Shivam Diaries

Author: shivam

  • Ammalu is always right- music is in our life

    “You need not get up every time I enter the house, Ammalu. I appreciate your respect for me , I believe in tradition but I am a human being and a good husband too. A loving and caring husband too”
    ”Thank you.  I don’t want to be a hindrance for the flow of your music. Your enter the house singing and instantly I move away form the living room so that you get full freedom to sing”
    “Hope it is not to escape from my singing?”
    ”How can I ? From any corner I can hear you and you shut the door soon after you enter ”
    “Otherwise you would have escaped, Ammalu?”
    “I married to live with you and not to escape from you”
    “Hearing my music ?”
    “Yes, hearing your music. I was prepared for that on the first day, when we met. You sang when your mom asked me to sing”

  • Ammalu is always right

    “OMG, what happened to your head?”
    “Half is gone, Ammalu”
    “But, how?”
    ‘Ammini——–kitchen—–“
    “How many times haven’t I warned you not to talk nonsense while Ammini works in the kitchen?”
    ”No Ammalu, we were discussing astronomy and while explaining the theory of planetary nebulae expansion, I spread my hands wide innocently–“
    “She suspected that you were going to carry her high up and hammered your head with a roti roller or a hot fry -pan ?
    “No, Ammalu. unintentionally my eyes happened to fall on her lower back and I don’t remember now what happened. Then Nair and Ammini lifted me and placed on a sofa. Why should a woman get offended when I look at her back unintentionally while explaining the theorem of Nebulae expansion ?”
    “I know why. Anyway, now on while explaining any expansion theories never look at the back of any woman”
    “Lower back, you mean?”
    “Yes, lower back, specifically”half

  • A bonus smile

    ”The baby- sitter will come soon, dad” said my daughter, while boarding her new Mercedes Benz.
    ”Why a baby sitter?” I yelled at her, “can’t I take care of a just five months old baby? Or you think that I’m too old to look after a little one ? Or in your wisdom you have come to the conclusion that you and your sibling grew to this height on your own?  How many children in our family haven’t I brought up?  Do you know that I have, while in  service, had  handled hundreds of men and women , some lions,  some tigers;  some snakes and some mongoose?”
     Foggy morning, 5 min. to 7.00,  her elder children, 9 & 8 having got up at 6.00 , had their showers, dressed up and had already occupied their seats in the car. Their mother will drop them at their school and from their proceed to her work. As a responsible
    father, I should not question her further at that inappropriate moment and therefore resisted my urge to ask more questions, not that I was not capable of.
    She replies: Eat your food in time, Dad.
    And before starting the car, she flashes a smile and nods head asking  me to get inside.
    I too had passed through her age  but when my father asked me a question, not longer than in a sentence, I used to quietly move away from there.
    The present generation gives a single line reply to our  prolonged queries and added to that, flashes a shining smile too. That is a bonus.
    Or does my daughter who is the only woman to call me ‘konthai’ (kid) other than my mother,  thinks that I am also a five months old baby like her Dhruv?
    (With my daughter and eldest daughter in law in the picture)aparna and mEGH

  • Why this ?

    “Why this?” I asked my eldest son, when several years ago, he bought me a Desktop computer.  There were a few computers in the Institute where I worked, during the last phase of my career but I had no opportunity to handle them or even inclination to learn their operation. “You know, I’m not for having anything for which I have no need, however precious it might be” I told him.
     ” This unite is going to be your santhatasahachari, dad” he said and taught its operation.
    How correct he was! For the past decade, computer has been my life partner, life changer . My literary aspiration would have never found wings but for that never complaining servant and ever helpful friend. The benefit of earning me a large number of net friends belongs to it. The excitement of receiving and sending several mails exchanged between me and kin, in near and far places goes to it.
    For my previous birthday, my son in law gifted me a Tablet and for the latest  birthday, my eldest son gifted an iPad.
    “Why this?” I asked them, “I have a desktop and a laptop”
    ”You need it” they replied.
    Yes, I need it. Sitting in Florida, I can now see and talk to my children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces and other relatives in the other part of the world. I can watch and hear the kids of the family reciting slokas, singing music and  correct them, if necessary.
    I can watch their playing and fighting . I can take their pictures . I can take the pictures of snowfalls, oaks, maples, mulberries and pines fading in the winter and glowing in the spring. I can carry the instrument in my hand when I go on tour, read any Newspapers, books of my choice and watch movies. Even from India, when I go back, I can watch  my children and talk to them.
    “Why this?” I never ask my children now, when they occasionally offer me in limited quantity, my favorite liquors or sweet.
    “Why this?” I would not have asked God, when He brought me to this world, though I might ask Him so, when He takes me away from here. But I should not. Who knows His carrying me is only for offering  me another device through which I can watch my children and grandchildren’s face or  to give  me a peg of Soma, the  favorite drink of the world above.

