It was a leisurely morning. Over tea and then, breakfast Ramesh and I continued with our conversation over anything and everything. By 10 o'clock we're back on the road, Lekha did a few more sundry purchases, while I sat in our Chevy and browsed my mail. By 1 we'd fetched up at Jojy's house where Saly and the li'l Shanaya were awaiting us. A brief conversation, a quick lunch and Josekutty Thomas, my classmate, had fetched up to take us on our trip to Palakkad.
Enroute we'd picked up Jojy, who'd come off from his work at the Nautical College at Kakkanad, from Palarivattom, where he was waiting for us. The drive to Palakkad was full of conversation about Vasu as we tried to fill in each other's knowledge about him with our own. The traffic was okay but the Kuthiran stretch had become narrower, thanks to the ongoing road widening work, because of which our progress was delayed to a considerable extent and we'd made a mental note that we'd take the Guruvayur route on our return! Earlier, we'd made a stop at Mannuthi's nursery for coffee.
We reached Vasu's uncle's place at Palakkad without much difficulty though I'd muffed it up towards the end. Anandakrishnan, Sandhya and Venugopal were waiting to meet us before they went their way. The time was around a quarter past 5.
Sujatha was a picture of serene dignity and calm composure. We sat with her and her uncle, Dr. KPS Menon and went through Vasu's last days. He'd passed away peacefully. She saw us off at the gate and returned our farewell wave and that shot will always remain frozen in my mind.
We'd started on our return by 6 and the Guruvayur route was lot more comfortable, the narrowness of the NH17, notwithstanding. We'd a short break at 'The Village' in Kunnamkulam for a light dinner. Josekutty drove extremely well and the decent guy that he was, laughed away our suggestion off switching on the hi-beam at errant drivers.
He dropped us at Kaloor and from there, we'd gone in Jojy's car that he'd parked in the morning before going for work. Our chat continued at his place and we hit the sack after a light dinner that Saly had served us.
Tailpiece.
A satisfying day. Not that we could share Sujatha's grief but we could show her that Vasu's loss had affected us, too, deeply.
Enroute we'd picked up Jojy, who'd come off from his work at the Nautical College at Kakkanad, from Palarivattom, where he was waiting for us. The drive to Palakkad was full of conversation about Vasu as we tried to fill in each other's knowledge about him with our own. The traffic was okay but the Kuthiran stretch had become narrower, thanks to the ongoing road widening work, because of which our progress was delayed to a considerable extent and we'd made a mental note that we'd take the Guruvayur route on our return! Earlier, we'd made a stop at Mannuthi's nursery for coffee.
We reached Vasu's uncle's place at Palakkad without much difficulty though I'd muffed it up towards the end. Anandakrishnan, Sandhya and Venugopal were waiting to meet us before they went their way. The time was around a quarter past 5.
Sujatha was a picture of serene dignity and calm composure. We sat with her and her uncle, Dr. KPS Menon and went through Vasu's last days. He'd passed away peacefully. She saw us off at the gate and returned our farewell wave and that shot will always remain frozen in my mind.
We'd started on our return by 6 and the Guruvayur route was lot more comfortable, the narrowness of the NH17, notwithstanding. We'd a short break at 'The Village' in Kunnamkulam for a light dinner. Josekutty drove extremely well and the decent guy that he was, laughed away our suggestion off switching on the hi-beam at errant drivers.
He dropped us at Kaloor and from there, we'd gone in Jojy's car that he'd parked in the morning before going for work. Our chat continued at his place and we hit the sack after a light dinner that Saly had served us.
Tailpiece.
A satisfying day. Not that we could share Sujatha's grief but we could show her that Vasu's loss had affected us, too, deeply.
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