Chippy's engagement.

Dateline 07 May.

The morning was quiet as we went through the Sunday morning chores and listened to the 'Rangoli' on the Doordarshan channel. Today's episode was nice as it covered the late Hindi film music director, C Ramachandra's creations as part of his birth centenary celebrations!

After a leisurely grooming, we're at Soman's place, next door, by about a half past 10. And we met a whole lot of our relations, from my dad's side and Mini was able to hand over Ammu's wedding cards to a few with whom she'd spoken to, on the telephone earlier. She could also invite a few others whom she'd have otherwise missed, for sure!

Chippy is my cousin, Soman's younger daughter and her fiance, Vishnu works in the panchayat headquarters near his house. The ceremony was taut and well rounded but the discordant note was that Soman's elder brother - they're two brothers - did not attend the function because he felt that his nieces were indifferent towards him. Sad, but the truth is that such faultlines in relationships exist in every household.

After the engagement ceremony was over, Lekha and I were dropped home and Sanil and Mini, along with our caretaker, went to invite the office bearers of our Nair Services Society's 'Karayogam', formally. It's a must, failing which, the body can pass punitive actions like, even, ostracising the family from partaking in subsequent functions! I and Lekha, then, drove our Chevy towards the area near the Kura post office to go through my mail, as the internet coverage of the dongle that I have, is non existent at my house! I used to resort to 'wi fi tethering' using Lekha's cellphone but 'google services' have stopped in it due to some problem, that we haven't been able to tackle. She'll take the help of either Achu or Ammu, when they come in next week!!And we talk about 'state-of-the-art technology' being available at our beck and call!!!

The painting of the house is proceeding well and only the kitchen - the first coat has been slapped on - and the store room, adjacent to it, are left to be done. The windows and the doors were being painted simultaneously after which, the varnishing of the wooden ceiling would be undertaken. The best thing that I like about the working of Vijayan Pillai and his team is that they clean up the area and remove paint droppings and overlaps, before the end of the day.

We'd a debrief of the day's activities amid the four of us over an exquisite dinner rustled up by Sanil. He'd done it last evening, too, and I'd complimented him for his culinary abilities. I admire men who can cook because I'm hopeless in that department. During the 'Camp Greenhorn' in my second term at the Academy, there was this exercise of cooking one's own supper at the end of a long route march. My squadron mates still remember how I'd eaten raw rice and sugar while they cooked fabulous meals for themselves! Of course, they gave me a liberal helping of their efforts. 



Tailpiece.

Lekha and I will leave for Guruvayur early morning tomorrow to return on the 13th. The purpose of our visit to Raj Nivas, this time, has been accomplished. And the water level in the well has dipped to a precarious low!    

To Leela kunjamma's.

Dateline 06 Mar.

This morning was a bit more easy as there were no deadlines to be met. We'd got up leisurely, gone through our chores and were off for Paravoor, by a half past 10, to invite Kurup kochachhan for the wedding. Mini had bought clothes for him to wear at the function.

There was a mishap at Kottarakkara when after traversing about 500' from a petrol bunk on fueling, Sanil sprung the alarm that the fuel tank was registering nil addition of fuel, whereas he'd paid Rs.1,000/- for the fuel on his debit card. We, quickly, retraced our steps and reached the petrol bunk. The youngster who'd done the fueling spoke rather rudely and I did tell him that he'd be taken to task if he misbehaved. Anyways, the bunk owner had ensured that fuel was put in for the amount paid earlier and took down my brother-in-law's cell number in case their calculations didn't add up!

After a few minutes drive, Sanil had found that his fuel gauge was back to normal and indeed, we'd taken a second helping! The gauge was the villain of the forenoon and I felt damn sad that I'd taken off on that poor youngster for no rhyme or reason without assessing the actual reason!! And I realised that there was no point in taking off on my brother-in-law for the faux pas........I need to hold the horses on my temper! There was no excuse on that bit!!

We reached Kurup kochachhan's house by a quarter past 12. The once exuberant house and its surroundings looked as though it was perpetual in mourning for Leela kunjamma! Kochachhan was being looked after by Ajitha and her husband and they seem to be doing a good job, in that, he was looking relaxed and good. Wasn't he thrilled to see all of us together? His statement that the house was hosting so many guests after what seemed to be a long time sounded nice.

After a quick bite of lunch, we're off to Anchal to 'Prayads' to fix the photographic/videographic coverage of Ammu's wedding and the receptions. The advance amount was paid after deliberations. On our return, we'd stopped at Shamsuddin's wayside tea shop, a bit past Kottarakkara, for a nice cup of tea and snack. We did pay the petrol bunk accountant the additional money that we owed from the morning's faux pas and conveyed our regrets!