     

  • Ammalu is always right

    “Ammalu, hurry up. Nair and Ammini are fighting like snake and mongoose. Let us go and watch the fun”
    “Did one of them inform you?”
    ”How will they inform ? Pattabhi told me a moment ago. Let us go and settle their dispute”
    Ideal time to switch on the iPad video
    “You think you can do that? You want to do that? Aren’t you  really interested in seeing them continue the fight till you are hungry and wants to return home?”
    ”What you think about me ? Are you my wife or my school teacher? Who gave you the right to question me? Is it that nine yards non-stop speaker- box, your mom?”
    “Pause. I will get the iPad and switch on the video. We can enjoy the fun sitting in our living room. Why go to Ammini’s house?”
    “Ammalu, we are not fighting . This is the normal conversation between a loving husband and his wife.( I don’t know whether the wife is loving or not”)
    ‘What do you mean? Only your love is love and my care, consideration, affection, attachment to you are all waste? When will you change? Will you change at all?
    Put me in the bus going to my mom’s house. I w’ll live like a queen there”
    “Pause. Now you can get the iPad and press the video switch on”
    Love and regards,
    sperinkulam

  • Which Appu you are talking about?

    ‘”I’m sure that you know our Sivasubramanian Perinkulam, known as SP”
    “Is he a collector or magistrate for me to know? How are you so sure?”
    ”Living in USA now with his children, worked in Hyderabad, writes stories. Many of the graama(village) people know him”
    “What is his nickname in the graamam?”
    ”Appu”
    ”You should have said that first. Who doesn’t know our Appu, here? As children,we used to play kottiyum pullum right on that corner, see straight there, behind the kolam, pond. He loves a familiar cinema song which we used to sing together. Shall I sing that for you now?”
    “No please; We’ll have it on another occasion”
    “Appu had a love affair in the village, when he was young. I’m sure that you will be interested in hearing that”
    “No, Sir. This is certainly not the ideal time to hear love stories. I’ m in hurry now”
    ” Why are you in such a great hurry? Come inside the house; I will get you some sambaram (diluted butter milk).
    “Thank you Sir, I have to catch the next bus and reach before the Shabari Express leaves Palakkad junction. If you don’t mind can you accompany me to the Station and help me to identify Appu ?  He owes me some money though I haven’t met him so far”
    ”Which Appu you are talking about? There are a hundred Appus in this village alone and there are 96 villages around Palakkad.”
     
