my grandparents who lived in a small wooden house deep in the forest where tigers prowled and monkeys swung in the treetops. I wanted to make a good impression so I spent the money I earned from shining shoes at the market to buy a new suit.”

Bhaksar wasn’t taking a trip down memory lane for the sake of passing a rainy Sunday afternoon. This was important work and part of a project that had come to define the past few weeks and bring him much pleasure and, in some ways, closure.

At the grand old age of 88 – and at the incessant insistence of his family – the pharmacist and businessman from Surrey was finally penning his life story.

TOP TIPS ON WRITING YOUR MEMOIR

ONCE UPON A TIME…