My Musings

PART II - 02 AUGUST to 08 AUGUST 2009 As written in Part I, Manni was admitted in Ayushman hospital, Dwaraka, near Srikanth's house on 21 July 2009 for suspected pneumonia. She was in the ICU, her condition erratic at times, but generally improving. On 1st August at around 6-30PM, she was brought to the Recovery room as her condition was stable and vastly improved. As all of us heaved a sigh of relief, suddenly and without any symptoms, her condition turned bad at 8-30 or so and she was rushed back to the ICU for emergency medication. Unfortunately she could not survive this and she passed away at 1210 midnight on 1st-2nd August. ஆடி, சுக்ல, துவாதஸி 02 AUGUST 2009 - Sunday - Cremation We were informed of this shocking development at 1220 AM and we were stunned. Vijaya and I decided to fly to Delhi immediately and Arvind & Krithika booked our airtickets at 2 AM for the 6-45 flight. Sugavanam also was to come with us. We left our house by 0415 in a calltaxi and picked up Sugav...

Our Manni, Mythili (Kamakshi) came into our family on 23 April 1956 when she married our அண்ணா Chandru (Ramachandran). Our Anna - Manni had 4 sons and 3 daughters. Anna started his career in Indian Postal Dept. They lived in various places during Anna's employment, Tirupapuliyur, Devanmpattinam being the most notable places. They educated all their seven children in Cuddalore / Tirupapuliyur. By 1984 Anna retired as Subpostmaster. After the marriage of their second daughter Usha in 1988, they shifted to New Delhi in the same year, breaking their connection with Tamilnadu for ever. Anna passed away in New Delhi on 5 June 1989 after a brief illness. Manni continued in Delhi. As the years went by, Anna's children started growing in economic status. Though Anna was not there physically to see his children grow and prosper, Manni was there all along, guiding them, counselling them, sharing their joy & happiness at every step. In fact, Manni was like mother to all of us in GRS ...

JAYARAMAN On Thursday, June 4th, 2009 Jayaraman had a "minor mishap" at his home in Vadapalani - he fell down when trying to sit in a chair. Feeling a lot of pain, he got himself admitted in Sri Ramachandra hospital, Porur by 2 PM. I saw him in the hospital 3 days later, on Sunday 7th of June. He is to be in the hospital for 45 days as per doctors ! Many in the family visited him. We went to the hospital again on 15 June. Jayaraman got discharged on 21 June from SRMC. Admitted in SRMC for the 2nd time on 16 July. We went to the hospital on 18th and saw Jayaraman. He was discharged on the evening of 21 July 2009. At home now, Jayaraman is walking with the aid of a walker , but still complains of pain in the knee-joint. VIJAY Vijay was behaving oddly since 6th June, according to Jayaraman. No one actually knows what is the exact problem, but it was guessed that Vijay may be, just maybe, taking alcoholic drinks. Jayaraman put him in a deaddiction centre at Perungudi on ...

எங்கள் பாட்டி By SRUTHI, VIBHA and Others Kamu paatti as all of us call her was an extremely lovable person. She loved all her grandchildren a lot starting from Santosh to Srinath. Our paatti was born on 3rd June 1935 in an orthodox Brahmin family in Thanjavur. She was brought up on the musical soil of Thiruvaiyaru. She had a good knowledge of Carnatic music and often visited Thyagaraja Temple for Thyagaraja aradhanais. She had enjoyed her childhood at the belt of Cauveri, playing, bathing in the river and studying with her 4 brothers & 2 sisters. Kamu paati was married in the year 1956 at the age of 21 , to our thatha G. S. Ramachandran lovingly called as ‘Anna’ by his brothers and sisters, at Kumbakonam. Our kollu patti named her ‘Mythili’ after marriage. They started their married life at Cuddalore. Since our ‘Chandru’ thatha was a well known post master in South Arcot district, our patti got the pet title "post office mami". They have lived in lot of places in South A...

Amma's Sraththam - 2009 We three brothers (Sugavanam, Jayaraman, and self) perform the sraththams of our parents every year at Chennai; our elder brother Sundaresan performs at Dapodi, Pune. Amma's Thithi is Aani, Krishna Paksham, Ashtami. This year (2009) amma's thithi came on Wednesday, 15 July. Vijaya and I purchased all the grocery items, Vaathiyar Saamaankal like Varatti four days before, from Ambika Appalam Depot Mylapore. Two days before the thithi, we purchased all the vegetables, fruits incl vaazhaipazham from South Mada Street. On 14th evening Krithika purchased Vaazhai Ilai and Pushpam from Mylapore. This year we could not get the long variety of Pudalangkaai. Savithri came from Hosur a week back to Ramesh house at Mugappair and she came here on 14th evening. She and I cut the vegetables. Veshti - Pudavai were washed and dried. On 15th, the day of Sraththam, we three got up by 4-40 AM and started the work. Mangalam, Saroja, Sugavanam, Uma arrived one by one. Rama...

Seemantham of Ranjani (Lalitha-Kumar) was celebrated at Coimbatore RS Puram on Thursday, 11 June 2009 . Ranjani and Praveen Kumar had come to India for this purpose from US. We two, Indira, Kumar's sister and brother Chandru attended this function. All of us travelled together on 9th June to Coimbatore and were put up in a hotel at RS Puram. On 10th, after lunch at Gowrishankar, Cross cut road, we went to Isha Gnana Yoga Center at the foothills of Velliangiri, 35 kms away. Founded by Sadguru Jakki Vasudev, the Center has a Dhyana Mandapam, Theertha Kundam etc. A holistic and spiritual place, it attracts many people who come here for meditation and Dhyanam. Next day,11 June 2009, was the Valaikaappu - Seemantham. Valaikaappu was from 0845 to 1000. Then Seemantham. It was over by 1215 and we had lunch. Evening we two went to Cross cut Road and purchased dresses for Sowmya, Aditi, Sriram. All of us (we two, Lalitha-Kumar, his sister, brother Chandru, Janani, Pradyun, Ram's paren...

I was presented with a NOKIA phone on 31 Jan 2006 by Arun-Ashok-Arvind, and I have been using this Nokia for the past 3 years. The service provider is AIRTEL, Prepaid. They say it is "life time validity." I don't know what is the "life-time Validity." The number is 98408 27434 This June 2009, on 3rd, the phone became "faulty" - its microphone malfunctioned. Instead of repairing the mic, I thought I would go in for a new phone. So myself and Arvind went to Viveks, Mylapore on 6th June (2009) and purchased SAMSUNG M-200. I hope I get good service from this phone. rajappa 7-6-2009 11-15 AM