The house looked acceptably clean after the two day painting of the innards! There's still a long way to go in that the dining hall, kitchen and the two enclosed verandahs need the scrub. Vijayan Pillai and his team are doing a good job.......you're ethical to your profession, Vijayan Pillai! My salute and deep appreciation for your demeanour!! People like you'rs getting to be rare these days!!!


Tailpiece.

Calls kept pouring in as many of our relations want to come and stay with us here to be part of the preparations for the wedding! I've told them that it's a big no-no as 'Raj Nivas' was in a shambles because of the painting going on and also because water was at a premium!

A day of invites!

The day had begun at a half past 5 and after the morning chores, we're out of the house by 7. We'd dropped Lekha at her sister's place and shaped our course towards Kidangoor, our first place of call. We reached there by a half past 10 and from there, it was a short visit to Usha ammayi's bother. Prasad and his wife reminded us that they're quite keen to get their son married to Ammu but for the unkind intervention of fate in the form of mismatched horoscopes!

Our next trip was to Vani's - Suma kunjamma's daughter in law - parents. They're quite happy to see us and greater was the thrill on Vani's grandmother's face who was eager to interact with us. She was quite crestfallen that we're not spending much time out there. The old lady, in her early 90s is sprightly, speaks coherently and is a fund of knowledge!

It was off to Sarala kunjamma's, soon after, who along with her husband was now staying with her two daughters and the grandchildren at Puthuppalli. Since we're four of us - my little uncle had come along and thanks to his guidance, we didn't fumble in finding the house - we'd taken leave of them without having lunch!

30 kms further, we're at Muthachhan's Puthuvayil House! Every relation of ours from Muthachhan's elder brother's side was met, interacted with and invites given by Sanil and Mini for their daughter's wedding. One of the houses was Divakaran chittappan's, where chittamma was thrilled to see us. She, however, didn't forget to complain about Maman and I not having called on her during our last visit! Ours was a quick trip to assess the extent of repairs required to be carried out on Puthuvayil house.

Having invited everybody on our list of invitees. it was time to get on the return leg. We'd picked up Lekha from her sister's house - she'd seen 'Bahubali', during the matinee show!


Tailpiece.

Vijayan Pillai and his team had begun the internal painting of the house and had finished the first day's work. Everything lies topsy turvy and we'll have to rough it out over the next three days!   

At Raj Nivas!

Our day had started at a half past 4. The chores, the prayers and an early breakfast saw us ready for take off for Raj Nivas by 7. Again, it was Rema who'd realised that I required her guidance to ease my Chevy from the difficult parking slot and proceeded to do the needful. We're off on our south bound journey by about a quarter past 7.

We'd a short halt at Eldo's joint and were looked after well by the team there, as they knew that their proprietor had cooked a dish, himself, for us during our previous visit and labelled us as his special guests! Antony, at the parking slot was a great help and he said that he looked forward to our next visit and a look at his face told me that he wasn't fibbing!!

The second halt was at the Kalpakavadi Inn for lunch. Though the new boy, Prasad, looked after us well, I missed the ever smiling face of Bhadran this afternoon. To my queries about his whereabouts, I was told that he was deployed elsewhere!

The traffic throughout was passable and the drive was a pleasure. We reached Raj Nivas by 3 and Sanil and Mini were waiting for us as discussed earlier. Vijayan, the painter, was also in accompaniment who'd worked out a quick assessment of the estimates of the painting inside the house. All the five of us had, then, gone to Kottarakkara to buy the paint and connected accessories. Vijayan and his boys are gonna begin the work tomorrow while we kick off for Neelamperoor, Kottayam and Kidangoor to invite the remainder of our near relations for Ammu's wedding. Lekha will not accompany us as there would be a lot of movement and I want her to take rest!

The dining chairs also needed a change and we'd a look see of the few varieties that were on offer and have zeroed in on a particular choice but will get them home only after the painting is completed.

The evening was boisterous and I'd given a debrief to Ammu's parents about the things that I've done, thus far, in the run up to her wedding. They seemed to be satisfied as they did not raise any objections!


Tailpiece.

Tomorrow's gonna be a long day, but this is the only way to do it as I see it!  

Off to Palakkad.

It's time to get to Raj Nivas to oversee the arrangements for Ammu's wedding. As I see it, the following need to be done:-

      * Painting of the house.
      * Round off the invites, the last destination being Neelamperoor and Ettumanoor.
      * Based on the final number of the invitees, the exact number of meals that have to be ordered
         on the 'wedding conducting group'.

These shall be tackled before we return after this trip.

It was a hot sunny day to begin with. Lekha was on to the final stages of packing and I'd wound down 'The Quarterdeck'. Preetha, the maid, had come in at her usual time and was at work. Eventhough we'd decided to take off at 10, we finally did it about an hour later only to be halted because of an accident involving a mobike, an autorickshaw and a pick up three wheeler. It seemed that there was no loss of life but the squabbling threesome had brought the entire traffic to a grinding halt and had to be separated by the police!

