Adieu Arya Premji, K Anirudhan!
The day was witness to the passing away of two stalwarts who'd carved a niche for themselves in the psyche of the Malayalees. The media has been giving the story of their lives, however, I shall put in a few words..
Arya ma'am - all of 99 yrs - became part of Kerala's folklore when she married veteran Malayalam actor, Premji, at the age of 27 after being a widow for 12 long years. For this reason she was ostracised from her community. (The marriage had taken place at a time when widow remarriage wasn't approved within the Namboothiri community to which she belonged!) She was earlier married at the age of 14 to become a widow a year later. She became an active participant and strong supporter of social reforms. Being a representative of the undivided communist party, she was elected to the Thrissur municipality in '64. RIP, ma'am. My tears and prayers.
Anirudhan sir - all of 92 yrs - was a familiar name for school going kids like me during the '60s when his name was prominently splashed on the walls of Thiruvananthapuram city during the Assembly and Parliament elections of '65 and '67 from the constituencies of Attingal and Chirayankeezhu respectively. I remember having met him, along with my grandfather, a couple of times and the way he used to tousle my hair while inquiring about my schooling! RIP sir. My tears and prayers.
My Senior's What'sApp Message!
My senior in school and Prasad Housemate, Col Madhavarajan had sent me a very quaint message on What'sApp this morning. Captioned "Those were the days", he'd sent me images of the following:-
(a) A cinema ticket.
It was of the Galaxy theatre of Rajkot for the movie, Deewar on 01 May '75. The info
is written in ornamental letters with the manager's signature affixed.
(b) A meal ticket.
It was of the Moti Mahal restaurant of Bombay dated 28 Dec '71 for one Masala Dosa
and one cup coffee, each costing Re.1/- along with an ST of Re.0/06 and S. Ch(I can't
decipher that, can anyone help, pse?) of Re.0/10 making it a grand total of Rs.2/16!
(c) A fuel ticket.
It was of the Bharat Petrol Supply Co. of Bassein dated 02 Feb '63 for 5(Five) litres of
Petrol @ Rs.3/60!
Note.
The essential details were carefully and painstakingly written by the people who sat at the bill
desk! Today, though we've computer printouts, where manual practices are maintained they do
not find it necessary to fill in the requisite details and if it's done, it would be in an unreadable
scribble!
Those halcyon days! And we wanted to grow up damn fast those days!! What a pity?
Tailpiece.
I came across a Tibetan proverb and wanted it to be passed on to you,
"The secret to living well and longer is: eat half, walk double, laugh triple and love
without measure."
The day was witness to the passing away of two stalwarts who'd carved a niche for themselves in the psyche of the Malayalees. The media has been giving the story of their lives, however, I shall put in a few words..
Arya ma'am - all of 99 yrs - became part of Kerala's folklore when she married veteran Malayalam actor, Premji, at the age of 27 after being a widow for 12 long years. For this reason she was ostracised from her community. (The marriage had taken place at a time when widow remarriage wasn't approved within the Namboothiri community to which she belonged!) She was earlier married at the age of 14 to become a widow a year later. She became an active participant and strong supporter of social reforms. Being a representative of the undivided communist party, she was elected to the Thrissur municipality in '64. RIP, ma'am. My tears and prayers.
Anirudhan sir - all of 92 yrs - was a familiar name for school going kids like me during the '60s when his name was prominently splashed on the walls of Thiruvananthapuram city during the Assembly and Parliament elections of '65 and '67 from the constituencies of Attingal and Chirayankeezhu respectively. I remember having met him, along with my grandfather, a couple of times and the way he used to tousle my hair while inquiring about my schooling! RIP sir. My tears and prayers.
My Senior's What'sApp Message!
My senior in school and Prasad Housemate, Col Madhavarajan had sent me a very quaint message on What'sApp this morning. Captioned "Those were the days", he'd sent me images of the following:-
(a) A cinema ticket.
It was of the Galaxy theatre of Rajkot for the movie, Deewar on 01 May '75. The info
is written in ornamental letters with the manager's signature affixed.
(b) A meal ticket.
It was of the Moti Mahal restaurant of Bombay dated 28 Dec '71 for one Masala Dosa
and one cup coffee, each costing Re.1/- along with an ST of Re.0/06 and S. Ch(I can't
decipher that, can anyone help, pse?) of Re.0/10 making it a grand total of Rs.2/16!
(c) A fuel ticket.
It was of the Bharat Petrol Supply Co. of Bassein dated 02 Feb '63 for 5(Five) litres of
Petrol @ Rs.3/60!
Note.
The essential details were carefully and painstakingly written by the people who sat at the bill
desk! Today, though we've computer printouts, where manual practices are maintained they do
not find it necessary to fill in the requisite details and if it's done, it would be in an unreadable
scribble!
Those halcyon days! And we wanted to grow up damn fast those days!! What a pity?
Tailpiece.
I came across a Tibetan proverb and wanted it to be passed on to you,
"The secret to living well and longer is: eat half, walk double, laugh triple and love
without measure."
No comments:
Post a Comment