A sentimental meeting.

The forenoon hours were spent at the Foundation in meeting people, consulting with experts and tracking our projects that are ongoing.

In the evening, we'd gone to look up Vichaani kunjamma, who's been reported to have not been keeping well of late. I was seeing her after almost three months and she was lying down in her room, comparatively early in the evening. But, then, she was always the one who hit the sack early - as a habit - to get up early at 4, in the morning without fail!

The quick lighting up of her face, on seeing me, reinforced the fact that I continued to have a special place in her heart. And when she saw Maman and his family, her happiness knew no bounds. The next half an hour was of great sentimental value and I've been able to extract a promise from my ma'asi to visit us at Guruvayur to spend a few days with us, with special emphasis on mom.

How times have changed? Vichaani kunjamma's office used to be a stone's throw away from my school, the Holy Angels' Convent. Soon after being admitted into the school, I suffered from 'severe homesickness' and used to sulk from class at the slightest pretext and end up at my ma'asi's office! The entire office staff used to egg me on to give up my sulking tendencies to do well in life!! Vichaani kunjamma used to be known for her exquisite and appropriate choice of clothes and made any meeting lively with her practical approach.

She, now, is quieter and lonely ever since the passing away of Santhan kochachan, three years back. Her subdued persona unsettles me.........can time bring about such drastic changes? Perhaps, major upheavals may bring about cataclysmic changes and kochachan's departure is an irrepairable loss....not only for her but for all of us. We're yet to get over that sad night!


Tailpiece.

After a quick bite, we'd gone to see the Malayalam movie, 'Varsham'. A possible story, tautly edited and nicely told with stellar performances by Mammootty, Asha Sarath and the rest of the cast!

  

Witnessing history

Had got up with the alarm at 4 and after quickly going through the morning chores, was off to the railway station by Anto's autorickshaw. Disaster struck soon after we'd reached the Mammiyoor kshetram - I'd forgotten to carry my cellphone! Luckily since I was well in time, we could make a quick dash back, fetch the stuff and proceed onward.

The journey was okay, but at Pudukkad, the train had an unscheduled stop of 20 minutes because somebody had pulled the chain! And that upset my meeting up with somebody at Idapalli to whom I'd to hand over an important piece of paper. The best thing that happened was that a ticket was waiting for me by the faster, Jan Shatabdi thanks to Paulson, Ramjith - both my ex-shipmates - and PT Joseph of the railways. What I'd to do was to just get off the Fast Passenger at the Ernakulam North railway station, collect it and press on with my journey to Thiruvananthapuram.

Memories of my schooldays and the numerous football matches that were witnessed whizzed past my mind as the train crossed Kaniyapuram and Kazhakuttam stations. By 2 o'clock, I'd reached the Foundation's office and without ado, joined in the preparations for attending a public programme that was to take place at 1600h at the premises of the Karakulam panchayat of Thiruvananthapuram district.

The mood at the venue was electrifying and there was tremendous enthusiasm that rent the air. Mr. Kunhalikutty, the state's Industry and IT minister, had declared the panchayat 100% e-literate, which incidentally, was the second in the district to have achieved this distinction as part of our ongoing drive. 68 year old, Paru, was thrilled to bits and was all smiles as she received her certificate proclaiming her 'e-literate' from the minister. She's, incidentally, a farm labourer!

History was being made!!


Tailpiece.

Snapshots of an earlier album flipped past during the event. The sight of Kathamma, an elderly lady of about 80 years, hugging my grandfather for having achieved the ability to write her name and put down her signature thanks to the relentless work of Muthachan's KANFED(Kerala Association for Non Formal Education and Development), came into focus with striking clarity.

......I'm sure Muthachan was there at the meeting grounds in spirit! And no pun intended, please!!

      

Frenetic activity!

Mom was slowly getting back to normalcy. Her doctor's advice of 'Betonin' to get back her appetite seemed to be on track! I'd rushed to our familiar medical shop to get the medicine.

