As you know, my mother passed away on 20th August. It will be 4 years on 28th October since the tragic death of Deepu and Sriram. This issue of the Newsletter is dedicated to the three departed souls.
In the last issue, I provided the sound of Robin whenever this page was loaded. This time it is the chanting of Gayatri Mantra.
All regular contributors and readers may please note that henceforth your favourite family Nerwsletter will be published once in two months in even months, viz., 02(February), 04 (April) etc. This has become inevitable as I find that I am unable to cope with the monthly publication.
I often wonder whether the Englishmen in the 19th and 20th centuries knew they were passing through the Industrial Revolution. Perhaps not. Like many Indians who crib about things in India, they might have seen only the negative side. But being an Aquarian and therefore an optimist, I am amazed by the changes happening in India right now. I have no doubt at all that the period from 1992 onwards is doing much more good to India than what Industrial Revolution did for Europe. There are several areas where enormous changes are taking place - telephones, roads, cars, urban development, IT, textiles, fashion, movies, sports, music and so on. Recently I read that about 100 youngsters from Europe have taken up jobs in call centers in India as they felt that the experience would provide value to their CV. 90 % of my generation is better off than the previous one and I am sure my children's generation will be better off than mine. Arun Shourie has articulated the achievements of India in the recent past in his 3-part article in the Independence Day issue of Indian Express. I have great pleasure in reproducing them in the section 'FROM THE NET' .
Last issue featured Kausalya's article on Pataudis. This issue features her article on the problems of the elderly - The nest is empty which appeared in Folio Magazine in 1998. Somehow I had not read this article earlier and I found it moving. Mukund is back with his inimitable style and writes about The Day I Realized God Exists. Prasad is one of the few people who can write about the tragedy of losing the passport without rancour about the person who pinched it. His letter My dear pickpocket makes interesting reading. Gopalan has written movingly about our mother in his article My mother. Sudarshan has continued to contribute Jokes, Quotes and Trivia. Prasad has also forwarded some interesting poems by Hal Sirowitz who in Prasasd's words ' is a NYC based poet who is very famous for his "Mother Said" poems. They are funny and irreverent and yet they attest to the influence that mothers have on everyone.' These poems are in the section 'FROM THE NET' .
All the other usual features, viz. My diary for August & September, Crossword Clues , Brain Exercisers and Cryptoquip. are there. Do you want to see an e-cat? If yes, please go to Editor's Picks at the bottom of this page.
Do you want to know why You are Blessed? You will find out by visiting the section 'FROM THE NET' . This section also contains the a piece - 'History can be fun'.
Let me again remind everyone about the Archives www.geocities.com/pamrithaarchives, which is a comprehensive authorwise, subjectwise and monthwise archives. It includes everything that was published in the first 28 issues from December 2000 to April 2003 - all the articles, poems, games, photos and everything else.
Enjoy the Newsletter, but do write about it.
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Mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan
Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont
One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters. ~George Herbert
Mother's love grows by giving. ~Charles Lamb
A man's work is from sun to sun, but a mother's work is never done. ~Author Unknown
A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb
She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along. ~Margaret Culkin Banning
Any mother could perform the jobs of several air traffic controllers with ease. ~Lisa Alther
Now, as always, the most automated appliance in a household is the mother. ~Beverly Jones
I stopped by Besant Nagar beach today
It seemed to be on my way
I just sat down and let my mind drift away
In a mood to reflect and pray
What if I found a lamp so magic
That it can erase all memories tragic
What if a genie is set free
With just a wish for me
Would I wish for prosperity and immortality?
Without loved ones, what use would it be?
If I had one wish to be true
Deepu and Sriram, I’d wish for you
All of us miss your radiant face
Without you, this world is a lesser place
We did not hear your last goodbyes
The dark of grief now blinds our eyes
I just wish we had our wish today
We’d wish for you
Oh, we’d wish for you
(From 'Epilogue' of www.geocities.com/deepusriram)
A TO Z OF MY DIARY FOR AUGUST & SEPTEMBER
Amma
August was wholly devoted to my mother. On 3rd night, she complained of body pain. The doctor wanted ECG to be done, So we called the ambulance and took her to ICU of Railway Hospital by 10.00 PM. Since ECG was OK, she came back home by midnight. But on 8th, she complained of chest pain and was admitted to the hospital. She had a heart attack on 17th and was put on life support system. On 20th, she breathed her last. Even though Gopalan and I were in the hospital, we heard the news only from Amritha on my mobile. Thanks to my officers and staff in the Railways, all arrangements were made and she was cremated in Besant Nagar Crematorium and her ashes immersed in Besant Nagar beach. The religious ceremonies were done in our house itself and were very well done, thanks to Shri Rajagopalan of the Southern Railway. The Vadyar was also very good. The ceremonies, which were started from the 5th day after death, were elaborate on the 10th, 12th and 13th days. In fact it was quite a sight to see about 40 people taking bath in different parts of the house and drying their clothes on the 10th day. The recitation of Divya Prabhandam on 12th and 13th days was a spiritual experience. I hope my mother has reached the feet of Lord Vishnu which is the 108th Divya Desam.
