Wishes

Wishing Ramya, Sekhar athimbare, Kiran a very very happy birthday.

Akila

Happy birthday, Sekhar and Kiran!

Sekhar (Rama) celebrated his birthday on 29th October. Our best wishes to him. If someone has his picture in his computer, would he please post it? And today, 30th October, is Kiran's birthday. Best wishes to him too. Many happy returns.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEKHAR

Dear Sekhar (Rama)

Wish you a very happy birthday. Many Happy Returns of the day with good health and prosperity.

Ramu Sarada

Happy birthday, Ramya!

Best wishes from all in the family to Ramya. Many happy returns!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAMYA

Dear Ramya

Wish you a very happy birthday. I think this birthday is one of the happiest for you as both you and Anuj have completed the studies and must be planning to settle down.

Wishing you good health and prosperity in the years to come.

Ramu Sarada

My Childhood Navarathri

Appa and Ramakrishna perippa have added some fuel to memories of my childhood navarathri. We were in Trichy and atleast 5 children in the house at any time. My grandmother used to have an elaborate golu and every evening all 5 of us used to be dressed up in one vesham. After that we used to go about inviting people and singing "Ammami goluvukku sundal"!!! And yes, singing was compulsory. One of the days the girls' hair used to be decorated with flowers, I think it's called poo vechi thekkardhu.

I am trying my best to make Vaishnavi experience atleast half of all the fun we used to have. I wanted to dress her up in veshams this year, but could not as the golu itself was very last minute. Hope to achieve more next year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARU , RAJAN

Dear Charu and Rajan,

Celebrating birthdays on 24th and 25th.

Wish you very many happy, healthy, prosperous return of the days.

Happy Birthday.

Ramu.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, Charu (24th October) and Rajan (25th October)! Best wishes from all of us in the family. Many happy returns.

DUSSEHRA DAYS OF PCRK

A nice one from Ramki. I never knew all that!! Joint family system was definitely a big advantage those days, in many ways, including Navarathri.

These days, many houses are with just one lady, young or old, with just her husband and she has to take care of everything, to the possible limits.

PRESENT TEEN AGE GIRLS, getting ready for marriage, are putting many conditions for marriage, such as, the parents should not be with them, boy should have a very attractive salary with own flat, boy should not have unmarried brother or sister, etc.
What kind of dussehra they will have in future!!!!

Ramu

Navarathri Way Back

I just saw Ramu's reminiscences about Dussera in the old days and it kindled my own memories. I am talking about the 1950s when Appa had retired and we were in Karpagambal Nagar. We had the big Nash car (six cylinders) and I used to drive it with the ladies and children to visit people for Golu. In some houses I would also go in but the problem was Iwould have to sing. In all houses I will get the Sundal and some sweet packets. Once, along with me was Babyraja (Rukku's son) and I was in a mood to sing and went on singing the Javali 'Parulanna Maata' in Kapi Ragam and Babyraja would not let me stop singing it.

The golu in all our uncles houses were quite big and Thambi, Jayaram and I had to go to each house in advance and put up serial lighting. flashing bulbs etc. There was always a sand affair on the floor in front of the golu, either a mountain with celluloid animals and a forrest or a village scene etc. We spent a lot of time in putting up the golu and elders too took a lot of interest. The enthusiasm everybody felt in those days was great and we miss it now.

Once in our Office Annual Magazine I wrote an article (a short story) called 'Navarathri'. That was the time when computers were just being introduced in our Company and my short story was about the traffic jams dueto people driving in all directions to visit people and so how Shaw Wallace (my Company) introduces a system where people register and then give their dates and how Shaw Wallace will tell all the registrants the date they should have the DAY and the car routings so that the traffic jams are reduced and the police are very appreciative of the idea. In the short story I had a dig at our Chairman and said how he asks for a ten year plan and cash-flowchart beforeapproving theproject.

In those days, singing at the Golu was a must and if a person could sing well he/she had to sing at every house. The other side of the coin is that we had to listen to a lot of mediocre singing.

Life was very relaxed then, compared to what it is now.

-Ramakrishnan.

Thanks

Dear All,

Many thanks for your greetings and good wishes.

Sundaresan

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SUNDARESAN

Mythili and I wish you many many more happy returns of the day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
mythili & chandru

Happy birthday!