    Baltimore,
    Jan24, 2014

     pathram

  • Ammalu is always right

    ‘Happy Pongal, happy Sankranthi, Ammalu. I’m fed up with this balancing task. I work like a bull and you reap all the credit”
    “I can take care of your cash transaction and balance the income and expenditure”
    “Cash transaction? You think I am a fool to hand over that to you? I’m talking about the arduous task of carrying your Pongal requirement, this morning from the market.  A big clay pot on the head; one hand gone to support that. A long sugarcane stick; another hand spared to hold it.
    A cloth bag with turmeric plant raising and lowering its head, dangling from the shoulder! Everyone in the street was watching me and enjoying my struggle to keep in balance those three uneven, unequal demands of yours”
    “You could have hired an auto or a cab”
    “I could have. But how will then people know about my sacrifice to you?”
    “Sorry to say that your sacrifice is of no use to me. I wanted you to buy a clay pot with a big mouth; you bought one with a small mouth and big hole at the bottom. The long stick which you were carrying was a tender bamboo plant and the one in the shoulder bag was a ginger plant.  I have to ask Ammini’s husband to get me a fresh set”
    “Phoo, Nair? That guy with a big hole in his head?”
    ‘’I’m not worried if he has holes everywhere, as long as he gets me a pot without holes. For your information, the milk when boiled should outflow the vessel; if it gets drained off through the bottom, it will only put off the flames”
    ‘’You didn’t tell me all these tricks earlier. It was your mistake”
    “Indeed it was my mistake I married a man of super intelligence like you. Anyway, happy pongal, happy Samkranthi. Children are waiting for you on the terrace for kite flying. Join them. Kites are to fly high in the air; not meant to nosedive into the earth. Don’t blame me later, for not telling you in advance”
    “Don’t I know even that basic principle? I’m like a kite flying high in my wisdom and you are like a clay pot with a big hole at the bottom, which drains all the wisdom I have poured into your head”
    “’That is OK; hold the thread in your hand and leave the kite to fly- upwards!”

  • Ammalu is always right

    ”You seems to be restless; what is the matter?””Ammalu, a couple of young women who had worked as interns under judges for 3 or 30 days, have complained after 3 years that the judges misbehaved with them. While in Service, several young women had worked under me, as you know. Suppose a  former colleague of mine, for 30 years,  complain to you now that I pinched her at a wrong place, what will be your reaction?”
    ” You retired from service long, long ago; why are you worried about that pinch now?”
    ”Ammalu, some words are immortal; some pinches too.”
    ”Which words of mine are you talking about?”
    ”Your words, all,  suffered child mortality. I am talking about your pinches?”
    ‘Which pinch of mine are you now talking about?”
    ”Your first one, some 40 years ago.”
    ” I am glad that you have not so far filed a law suit against me. Now come out with the truth. Did any one threaten you now?”
    “Not yet. But I should know your mind, in case that happens. What will you tell her?”
    ”I will tell her:  “you are lucky, compared to me. Your problem ended with the retirement of your boss.”
    “Ammalu, that is changing the table!”
    ”May be, but your chair is safe”
     
    —

  • Ammalu is always right

    “Ammalu, God came in my dream last night and said, ‘you are the master of your house and NOT Ammalu. Convey this message to her”. I am hereby conveying the message of God; the rest, up to you”
    “The God came in my dream too and gave the same message. Here is my first demand notice. Rs. 48, 50,000 for the 40 years, 4months and 15 days I have served you. This is towards my fees for cooking, cleaning vessels, washing clothes, sweeping the floors, mopping and other house maintenance activities @ 1 lac per annum. The other charges mainly bringing out your children, raising them up etc is being calculated by my auditor and I will let you know the amount in due course. Once you settle my dues, I won’t stay a minute more in this house. You can look for another woman.”
    “The God, before leaving, also told me, “SP, don’t take my words serious. I was joking . As a matter of policy, the Heaven don’t allow a husband to be the master in his own house. He would have told you too the same, try to recollect, Ammalu”
    ”He didn’t”
    ”That is OK. You got the message now from me. Bye the by, did He teach you the Multiplication table? Your calculation is so accurate”
    “To manage a husband like you, why only multiplication? I have to learn many more applications”
     

  • Ammalu is always right

    ” Ammalu, I am so happy that our friend Pattabhi’s life has taken a turn for good. He has become so God-loving and spiritual that he visits temple at least thrice in the morning and thrice in the evening”
    “‘If the temple is opened during noon, I assure you, he will make another three visits”
    “What a sudden change! I wish I could become like him”
    ” You can, I assure you. I will ask my mom to come here and you too will become a temple dove like your friend”
    ” Say so!  His mother in law has come from the village!”
    ”Remember one thing. If an old man visits temples frequently, either he has lost faith in himself or his mother in law has come to stay with him.”
    “If a young man does so?”
    “His wife has gone to her mom’s house and he visits the temple to thank God again and again”