Category: A12– Everything under the Sun

Unmayai chonna othukkanam- you should admit when I speak the truth-

2016 will be out soon. What happens next? The new Mathrubhoomi calendar will replace the old one! Everything else in the house, including me and my thammudu, will be the same!
For our age, the status quo condition is satisfactory ++++

Still, human nature being what it is, I turn back to look at the year vanishing behind the curtain. I’m too small a person to talk about the country but am big enough to talk about me. And talking I like; do let me.

With all the problems, the current year, in general, is closing with a good tune.

First and foremost, I am alive. Some of my relatives and friends are not. Even my own case was jerky for a while.

My brother who had serious health problem is much better now. Nandur uncle was kind enough to fit a machine to his ear, today. It should help to improve my kandasudhi, voice clarity..

Aparna, my daughter,  continues to like me despite my boring her with my songs for her clearance.

Megh, Anja, Hamsa and other mattupons and all others in the family too continue to like me, despite my doing things  which they don’t like!

Despite my disability lasting more than six months, could sing and upload more than 40 songs in the YouTube and over a hundred postings in my blog. Five thousand visitors this year for my blog, as per the WordPress record.

Earned a number of new Facebook friends; some have become intimate.

Could learn the elementary lessons in cooking. Another feather on my cap, for late learnings. Keep it up, good boy!

Last but not of least importance is that my aaharam( food intake) malamoothra visarjanam ( waste disposal from the body), swasotchwasam ( breathing), nidra ( sleep) are all normal when the year closes its annual account.

‘Is it such an important thing to report?’

Yes sir. It is! During the first part of this year, I was struggling for all those normal functions.

What do I look forward in the new year?

When I go back to USA, my grandchildren will look taller and four more kids will call me for the first time, ‘Appu thatha’, thanks to Shriram – Mahima and Suresh-Anusha!

And Dhruvu, Sidhu, Shreya, Vibha will call me with better clarity,
using full force for ‘pu’ in ‘appu’ and for ‘tha’ in ‘thAtha!’

I will be on cloud nine!

Time flies in jet speed or in mind’s speed. The shy and stylish girl, whom I brought to Hyderabad, soon after her graduation at GVC, for joining NIN, is a happy grand mother of six children now with the latest arrival of Rishi Skanda.

My Meenasister was fashionable right from her schooldays, not very common among the girls of her age those days. Soon after landing at Panchavadi, which was a bachelors’ palace till her arrival, she wanted me to buy a mirror table . Then came one after the other , coats, cupboards, dining table, chairs etc. The furnitures I have in Anantha Jyothy now were bought on her demand, long ago.

Being also my neighbor and colleague for nearly three decades, though younger to me by over twelve years, she has better understanding about my moods and pluses and minuses in behavior and therefore her grip on me is more stringent than my other sisters’ , a fact acknowledged by my daughters in law and used against me to discipline me! They threaten me when the hope of correcting me is lost,
‘Meenthaikittae chollanamo?- should we tell Meenathai?’.

We have toured together many places within India while in service and many places outside the country too after retirement.

She is so meticulous about her life style maintenance and mine too. For me, any button hole is meant for any button, not so for her!
While doing pradakshinam in the Guruvayoor temple, she noticed the non alignment of my veshti- ends and asked me to rectify it.
I was annoyed.
‘You are here to enjoy Unnikannan’s Devine form and not to see the alignment of my dothi ends,’ I chided her, ‘look at the sanctum, not at me’.

She likes music but not my singing. She likes to read stories but not my Ammalu stories. But she likes me at times. And more she likes, more sharp will be her observation of my movements and habits.

Her hubby who was a pillar of support for me during my difficult days is reborn as a grand child with his birth-star. I’m told that the new born is named as Rishi Skanda, Skanda representing the grandpa’s name Subramanian.

I wish Skantha long life with good Heath, good character and Good luck. And for his parents excellent health and lot of patience. To take care of four children, three of them babies is going to be undoubtedly a sweet but also a tough job.

‘Mamaji, of your mattupons, I’m the only one who has followed your footsteps ( in having three sons and a daughter) , claimed proudly Skantha’s mom. Yes, Mahima that is why other mattupons rightly say that you’re my ‘chellamattupon’.