 


Sundaresan celebrated his birthday on 19 October. Belated good wishes from the Family. Many happy returns!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TSS

Dear Sundaresan

Wish you a happy birthday. We pray God to give you good health and happiness in the years to come. Many Happy Returns.

Ramu Sarada

HAPPY DUSSEHRA TO ALL

Happy Dussehra to all. Today is Saraswathi Pooja. Let us all pray the Almighty that all children should do very well in their schools & colleges, with good health and let us seek the blessings of Kunjappa and Janga manni on this occasion.

Navarathri at K.Nagar used to be enjoyable when we were kids there. I think it was between 1952 and 1957.

1. Periappa used to call us ( me, Lux, Lalitha, Rama, Ashok ) to his Boag Road house, before Navarathri . Along with Bapu and Lalli, we used to fill small paper covers with chocklates and keep ready for distribution, eating many without Periappa`s knowledge !
( Can today`s periappas can call nephews like this!!).

( Those days, periappa used to come to K.Nagar on every Sunday at 4 PM with Bapu, Lalli, Bharath,Uma. He will take me, Lux,Lalitha,Rama and Ashok and go to Marina beach. He used to sit on a folding chair near the water and supervise our playing, getting us all eatables in between. He used to drop us back at 6.30 PM.This took place for many many years.)

2. Papa, Rukku , Lux and Lalitha used to visit houses daily in the evenings, in the colony and nearby areas. Me, and Ashok used to wait eagerly for the different " sundals" they bring.

3. There was no "golu" in our house but there used to be some old dolls in a wooden box in the loft. Later, when Kappu akka came to K.Nagar, she used to keep "golu".

4. Among the houses we used to go with Papa, Rukku,Lux , are Sri.CAS, Hema - Vijaya akka`s cousin, Sri.C,A.Ramakrishnan at Adyar, Devarajan Chitkala, where very big golus used to be there. Ramakrishnan used to take us in NASH car.

5. Pooja on all nine days at K.Nagar used to be very elaberate and for the daily " deepa aradhanai" there used to be atleast 15 to 20 people of the family.

THIS YEAR`S POOJA, is coming to an end with simple pooja daily with me and Sarada only, Sarada visiting the other four flats in our building and both of us recalling our young navarathri days!!

Ramu

Address Change

Hi, everybody,

Prasad is shifting house on 1st of next month (Nivember 2007) and proposes to move into our own old flat i.e., Flat No.9, Deepak Apartments, New No.22, Urur Olcotkuppam Road (Off Fifth Avenue), Besant Nagar, Chennai - 600090. I hope the phone number, when shifted, will not change and will continue to be 24913573. Saradam and I are visiting Madras from 29th this month and will be there for a month.

-Ramakrishnan.

Thanking you

Thank you very much for your wishes Perippa.

Akila, Mohan

Chennai Vs. other cities

Much has been said about Chennai and Mumbai. Most of us get used to where we live and develop an attachment for it. I loved and still love Delhi - its wide roads, its beauty (particularly that of New Delhi and that too in winter and spring), the friendliness of the people and so on. But I was certainly happy to return to Chennai. I now hate Chennai for many reasons (already mentioned by others)- the rudeness of the people, lack of consideration for others, utter disregard for laws and regulations and the all-pervading corruption. All these are signs of the decay of civilisation and one dreads to think of what may be in store in the years to come.

The Lord said "Sambhavami yugey yugey". Perhaps the time has come for another avatar to set things right.

Happy birthday, Skanda!

18th October is also the birthday of Skanda, Srikkanth's son. Our best wishes to him. I do not have a picture of him, so am unable to blog one. Tried opening the pictures of the get-together that KK had sent some time ago but they failed to open.

Greetings!

 

18th October is Akila/Mohan's wedding anniversary. The Family's very best wishes to them. Have a great day and a great year!

GENERAL ( FROM RAMU )

1. Vestas RRB has now appointed a replacement for me , in the level of Senior Manager, aged 36 yrs. SALARY: Rs.75,000 per month!!

2. That photo of Jayaramanna is very good. He looks very smart and energetic. I remember to have seen similar photos in Thambi anna`s album. BUT IT IS IN THE WRONG PLACE IN THE BLOG!!. It is just next to my photo of Sashtiabdapoorthi!! ha ha.