Achu came in by 11 AM and slowly, the things were falling in place before I take off for Thiruvananthapuram tomorrow morning. Priya's request to send in my thoughts about her father, who's turning 60 later this month, has been heeded to. I could finally put my thoughts on paper about Babu, my classmate and friend. Phew! The effort was sent by speed post to overcome the delay on my part!!

Three things are gonna been done during my absence. Our land line telephone needs to be brought on stream, the guys had promised to restore it this week positively as the problem was with the cable and that I was to wait out my mandatory time in the queue as there were many other complainants before me! So much about the services being prompt in our country!! We need to go a long way on that front. Can't still understand as to why we can't take it as a pride to do work expected of us promptly and efficiently, thereby, avoiding unnecessary clutter. It's our silly need to feel important, as simple as that.

And then there was a call from the Foundation asking me to pick up a few diaries from the temple trust's library. I was woefully aware of the additional burden that I'd to carry but guys seemed to understand  my discomfiture(?) because they're out of stock!

We decided to call it an early night as it's gonna be a long day tomorrow.


Tailpiece.                                                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                          
To be frank, I ain't comfortable leaving Lekha in a flux, but the Foundation's requirement needs to be met. Period!

Life's cycle.

The last few days have given me great insight about life. Mom continues to be on a shaky wicket in that her appetite seems to have eluded her. Is it the result of the fairly insistent course of antibiotics, I wonder? Or is it that there's a residual fever, deep within, which is killing her need to eat? Her doctor has given a tonic to turn the tables and it's my fond hope that it works before I cast off for Thiruvananthapuram.

And yes, I was gonna talk about life's cycle. Let's take the case of a baby girl, as an example. The kid is dependent on her parents, during her formative years with an affinity towards the father to whom she confides with all her requirements. This undergoes a slight variation when she metamorphoses into a woman, when the mother becomes her confidante for setting aside 'purely girlie doubts' that she's uncomfortable asking her father about, but he continues to remain her hero!

Then comes marriage and a life with her man wherein they raise their own family. Life begins to center around the two of them and the children they sire. Though the father continues to be an important figure in her life, the focus would have shifted to the husband for taking important decisions for her family.

Life goes on and the children have acquired the stature to live their own individual lives and set up their families, facilitated by the parents. And as age advances, the parents usually end up staying with or within the vicinity of their children for life's intricate needs.

........My mom has been with me for over a year. And over the last few days, she's been dependent on me for toweling her hair dry after bath, putting on the safety pins and the hooks of her blouse, wearing of the sandals, taking medicines at appropriate times, moving up and down the stairs - once in the morning and once in the evening - and finally, for tucking her to bed for the night. Lekha isn't called as she's invariably caught up with some household chores!


Tailpiece.

Life's inevitable cycle that one has to go through!      

Gearing up for next week's move.

I've been asked to fetch up at Thiruvananthapuram by Monday, for the next phase of the e-literacy programme of the Foundation. As I'd said earlier, this time we endeavour to cover the panchayats of Wyanad and Ernakulam districts.

Mom was not very happy to hear about it. Her health needs a bit more of perking up. The appetite has not returned and she's weak thanks to the antibiotic administration. I've already decided to delay my departure by a day and will tap the doctor, at hand, if the problem persists beyond Sunday. The viral fever, ex-Bangalore, has been crippling, I must say. Had taken a unilateral decision of restricting mom's antibiotic intake to three days as against the five that the doctor had advised. The reasons were two:-

     (a) it was very, very potent and I did not want mom to be unnecessarily stuffed with medicines.
     (b) there was a perceptible improvement in her overall condition.

I hope that the consequential break of three days wouldn't increase the in-built bacterial resistance to the medicine. My nephew, Achu, has been asked to join mom and Lekha to raise the spirits while I'm gonna be away.

The continuing delay in the restoration of our faulty telephone has been an irritant. Citing problems on the cable, I've been assured that it would be taken up next week as I'm in queue. Though, with two cellphones in hand, the problem is not acute its non-availability is definitely a sore point. And above all, mom finds it comfortable to use the landline compared to the cellphone!


