1. 24 Nov.
Today's my birthday and as is the usual trend, there were calls, smses and messages by e-mail from friends - quite a few of them were being heard after a long, long time. I really can't explain the sheer thrill that I'd experienced from each of the gestures. While thanking each one of them, it's great to know that they care and that the bonds that we'd created continue to exist with the same intensity overcoming time and distances.
The most notable was when my phone went off charge, talking to young Gavvy - a youngster that I'm fond of - who'd called me yet again on the landline to continue with our conversation. A truly amazing day as messages continued to pour in even into the night. Now it would be understood as to why I like celebrating my birthdays. And mind you, my birthday as per the Malayalam calendar is on the twelfth of next month when my family makes it a point to get in touch. Yes, it's a double delight!
Today is auspicious because it's the day when the 'Ekadasi' is celebrated with all the attendant pomp and show at the Guruvayur temple - its significance being that almost 5,000 years ago, Lord Krishna had imparted the 'Gitopadesam' to an unsure Arjuna, prior to the battle of 'Kurukshetra'. Arjuna's transformation and the course that the battle had subsequently taken is folklore. It also happens to be the day when Melpathoor Narayana Bhattathiri had dedicated his 'Narayaneeyam' to his god and to the people.
2. A sad end.
Came to know that Prakash, my cousin's husband, had passed into the mist of time but the exact whereabouts of his end is still a mystery thanks to his close family wanting to keep it a secret. And it has a sad story behind it.
They used to stay near my father's house till a couple of years back. Prakash and Syamala chechi have a son and a daughter and their small world took a jolt when the son - a well behaved young man who was into the business of film making as an assistant director - went and married a girl older than him and to make matters worse(?), she was from another community. The angry parents separated the couple forcibly and had their son under lock and key in their house claiming that he was mentally unsound. That the girl and a few of her close associates came and took away the boy, with police help, was a blow to Prakash's ego whose carefully nurtured image in the village was in tatters. So overwheming was the bruised ego that they'd left their house one night and had lived in an undisclosed place ever since. The story has it that they're with their daughter, at Kochi, when his end came about thanks to the cirhossis of his liver.
On behalf of the family, I'm endeavouring to get my cousin and her children back to their house and in the process try to put it across to her that ego and false pride have no place in life, if one were to wish for peace and tranquility. And yes, I'd be leaving the narrative incomplete if I did not mention the fact that my cousin's mother had rocked their household, years back, when she'd eloped with the man she loved while she was staying with my dad and they're pursuing with their studies.
RIP Prakash and my prayers will be with you. And wish me luck to get your family on even keel!
Today's my birthday and as is the usual trend, there were calls, smses and messages by e-mail from friends - quite a few of them were being heard after a long, long time. I really can't explain the sheer thrill that I'd experienced from each of the gestures. While thanking each one of them, it's great to know that they care and that the bonds that we'd created continue to exist with the same intensity overcoming time and distances.
The most notable was when my phone went off charge, talking to young Gavvy - a youngster that I'm fond of - who'd called me yet again on the landline to continue with our conversation. A truly amazing day as messages continued to pour in even into the night. Now it would be understood as to why I like celebrating my birthdays. And mind you, my birthday as per the Malayalam calendar is on the twelfth of next month when my family makes it a point to get in touch. Yes, it's a double delight!
Today is auspicious because it's the day when the 'Ekadasi' is celebrated with all the attendant pomp and show at the Guruvayur temple - its significance being that almost 5,000 years ago, Lord Krishna had imparted the 'Gitopadesam' to an unsure Arjuna, prior to the battle of 'Kurukshetra'. Arjuna's transformation and the course that the battle had subsequently taken is folklore. It also happens to be the day when Melpathoor Narayana Bhattathiri had dedicated his 'Narayaneeyam' to his god and to the people.
2. A sad end.
Came to know that Prakash, my cousin's husband, had passed into the mist of time but the exact whereabouts of his end is still a mystery thanks to his close family wanting to keep it a secret. And it has a sad story behind it.
They used to stay near my father's house till a couple of years back. Prakash and Syamala chechi have a son and a daughter and their small world took a jolt when the son - a well behaved young man who was into the business of film making as an assistant director - went and married a girl older than him and to make matters worse(?), she was from another community. The angry parents separated the couple forcibly and had their son under lock and key in their house claiming that he was mentally unsound. That the girl and a few of her close associates came and took away the boy, with police help, was a blow to Prakash's ego whose carefully nurtured image in the village was in tatters. So overwheming was the bruised ego that they'd left their house one night and had lived in an undisclosed place ever since. The story has it that they're with their daughter, at Kochi, when his end came about thanks to the cirhossis of his liver.
On behalf of the family, I'm endeavouring to get my cousin and her children back to their house and in the process try to put it across to her that ego and false pride have no place in life, if one were to wish for peace and tranquility. And yes, I'd be leaving the narrative incomplete if I did not mention the fact that my cousin's mother had rocked their household, years back, when she'd eloped with the man she loved while she was staying with my dad and they're pursuing with their studies.
RIP Prakash and my prayers will be with you. And wish me luck to get your family on even keel!
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