3. Ramakrishnan also has expressed his dislike for Chennai. I fully agree with him. It is becoming worse day after day.

When Akila, Gayathri, Vidya are all giving their views on Chennai, I am reminded of that K.Nagar of Chennai, in 1955 - 1965 time. It is used to be heaven. When I feel like this, I can ralise the feelings of Ramakrishnan who has been seeing it from still earlier years!!

Ramu

NICE ONE - (Akila)

I am reminded of this :
One daughter-in-law, daughter, husband, sister, brother, and neighbour of one lady explaining the qualities of that lady to their friends, seperately. How different it will be from person to person!!

Ramu

Nice one

Four men set out to look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. The first man went in winter, the second in spring, the third in summer, and the fourth during fall. When the four men had gone and come back, they met and discussed what they'd seen. The first said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second said: "No, it was covered with green buds and full of promise". The third man disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen. The last man disagreed with all of them; he said the pear tree was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfilment. They were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life. You cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season. The essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of spring, the beauty of summer, fulfilment of your fall. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) It’s not whether you win or lose, it's how you place the blame. --- Oscar Wilde2) Success has many Godfathers , Failure is an Orphan.--- John Kenndy.

Belated Wishes

Dear Neeraja manni, Lux athai, Perippa,

Wishing you all a very very happy birthday, a bit delayed, though.

Akila, Mohan, Vaishnavi

SINCERE THANKS FROM RAMU SARADA

The sashtiabdapoorthi day was a simple but extremely nice one, especially because, blessings and wishes were pouring from one & all.

The ganapathy homam at 04.30 AM, mrithyunja homam at 10 AM and bhagavathi sevai at 7 PM at Matha Amrithanandamayee Ashram here were performed extremely well to the full satisfaction of us. Mohan,Akila,M.Vaishnavi and Koushik were with us and we had a good lunch at home.

We convey our thanks for the nice veshti and saree presented by all brothers and sisters. KN and Rukku were kind enough to come all the way to give the present. We felt bad that we could not visit everyone and take blessings. We could visit only Raju anna and Padma manni.

Thanks to all.

Ramu Sarada

JAYARAMANNA, MANY HAPPY RETURNS

Dear Jayaramanna

Wishing you and Vimala manni a healthy and peaceful life in the years to come. Many Happy Returns .

Sorry , I am late. I have genuine excuses for that but I myself will not accept them.
I feel I have become a little lazy after retirement. I am taking advantage of the Blog and mails and completely stopped sending greetings by post!!

Ramu Sarada

Thank you

Thank you, Ramaa, Gayathri, Sundaresan and everyone else for your good wishes and kind words. It was a surprise to see that old photograph of mine - can't even remember which year it was taken! But the tie, I think, was one brought by Pattabhi during one of his visits to India. He used to bring something or the other every time he visited us in Delhi. There are so many pleasant memories to mull over.

Jayaraman

Happy B'day

WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Chittappa! We have our J chittappa looking soooooooooo young & handsome in this photo! We heartily wish he remains as young, handsome & healthy as ever!
Gayathri & Sundaresan

Happy Birthday, J Thatha!!

Dear J Thatha,

Happy birthday!

lots of love,

Shruti
Prashanth

also from Priya Amma and Shankar Appa

Wishes

Many Many Wishes to Srikanth-Vidya on their Wedding Anniversary.
Happy Birthday to Lux Athai.
And SPECIAL HAP-HAP-HAPPY WISHES
TO Ramu Chittappa on this milestone - Sashtiabda poorthi.
"Vaazhtha vayadillai vanangugirom" -(hahaha- you guessed right -this is the latest influence of Stalin living next door!)

Happy Birthday

MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY , CHITHAPPA

from
ALL of us

Best wishes to Ramu and Sarada

 

 

Today, 13th October 2007, is Ramu's shashtiabdapoorti. Sincere good wishes from all of us in the family to Ramu, Sarada and their family on this auspicious day. May the Almighty bless them with all that is good in life.

BOM/MAD/CBE

I have just read Gayathri earlier posting. I fully agree that Madras is no place tolive in, mainly because of the attitude of the people, their rudeness. In Coimbatore, it is better, much better and I hope the Dravidian influence of the political parties will not spoil it soon. The bad behavious started sometime in 1965 with the Political parties' antiHindi agitation and in fact earlier there was a movement in which Ganesh idols were broken etc and Rajaji simply said let them break them and the movement fizzled out. But the hatred of the so-called upper classes was slowly built up and eventually a stage has come when nobody respects anybody else.

