Happy Father's day

18/06/2006

My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it- Clarence Budington Kelland

Dear Daddy,
I have always thanked God for blessing me with a wonderful set of parents, dad in particular. You are the most wonderful person that I have ever met. You are not like other dads, you didn’t tell us bedtime stories, you did not help us with our home work, you didn’t teach me to ride a bike nor did we do much things as a family as most of my friends did and yet you are very special to us and so are we to you.

You are an awesome cook. There is that special taste in your food. I think the main ingredient in your cooking was love, was it not daddy? Coming from a generation where most men (at least in our little world) didn’t know how to make themselves a cup of tea, you made the most sumptuous food that I ever have/had tasted. In those days, when mum used to be away from home on official tours, you did hold the fort very well, taking care of two children and three dogs in addition to your busy routine.

You are a man of really very few words. Never have I really heard you verbalising the love that you had for anybody and yet I know that you love us more than anything in this world and that you would do anything for us, to make us happy and to protect and comfort us.

You taught us the importance of friendship. You did not make friends with anybody and everybody that you saw/met, (that’s amma’s trait!!!) the few chosen ones do go a long way back to you school and college days, don’t they? The day you decided to postpone annan's reception even though all the arrangements for venue and food were in place just so that you and amma could go and bless your friend's daughter at her wedding made me realise the deep bonding, love and reverence that you attached with those selected few friends.

Your love for sports is something that amazes me and the day when you won the cricket match scoring 67 runs against the team where all the members were only half your age made me very proud.

When kuttan fell ill and you realised that we were struggling to cope with him and our long work schedules you decided to take the next flight available without batting an eyelid. At that point your desire to make things better for us seemed your highest priority. I don’t think I acknowledged at that time how comforting and reassuring it was to have you around. I was just so relieved to see you at the airport. At that instance, I felt that the weight was off my chest and I was confident that somehow you would wave a magic wand and set things right.

All our achievements are the direct result of your guidance, your blessings and your prayers. We are indeed very lucky to have a wonderful dad like you and I have not told you before but you are my oracle and my hero. Happy Fathers day!! May God bless you with long health, a wonderful day and several happy years ahead.

Lots of love,
Raji.

The In-house Picasso

05/06/2006

Our little three year old was never into painting or colouring so far..His paternal grandfather and chittappa are really good artists and I was hoping that he would pick up that trait from them. But I guess he is more like his amma who cant even draw a straight line with a ruler (Aah the genes!!).

Diagrams and me are poles apart. One of the main reasons for choosing computer science in the 11th standard was to escape from the torturous sessions of drawing diagrams in records. My mum was quite confident that I may not pass my biology practical exams in the 10th public exams that she spent two solid days teaching me to draw the cockroach and frog diagrams. The difficulties that I had in convincing the external examiner that what I had drawn was indeed a frog are a totally different story.

My little rascal has so far not shown any interest in painting whatsoever. The closest that he has done is to sit beside an adult and tell them what to draw and generally supervise. Our typical Sunday afternoon would be kuttan and me sitting on the dining table with paint box and accessories and a big white paper. His standard request would be to draw a triangle and the 'Thomas train'. Though my paintings would pass for a triangle, all my attempts of the Thomas train has never met his approval so far..

He will study my train for a minute or two with a frown on his face and then in an attempt to get the point across would tell me slowly and clearly 'No amma, I saiddd Thomas train'. (Flash back in my mind of the biology practicals examiner).

I was really surprised therefore when he was waiting at the door of the art room at nursery, hands and clothes covered with paint and beaming with pride. He dragged us to the art table. I have drawn a picture, he cried gleefully. Perhaps the genes haven't failed us after all, I thought. Now I was really curious to see what this picture was and we were sure that it would definetly be much better than the exam frog that his amma drew.

This is what he showed us:


Most of the famous arts are abstract. May be if I stare at this one all day long, I can decipher this painting, read the artist's mind, his take on world poverty or appreciate the use of colours. But I'm no connoisseur, and yet this picture means a lot to me.

'Be careful with the picture appa, he warned.. Its mine! He proclaimed. I asked him what he had drawn.. Oh the list was large. This picture above, according to him represented his amma, his daddy, a snake, an elephant, a tiger and his favourite Thomas train all rolled in one. As I stood there staring at his art, kuttan gave me a hug and announced, you can have this amma, this is my present for you!!!!!!! Now that made my day. I pulled him close, kissed his cheeks, and thanked him for the picture.

What a beautiful end to the otherwise long and tired workday.

Amma

May 31 2006.

Today is a very special day. Amma is entering a new phase in her life, Retirement after being employed for 33 whole years.

When I think of amma, the image that flashes in my mind is that of an extremely pious, hardworking and a very sincere worker. Amma has a charm about her. Her friends circle is really big and ranges from the cute four year old opposite to her home who will be waiting by the door to share with her a funny event of the day to the 80 year old gentleman complaining about the youth of today. She made time for everyone no matter how busy or tired she was.

Hailing from a tiny village in the South of India, amma dreamed big. In the days when girls got married at the age of 16, she wanted to be a doctor. The fact that she studied in a tamil medium school didn't deter her from achieving her goal. Thatha didn't have the heart to say no seeing her determination and soon she landed in Tirunelveli Medical College which had been started just that year.

She worked in various little villages in and around Tirunelveli and the various mementoes at home reminded us of the service she rendered and reminded her of the untold inkling of love and warmth she shared with the innocent village folks. Her other roles as a wife, a daughter-in-law and a mother forced a change in her career. She began teaching. From a humble tutor, She climbed the ladder to become an Assistant professor, an Associate Professor, Professor and retired as a Director in her chosen field.

She lived by Albert Einstein's words,
" Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty."
Teaching for a class of two hundred medicos require guts and knowledge. I have seen her preparing meticulously for several hours to give an hours lecture. It is always a full house in her class and there would always be pin drop silence. Never once has she delivered anything less than the best of her knowledge and ability to her students.

Her long, fruitful and mutually rewarding career as a professor has drawn to a close and understandably she is very emotional about it. I really wish that amma would be more positive about retirement and sincerely hope that she does not equate this to old age. We keep telling her to look at retirement as one long vacation where they both can finally live their life just for themselves, follow their hearts and passions that they have stashed away and forgotten all these years.

She has worked very hard all these years and I hope both amma and appa enjoy their retirement.

Heres wishing amma a happy and a healthy retired life and of course several peaceful years ahead..