Sunday, April 22, 2018

Mohanachandran returns home and other stories..

It's payback time and I need to spend time with quite a few close ones to catch up with them.

(a) The Return of Mohanachandran.

      Mohanachandran, my classmate and friend is on his way back to his home at                                        Thiruvananthapuram from Vellore as I write this. He's expected to reach there sometime, in the            wee hours of tomorrow morning. It's the family's fond hope, based on the doctor's advice, that his        medical condition could improve if he were to be shifted to a familiar environment. His status is
      almost the same in that there's no conversation, no showing of emotions, his right side has almost
      no movements except for the twitching of the digits! His overall health has improved as he has
      been having food orally for the past three weeks.

      Lekha and I were planning to look him up on arrival this week but his son's message was passed
      on to me by a friend saying that no visitor would be allowed at least for the first 48 hrs lest his
      system is upset, bringing about complications. The road to recovery is long and we, his class
      mates shall maintain vigil and say our collective prayers.

      We hope to look him up, sometime later this week, after the embargo on the visits is lifted!

 (b) Lekha's Uncle is Back in Hospital.

       Lekha's eldest aunt's husband has been admitted yet again after a break of four days. All of 90 yrs
       he has been making frequent trips to the hospital, this month, as the Sodium-Potassium levels
       within his system have not stabilised. Hope he gets all right and the frequency of the hospital
       visits are reduced.

       Last time, about six months back, we'd met him over lunch and he was very excited having us
       around. He looked fragile but his sense of humour was as fantastic as ever and also wanted to
       know the details of our work in the Foundation. His call of "You must come more often" was
       reciprocated by a vehement 'yes' by Lekha and I then, but we've not been able to keep up the
       promise. Must look him up when we visit Mohanachandran.

       The Idukki hydel project was dedicated to the country during his tenure at the helm of the state
       electricity board.

 (c) Varadamma Appachi, Dad's Youngest Sister.

       Infirmity has caught up with my aunt, who's dad's youngest sister. I've heard of stories when
       she used to be scared of standing in front of dad and used to get her requirements through mom's
       help and they made a tremendous twosome, always playful and full of laughter! When she fell in
       love with the ayurveda doctor who was newly posted at Thalavoor - he subsequently married
       her and they have four sons - it was mom who'd donned the role of the proverbial swan of the             legendary 'Nala-Damayanti' saga! When I was a kid, I used to egg her on to interact more freely
       with my dad but she used to say that it was impossible. In fact, she used to stand by the door with
       a part of herself behind the curtain! As the eldest brother in the family and because of his ways
       of interacting with people with textbook correctness, he was deified, literally!

       All of 83 yrs, she has stopped travelling and rarely gets out of her house these days. Will look
       her up and spend time with her sometime this week.

       She was a popular teacher at the High School at Kottavattom during her heydays, who brooked
       no nonsense!


Tailpiece.

The party congress of the CPI(M) at Hyderabad finally ended with a whimper without sorting out the simmering differences between the Karat and Yechury groups. Sad!

     

       

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