The other problem in Madras is that we cananot drive or even walk on the roads, they are so crowded and you canstantly feel that you are going to be knocked out.

In Coimbatore, the weather and water situation are so much better and this itself aids better behavious, I think.

-Ramakrishnan.

Best wishes

 
 
 

Neeraja celebrated her birthday on 11 October. Lux's birthday is today, 12 October. Today is also the wedding anniversary of Srikkanth and Vidya. Best wishes to them all. This post is somewhat belated, due to unavoidable reasons.

Disappearing laughter

http://content.msn.co.in/Contribute/Lifestyle/UCStory3992.htm

How true!!!

sharing a joke...

Subject

Here is a joke from 1995 – at the height of Business Process Reengineering (BPR aka

Headcount cuts …) meant to bring a little smile in the otherwise serious world of BPR) ; as for me it is an evergreen joke.

“Ladies and Gents !

This is what can happen if BPR is done out of context, without a blueprint, and is performed by individuals that don’t know just what business they are in, who don’t know music! ….Wolfgang AM

A company chairman was given a ticket for a performance of Schubert’s ‘Unfinished Symphony’. Being unable to go, he passed the invitation to the company’s TBM coordinator. The next morning, the chairman asked him how he enjoyed it and, instead of a few plausible observations, he was handed the reply in a memorandum which read as follows:

A) For considerable periods, the oboe players had nothing to do. Their number should be reduced, and their work spread over the whole orchestra, thus avoiding peaks of inactivity.

B) All twelve violins were playing identical notes. This seem unnecessary duplication and the staff of the section should be drastically cut. If a large volume of sound is really required, this could be obtained through the use of an amplifier.

C) Much effort was involved in playing the demi-semiquavers. This seems an excessive refinement, and it is recommended that all notes should be rounded up to the nearest semiquaver. If this were done , it should be possible to use trainees instead of craftsmen.

D) No useful purpose is served by repeating with horns the passage that has already been handled by the strings. If all such redundant passages were eliminated, the concert could be reduced from two hours to twenty minutes.

In the light of the above, one can only conclude that had Schubert given attention to

these matters , he would probably have had the time to finish his symphony.”

ramaa

sorry...

Dear all,

Call it ‘maaya’… or optical aberration… my eyes seem to have played a trick; and I sent you on a wild goose chase. Sorry.

Oops!

Oops one more thing. I just spoke to Sowmya - she was nowhere near Boston or the RudraMahayagnam. The person in the photo sure looks a lot like her, but it is not her!!!
Gayathri

Birthdates

Checking the celebrations this month,
Charu's B'day is on 24th not 23rd.
Gayathri

Happy B'Day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NEERAJA
from Gayathri & Sundaresan

Check this out

I found this amazing site for all kinds of veggie recipes.

http://veggiecuisine.blogspot.com/

The links just go on!! Just click on links provided to go to other similar sites.

Akila

no more a suspense...

Dear Jayaram Chthappa,
Sorry for the suspense. I did not know how to transfer/ copy a photo from a website onto to a
post in a blog. I saved the image in my file and got stuck there!!!

path to view the said picture is as follows : From www.lokvani.com latest issue - and the preview of articles with just one photo on the margin ... click on the 'more' at the end of the pre-view of respective article/ news item... Click on the 'madisar-clad' damsels and

suspense disclosed - there she is charming Sowmya almost at the center of the group...

Chithappa, how about posting Vimala chithi's oil portrait of paatti on PSCFAMILY?

Welcome, Ramaa!

Ramaa,

Hearty welcome to the roster of 'posters'. I saw the photo - of the Maharuddram group - (in small size) at the website but saw only one. How does one expand the picture and see the remaining photos? And give us a clue on what the surprise is!

Happy birthday, Vishak!

 

Greetings from the Family to Vishak on his birthday, 10 October. Many happy returns.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VISHAK

Dear Vishak

Very happy birthday to you. May God be with you always, giving you good health, prosperity and success, in the years to come. Many happy returns.

Ramu Sarada

check out the photo for a surprise!

