My Musings

Postal addresses of our relatives / friends are invariably written down in a diary or book and updated every couple of years. I had not re-organised my address book since last 5 years and so I started doing it yesterday. Took a diary of 2005 and started writing addresses one by one from my own, followed by Arun's, Ashok's, Arvind's etc etc. When I had written down about 30 addresses, suddenly it struck me - addresses, are they NEEDED at all? Why do I need Arun's or say, Athimber's address? I should know how to reach their house - thats one of the purposes of the addresses. And I know how to reach the houses of many relatives. I am not going to write any letters to them. So why would I need their postal addresses? In the old address book, I had addresses of very distant "relatives" whom I have never met in my life! Even though I scored off these names, still I wondered - why do I have to write addresses? I guess that only tel numbers, both landline and mobi...

Gayathri’s sister Meena’s Nichchaya thaartham was done on Monday the 12th Nov 2007 at Vishnupuram, 25 km from Kumbakonam. We two attended it. Here is a brief description. About 22 persons started from Chennai. We left by Pallavan Exp on 11th a/n. As to be expected, there were non-stop songs, eats, and what not. Since Deepavali had come just a few days before, every family brought the Deepavali bakshanams which vanished in no time. And also the idlies soaked with milagai podi. Sowmya was the star attraction, needless to add. She enjoyed the train journey. We reached Tiruchy by 9PM. There we dispersed as three groups, and our group of 11 went to Gayathri’s periyamma’s house. Night stay there. Next morning (12th), got up by 4-45 AM, had a wonderful coffee, then hot water bath, and we left for the next leg of our trip. At the Station the group’s strength grew to about 32. There was a passenger train at 0710 AM for Kumbakonam. It was not crowded when it pulled out of Tiruchy, but was jam-pa...

Forty four years ago in 1963 when I joined ERDL at Poona, I purchased my first novel, perhaps. My colleague then, Mr. Sonone and I used to go to a book shop in Camp, Poona to purchase English books. First we purchased all the books by Ian Fleming (James Bond series), one by one as they were being published, starting from Dr. No. Then it was Alistair MacLean, and other authors like Arthur Hailey, Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsyth, Robin Cook, Tom Clancy, Colin Forbes, and Jack Higgins. My collection of books began growing. When my sons ARUN, ASHOK, and ARVIND got employed in late 1990s, they too started purchasing books on their own – John Grisham, Jeffrey Archer, JK Rowling (Harry Potter) and other new authors came into our house. When they married their wives Gayathri, Neeraja, and Krithika also added to the collection. From the very first day, I had this desire of having a book shelf where I can arrange the books in an orderly fashion. We were storing these books in a jumbo-sized suit...

Professor K. Swaminathan: A Himalayan Professor and Savant I had the unique privilege and good fortune of coming into a close and intimate touch with Prof K Swaminathan (1896-1994) in the last decade of his life in Chennai. It is given to God's chosen few to lead several lives which are distinguished by many dimensions of fullness. Prof Swaminathan lived a full life of creative endeavour and fulfillment, not only in terms of years but also in its multifarious facets. Starting his long career as a student and teacher of literature, for nearly three decades, he entered the world of journalism for a few years as political commentator and journalist and crowned it all with his historically celebrated term as Chief Editor of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG). I am relying upon the brilliant memoir of S Guhan, a consummate scholar in his own right and a nephew of Prof K Swaminathan, popularly known as Prof KS. He was born on 3 December, 1896 in Pudukkottai. His pare...

Professor K. Swaminathan: A Himalayan Professor and Savant I had the unique privilege and good fortune of coming into a close and intimate touch with Prof K Swaminathan (1896-1994) in the last decade of his life in Chennai. It is given to God's chosen few to lead several lives which are distinguished by many dimensions of fullness. Prof Swaminathan lived a full life of creative endeavour and fulfillment, not only in terms of years but also in its multifarious facets. Starting his long career as a student and teacher of literature, for nearly three decades, he entered the world of journalism for a few years as political commentator and journalist and crowned it all with his historically celebrated term as Chief Editor of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG). I am relying upon the brilliant memoir of S Guhan, a consummate scholar in his own right and a nephew of Prof K Swaminathan, popularly known as Prof KS. He was born on 3 December, 1896 in Pudukkottai. His pare...

Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy The road from Adyar Signal to Thiruvanmiyur signal (in Chennai) is called Lattice Bridge Road (LB Road); this English name was re-christened as Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Road long back, but the old English name only prevails now. Who is this Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy? In the princely state of Pudukkottai there lived Narayanaswami Iyer who married a devadasi by name Chandramma - this marriage created a sensation that time. To this couple, eight children were born out of whom four died as infants. Muthulakshmi was one that survived (born: 30 July 1886). M's sister Nallamuthu, learned English, went on to study in UK, became a Professor in QMC, Chennai, and later its Principal - the first Indian principal of QMC. Muthulakshmi went to a school in Pudukottai till the age of 13; later she studied at home tutored by teachers. She passed matriculation in the year 1902. She started dreaming about becoming a graduate. Bur her father, with meagre pension could not send her ...