We lost about half an hour there, which was just a kilometer from our house.

The rest of the journey was uneventful and we reached my sister's place by a half past 1. Madhavan, the security man at my sister's enclave, was ecstatic seeing us, as usual. In his enthusiasm, he guided me, initially, into a wrong and tricky parking slot. I just missed getting a gash on my Chevy and was finally able to get a comfortable slot in the basement of the lower building, within the enclave.

Rema had made a scrumptious lunch and it was siesta time, soon after. However, the two ladies went for a quick shopping to collect the curtains, draperies and bed linen meant for Raj Nivas for which the order was placed much before .

Padmakumar and Achu came in around a half past 8 from their offices. We'd subsequently gone through the serials that were being put in place for Ammu's wedding, taking every idea and suggestion that were floated around to zero in on the finalised version! Time really flew, but it was fun and gave us great satisfaction!


Tailpiece.

We will be setting course for Raj Nivas, tomorrow morning at a half past 6. It's gonna be a long day. Sanil and Mini will arrive earlier and will give us company for the rest of the week as we put our plans for Ammu's wedding on stream!     

The games people play!

Am amazed at the way things are being played out just to ensure that the official stance is justified. It's common knowledge that those in power use the administrative tools to make sure that their writ is enforced but in the process, the individuals get trampled upon mercilessly, their individual rights be damned! Let's take a few cases where the pantomime is on, currently.

  1. Reinstatement of TP Senkumar, the Former DGP.

      Consequent to the Supreme Court order to reinstate the former DGP - he was ousted from the
      post, immediately on the assumption of power by the Pinarayi Vijayan government stating
      inefficiency whereas, actually the police had got quite close to certain CPM leaders in the
      murder of TP Chandrasekharan which unnerved a few in the party - a cat and mouse game is
      going on. That the Supreme Court's directive is a slap on the face of the government, there's no
      doubt but does it have the right to delay his reinstatement, out of spite?

      The fact is that he will be superannuating in Jun! Delaying tactics will just stall his right
      to sit on the DGP's chair, the resulting disturbance in the existing chain of command,
      notwithstanding!! Imagine the commotion that would have been raised if a politician was
      treated in a similar fashion!!!

 2. Politicising Coffee.

     There was widespread condemnation of the workers' strike in the chain of Indian Coffee House
     outlets by almost all the newspapers. The workers' body that governed the chain was dissolved
     and the administrator has been given the charge of governance, which was supported by the CPM
     masthead. The administrator has, now, issued an order that only the party's newspaper shall be
     subscribed by all the outlets of the Coffee House!

     Such blatant implementation of the party diktats and that, too, in a democracy? Reminded about
     the party riding roughshod and taking over the Kerala Library Council, years back and the clumsy
     attempts at trying to change the movement's history......which, incidentally, is an ongoing exercise!
     Sad!


Tailpiece.

It was a quiet day. Had taken our Chevy to the service station to check on the hand brake and the fluid levels. The brake had gotten slack, bringing down its effectiveness but I suppose I'll have to grin and bear it as the spare wasn't available on the shelf. An order has, since, been placed.

Adieu Paramjeet Singh, Prem Sagar.

Naib Subedar Paramjeet Singh of 22 Sikh Regiment and Head Constable Prem Sagar of the 200th Battalion of the BSF have made the supreme sacrifice while defending their motherland. The animals of the Pakistani army then went on to do the most dastardly thing, much against the existing conventions of behaviour at the battlefield, by decapitating the fallen soldiers!

The sequence of events went something like this:-

    * An intelligence report had said that the Pakistani troops had planted landmines on the Indian
       side of the LoC.
    * A joint team of the Indian Army and the BSF, consisting of 7-8 members was deployed to check
       the veracity of that report.
    * The patrol team might have walked into a death trap.
    * The incident had happened in the Krishna Ghati sector, along the LoC, in Jammu and Kashmir.
    * As they're looking for the landmines, they're taken by surprise by the 'Pakistani Border Action
       Team', which had laid an ambush over 250 mts deep inside Indian territory.
    * In the meanwhile, Pakistani troops attacked two forward posts with rockets and mortar bombs
       elsewhere. A diversionary tactic, perhaps?
    * The patrol, too, had come under a fusillade of gunfire, resulting in the death of the two soldiers.
       The Pakistani team, then, had quickly moved in and beheaded the two fallen soldiers.

The Army has been given a free hand to respond to the Pakistani aggression!

RIP, Naib Subedar Paramjeet Singh and Head Constable Prem Sagar! Your sacrifice shall not go in vain. My salutes and prayers to you and here's wishing that your near and dear ones have the strength to tide over these difficult times.


Tailpiece.

It's May day and hence, there shall be no newspapers tomorrow morning, which is a dampener! Nothing like the newspaper, with a hot cup of tea!!