Hi everybody,
check out www.lokvani.com - e-magazine latest issue... There are a few good photos of Rudra Maha Yagnam done at Boston. A surprise awaits PSC Family in the group photo of standing damsels.... Ramaa

Wishes and Thanks

I am thanking everybody on behalf of Mohan.Thank you for your wishes and blessings.

Wishing Lalitha athai a very happy birthday.

Akila, Mohan

Happy B'day!

Wishing a Very Happy Birthday & Many more to come
To Lalitha athai
from Gayathri & Sundaresan

Happy birthday, Lalita!

 


Best wishes from the Family to Lalita on her birthday, 8th October. Many happy returns.

Bombay / Madras

When I wrote that Bombay hotels fare favourably against Madras hotels, I knew I was running the risk of sounding pro-Bom & anti-Mad. Perhaps I had already created that impression during our conversation when you were here, Vidya. When I visited Bombay in May, looking at the squalor, pollution, garbage & crowds, I myself wondered why this Bombay-sickness. I knew the answer the moment I touched Madras soil – the insolence & callous attitude of the people is what turns one off.
When I say people, family & chosen friends are excluded. I am really lucky to be blessed with a wonderful family from both sides & I have a wonderful set of friends in both places. I am talking about the autowallah, the petty vendor, the general air of trying to get something without earning it.
You go to a shop, you have to first spell out exactly what you are looking for. If you are specific, the reply will be that such a thing is not available. If you don’t have anything particular I mind, then God help you, because the salesperson decides that you won’t buy anything & therefore not interested in showing his wares. His attitude is one of doing you a favour. Whereas in Bombay, (or in most cities in the North), they are such good sellers that they will charm you into buying more than you had planned! They make the customer feel special & also ensure that you go back to them.
Coming to hotels, the brisk efficiency is what impresses me. Time is money. Each table is served & cleared so fast. Here you see many groups waiting, and still the service is so slow. I will give your Murugan idli a try next time.
A plumber, electrician or carpenter, even the house maid seems much more businesslike –s/he comes, does his job, gets paid, leaves. In Madras, he first tries to talk you into believing that you have given him a most difficult job, which he does as a special favour for you in spite of so many constraints. In both places we have had L&T contract technicians, & I have experienced this difference in their attitude. (I am sure there is a fair share of good & bad in both places.)
Though I grew up in Madras, though I had a phobia about Bombay after the chain snatching incident soon after my marriage, Bombay stole my heart in the period 1992 to 2002. After moving from place to place, school to school, that was an extended stay in one place when we really felt Bombay was our home. And now, as Akila says, after 5 years, I have got used to Madras. But one trip to Bombay & back, the feeling gets reconfirmed once again!
Yes, life in Bombay is definitely not easy. It IS tough. But from the panwalla to the multi millionaire it is the attitude that makes the difference – one just takes it as it is & gets going without whining or complaining.
And I love Kovaipudur –I do not know if I will like Cbe as much as Kvp!

Birthday Wishes

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO
ANU, MOHAN.
Gayathri & Sundaresan

Happy birthday, Mohan!

 

Greetings from the Family to Mohan on his birthday, 5 October. Many happy returns.

Chennai/Mumbai contd...

Elaborating Vidya akka's point, recently Mohan just narrated a conversation he had with his team-mate, who incidentally happens to be a native Mumbai-ite. Seems, the gentleman said he has started liking Chennai to Mumbai, though his native is Mumbai. The main reason for this was the increasing crowd.

Happy birthday, Anu!

Best wishes from PSC Family to Anu on her birthday, 2 October. Many happy returns.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANUPAMA

Our hearty wishes to Anupama on her birthday. We wish her good health, happiness and prosperity in the years to come.

Ramu Sarada

missed the point Chennai/Mumbai

I read Akila's post on Chennai mumbai issue
I love Coimbatore! There can be no other place closer to my heart than Cbe where i was born and grew up.(Incidentally thereis not a single non Cbetorian who will not agree with this,This is another issue altogether). I never liked Chennai for many years.Now so to say I have got used to it nd definitely agree apart from the weather, it is a tolerable place to live in.the

What I was trying to reply to Gayathri is: Mumbai is not the place what Gayathri feels about it. Nor is Chennai such abad place really.I have spent a few years in mumbai too and for a middleclass salaried person in his early years of employment life can be tough then and so it is now.I say this because I visited mumbai last year after nearly 13 years and stayed with a friend and I could only feel everything was much the same.
Vidya