Tailpiece.

As mom was coming down the staircase, she paused for a moment at the huge collage of photographs slung on the wall with a smile. When queried, she narrated the occasion a particular photograph was shot by dad, years ago. The photograph shows me explaining to my sisters, something that I was reading from a comic!

Some interesting scientific observations/happenings!

Science has been a vital aspect in the growth of mankind. The discoveries in the field over the years have given man new insights about life while inventions have contributed to living life easier. Now, consider a couple of these:-

    (a) Music binds mankind.

         Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, long back in the 19th century had called music the "universal
         language of mankind" and now, there's scientific proof that he was right!

         Academic researchers drawn from McGill University, Technische Universitat Berlin and
         l'Universite de Montreal travelled to the Congo to study how an isolated group - the Mbenzele
         Pygmies live without radio, television and electricity - responded to music. They've come to
         the conclusion that music can emotionally affect different groups in precisely the same manner!
         They compared the results with the way a group of Canadians from Montreal responded to the
         same, largely classical, western music and that created by the Pygmies. Earlier, the Africans of
         the Congolese rain forest were treated to music from Wagner to Star Wars!!

         The participants in the study would mark the end of each clip with an emoticon expressing how
         the music made them feel from a range of calm to excited. There were also tests with biosensors
         to check heartbeats and sweat on the palms, the breathing rate and little sensors to measure
         changes in the smiling and frowning muscles.

   (b) The star's age.

         Astronomers have been able to accurately estimate the age of a celestial star from how fast it
         is spinning. The team of astronomers had measured the spin speeds of stars that are more than
         a billion years old and they matched their predictions. They add that, just like the humans the
         stars, too, slow down as they age!

         The scientists of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have set themselves a goal             to construct a clock that can measure accurate and precise ages of stars from their spins.


Tailpiece.

Exciting times, indeed!
    

 

         

Mom @ 80!

Today's mom's 80th birthday.

She's slowly limping back to normalcy after the nasty viral fever that had struck her while at Bangalore. The airconditioned multiplex did the trick, I'd forgotten to arm her with a pair of socks and a shawl!

In the morning at 6, I'd gone to her room to fetch my hat before going out for my walk when I found her already up and about. Kissing her on her forehead, I wished her many happy returns soon followed by Lekha and my sisters, Rema and Minni. Preetha, Lekha's understudy, had been dispatched to the temple for a special offering on her name.

Sudha, a management graduate who's gotten to be friendly with us on her earlier visits, dropped by and turned out to be the special guest for the cake cutting ceremony and then, there was the traditional lunch readied by Lekha and Preetha. Mom was visibly thrilled with the goings on while calls from our friends and relations kept coming from far and wide and wishes poured in.

           *                                               *                                                 *

Had called up Kurup kochachan, in the course of the day. I'd forgotten to wish him on his birthday that had quietly passed by on the 30th of last month. My mom's illness, followed by a spate of activities at Bangalore could be cited as excuses but they'd sound banal even to my own ears and hence, I desist. And wasn't he thrilled? He's waiting for two things, he said viz.

   (a) The next meeting of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy - of which he's a member - at
         Thrissur after which he stays with us here, at 'The Quarterdeck'.

   (b) The get together of the entire family that I'm planning at his residence at Paravoor. Indira
         kunjamma, currently at Pondicherry with her elder daughter, will return by early march after
         which the quorum would be complete!

He's the patriarch of the family and is coping with his aches and the pains, with Madhavan, the male nurse attending on him. His children, Gopu, Kala and Kannan visit him every week.


Tailpiece.

The first phase of 'the e-literacy programme' needs to be completed soon. There are 21 more panchayats to be visited so as to explain the nuances of the programme, spread across the districts of Wyanad, Kottayam, Ernakulam and Pathanamthitta. The next week, therefore, is gonna be full of movement!