In the pictures from my album, Meenasister at Panchavady.

After my BSc, I started my career in a field survey under a WHO project and our unit was at Trichur. My job was to collect blood, urine and feces samples from the farmers and other workers in the remote villages where malnutrition was prevalent, by early morning visits, exam those at our Laboratory at Poonkunnam and submit the report to the head of our unit. Being surrounded by many such samples as a routine, my childhood hatred for urine and feces evaporated and I realized how important are our discharges. But, generally, our concentration is on what we intake and we take for granted the wastage elimination system of the body. The purifying and waste eliminating machines are as important as our blood pumping machine. Urine and stool examinations are a must in the primary detection of certain diseases. When my Hb level was going down , there was a worry whether there was any internal leakage of blood and I had to get the stool examination for occult blood many times.

Our exit gate is not getting as much attention as our inner gate.

Don’t take anything for granted including your urinary habits and stool motion.

Don’t take anyone for granted, your baby, your boss in the work or at home.

Your baby can pee at your face, your boss can call you when you are on the way for an emergent pee and your wife can go for a pee after serving you idlies with no water bottle, anywhere in the vicinity.

——————-

When I landed at our Hyderabad home, back from USA, there was none even to talk to, as my brother was bedridden. Now I have in him a helping hand too. There should be at least two in a house. Similarly, I feel there should be two children to grow together.

Two is a company, not a crowd.

Two is a pair and it is fair if they are of different sex.

Two is a festival, if they are husband and wife, with understanding of each other.

Two is a ferry trip in cyclone if they don’t adjust and understand each other’s feelings.

Having led a life of leisure, luxury, laziness and lethargy for over three years with my children in USA, my sudden active life now is really interesting. I like it. I learn many new dishes. Vicha wanted Roti for dinner. Came up well, especially the potato curry, thanks to Aparna’s guidance.

When Vicha says, ‘Anna, pasikkarathu- I’m hungry’, I see the picture of a kid crying for mother’s milk. For a moment, I see myself elevated to the seat of MAta Annapurneswari, ready to serve food for all. Being an insulin- dependent diabetic, his system craves for food every two hours. And I have to be ready with my dishes to feed him, as he likes good food and enjoys eating.

My wife had always satisfaction on her face. Now, I know the reason. She was cooking and feeding us! I was not helping her in her routine duties not even pressing and folding my washed clothes. Now, everything I have to do myself. Busy through out.
Happy as I’m busy, happy as I’m of some use to my brother. Happy I’m not wasting my time.

Oh, that exactly is the reason why gods smile, all gods invariably, unless they are on the way to kill demons.

God’s won’t smile while going to kill; some men do.

You would have observed that everyone returns with a few Gangagel pots and Annapurneswari idols from Kasi, not idols of Baba Biswanath ( Viswanayptha swamy, Visalakshi or Kalabhairavaswamy) reason is simple- every one’s priority is Annam and Jalam, food and water!

The Annapurneswari idols are amazing. The Devine Mother, holding a vessel and spoon in her hands , ready to serve food. I have quite a few of them. And Sankaracharya’s Annapurneswari stotram too is Devine. The very start itself is superb- ‘NithyAnanda karee!’
Perennial aanandam- Mother gives that. Everything has a date of expiry. Even aanandam too . But Annapurneswari gives aanandam everyday. It comes from the food she serves. Food is the base for all our happiness. Food is Devine. ‘Annam Brahma ‘, says Vedam.

But Samkracharya is not seeking food for hunger. His request is for food for ‘jnAnana vairaghya sidhi’ jnAnam is absolute awareness of the absolute and vairaghyam is asceticism, freedom from all worldly desires. So when I see the array of Annapurneswari idols in my pooja, I should remember not idly, sambar but the need of learning the supreme knowledge. And what we bring back from Kashi is not roti, paani, but real knowledge for Devine aspiration, That is the real food. .
But to survive, we need food. That was why Vedas said, ‘Annam Brahma’. But ultimate ‘annam’ is brahmajnAnam.