Bhrata Natyam Shobana's (yester-year actress Padmini's niece) dance organised by ICF Women's Organisation in Music Academy on 5th September was excellent. Since Harish volunteered to look after my mother-in-law in T.Nagar, Kannan and Rajeevi accompanied me to the dance. Amritha went earlier as she was a member of the Women's Organisation and had been allotted work there. The programme was excellent even to the untrained eyes and ears of mine. The short intro to each item in English and with dance poses made it more appealing. The previous day, we had another good Bharata Natyam by Kalavathi, a Railway employee trained in Kalakshetra. She performed in the IRAS Association meeting that we organise once in three months. Her dance was also quite good.
Carnatic Music Though there was a lot of concerts in August due to Gokulashtami, we attended only one- that of the young Balamuralikrishna. He is considered as good, if not better than, the original Balamurali. He was good. But the biggest event was that of Unnikrishnan in September. He sang very well and ended with a great flourish reciting a sloka in a very high pitch. We also listened to an upcoming artist, Sumitra, in September, which was also good.
Divya Desams Having made a website, I want to visit as many Divya Desam temples as possible. So when I visited Trichy on 10th and 11th September, Amritha and I visited 7 Divya Desam temples (and 5 other temples). We were pleasantly surprised that even the lesser-known temples are well-maintained. Srirangam and Tiruvanaikkoil, which we were visiting after more than 25 years, are really grand.
Two weeks later (24th), we visited two more Divya Desam temples,viz,. Tiruninravur and Tiruvallur. Though belonging to Madras, we visited both for the first time. The latter is a big temple with thousands of visitors on select days.
Films We saw three films in these two months - two in Hindi with Harish and one in Tamil. The Hindi films were 'Koi Mil Gaya' and 'Hungama'. The former was good in the first half while the latter was a good time-pass. The Tamil film was 'Kaakka, Kaakka', which was well-made and very racy.
Harish Harish came here on 23rd August (11th day after my mother's death) and stayed till 1st September. We saw two films and visited almost all the relatives with him. Though his stay was very enjoyable, he makes us tense when he leaves. This is since he leaves the house as late as possible. For his train at 11-45 from Central (8 kms from here), he left at 11-22 (which was a full minute earlier than his departure last time).
Hema Hema availed her joining time from 17th to 21st. Jaya akka stayed with her during this period. Amritha went there on 19th and stayed overnight. On 20th, my brother Gopalan and I went to Tambaram, had lunch there and came back. On our way back, we met Chitra and Sudarshan and talked to them for 15 minutes. I think it was the first time I was alone in this house.
Melmaruvathur & Maduranthagam On 13th September, we went to Maduranthagam (Yeri katha Ramar) and Melmaruvattur(Adi Parasakthi). Both were very good. We went in an A.C.Qualis sent by the Melmaruvattur temple authorities and so the journey was quite pleasant (Incidentally, Chennai is still above 35 deg C ). The social work done by the temple management at Melmaruvathur is tremendous. They are running schools, colleges(science, art, commerce, engineering, B.D.s, teachers'training, Nursing and are about to start a medical college for which the building is ready. The hospital there is very big and well maintained. It is free for all patients. The chief doctor there took us around each and every ward. Everywhere it was neat and tidy. The I.C.U. there is very good, even better than the railway hospital. They have all modern equipments. The computer-centre there is another huge building containing of more than 800 terminals. The students who are studying B.E., B.C.S or M.c.A are using these. Hats off to the management for running all these successfully. Amritha did kunkuma archana herself to the Shakthi. We met the chief, Shri Bangaru Adigal and he was talking nicely. He is a simple person.He told us to have meals there itself. On the whole it was a nice experience.
Other travels I went to Bangalore for a day on 13th August. Originally I was to be there for two days. But since my mother was in ICU, I went by the night train and came back the next night. I visited MICO, whose Training Centre is easily the best Technical Training Institution I have seen. Their canteen where they can feed 1000 workers at a time (free) was also impressive. I also went to Trichy for a day on 26th September.
Plants from Padappai On our way back from Melmaruvathur we went to Padappai, a small village beyond Tambaram to buy some plants.It has 6 good nurseries. Amritha wanted to buy every plant there and ended up buying 20 which included roses and other flowers, chillies and hybrid varieties of fruits that can be grown in pots. They have all been planted/potted in our house.
*Disclaimer *Some of the articles and images reproduced here have been taken from various sources and I am not aware of
any copyright violations. If there are any such violations, please write to me and the concerned article will be promptly removed.
