From Ramu

Gayathri, our prayers for the speedy recovery of your nathanar`s husband.

Jayaramanna, our condelences to you and Vimala manni on the demise of Sri.T.V.B at Delhi.
Ramu

Namaskarams AND wishes to Lalitha athai & Athimber. I remember I was in 9th std during your wedding. During nalangu, as usual my voice broke & I couldn't sing while a full term pregnant Seetha Narayanan sang so well - I heard the Swati Tirunal tillana geetha dhuniku taka for the first time sung by her.
No photos this time akila? :):)Hope you have a wonderful holiday in Delhi - how long? Weather should be nice now, I think - am I right ex-delhivasis? Hope you won't miss Taj Mahal - for all the travel I have done these past 5 years, I have still not seen the Taj!
Hare Ram
Gayathri

Best wishes to PGS Mony

Best wishes to PGS Mony on his birthday today Sep 08. Praying for his good health and peace always. Many happy returns of the day.
Ramu Sarada

A long pending update

It has been over a month now since my last post in our blog. But then, quite a lot has been happening.

My oven broke down the day before Vaishnavi's birthday. So we went in for a microwave + convection this time. I am still getting used to it. So, now my baking is at a very slow pace. I tried my hand at an almond cake and also microwave theratti paal. The almond cake was crisp on top and very soft underneath!!! I guess I need to understand the heating system better. Any tips/ideas anybody? While baking, should I keep my bakig tray on the rotating glass tray or should I remove that? I am somehow suspicious about that. The manual does not say anything about it.

We are really looking forward to our Delhi trip. This is a 3-year plan. We planned the last 2 years and booked tickets this year, haha. Hope it would be implemented too till the end (keeping fingers and toes crossed).

Happy anniversary!

Best wishes to Papa/Ramani and Lalitha/PGS on their wedding anniversary today: and to Srikkanth on his birthday tomorrow.

Vimala and I plan to go to Delhi tomorrow for a brief visit. (Vimala's sister Lalita's husband Balakrishnan passed away yesterday morning, after a long period of illness.) We expect to be back in Coimbatore on Wednesday (9th September) afternoon.

Thanks for the anniversary wishes.


I came back from my Yatra to Jagannath Puri & Andhra temples on Aug 30th. Since then I have been literally drowned with Prayas work. We are planning a huge eye camp along with Shankara Nethralaya. Two Drs had come to see our med centre yesterday. since that space will not be enough, we are taking the adjacent school premises for the camp. We showed them the place & then we discussed all the arrangements to be made. Now we have to co-ordinate & get so many things done, starting with making the pamphlets & registration of patients.
Tomorrow is Prayas 13th annual day. Thankfully this time I will be only a spectator- not participating!
I will be doing the MS bhajan concert again at Velacheri next Sunday. I will be changing 2-3 songs to suit this set of audience. Hope it goes well.
I met Papa athai-athimber at Vidya's house. I also went & saw Tapu peripa as I could not attend the sathabhishekam.
My 4th nathanar's husband Ranganathan athimber is to be operated for colon cancer at Amrita hospital at Ernakulam on 14th. Please pray for his recovery.
Gayathri

From Ramu

Happy that Jayaramanna has now got internet connection .
Ramani athimbare,Papa,Vidhya and Sumanth are in Chennai.They visited us on 29th.
Ramu

Best wishes to TSS-Gayathri & Prasad-Charu

Best wishes to Sundaresan - Gayathri and Prasad - Charu on their wedding days. Wishing them all the best . Many happy returns of the day.
Ramu Sarada

Many happy returns!

Best wishes to Gayathri and Sundaresan on their wedding anniversary today, 31 August.
Many happy returns!

Vimala and Jayaraman

Wedding anniversary

Best wishes to Prasad and Charu on their wedding anniversary today.

I am back at the blog after a break of more than a month. Thanks to Ramu and others for keeping the blog up to date. I got the phone connection (0422-2617292) a few days ago and opted for a Reliance wireless broadband connection, as the BSNL thing was nowhere in sight.

We have settled down in Brindavan and are enjoying the life here. Good weather (compared to Chennai), friendly people and a good atmosphere. We had Ramakrishnan and Saradam visiting us for about five days some time ago and we hope others of the family will also take time off now and then to come and spend a few relaxing days with us here.

More later.

KUNJAPPA & JANGA MANNI`S BIRTHDAYS

Kunjappa`s birthday was July 13 and Janga manni`s, Aug 12.
I completely missed out the memorial days. Namaskarams to them.
I went back to older posts and read the posts of PCJ and Ramki of last year. Right now, both PCJ & Ramki are not having access to computer.Otherwise, we would have got some nice memories!!
Ramu Sarada

Happy Birthday Rama

Best wishes to Rama Sekar on her birthday today Aug 25. Wishing her all the best and good health. Many happy returns of the day.
Ramu Sarada

Best wishes to KN

Best wishes to KN on his birthday today 24 Aug. Praying for his good health on this occasion. Many happy returns of the day.
Ramu

From Ramu

Aug 24 is the birthday of KN and Rama Sekar`s is on 25th.
Ramu

Best wishes to Arvind Anupama

Best wishes to Arvind Anupama on their wedding day Aug 20. Wishing them good health and happiness always. Many happy returns of the day.
Ramu Sarada

Best wishes to Kumar Mala

Best wishes to Brig.Kumar and Mala on their wedding day Aug 19.
May God give them good health and happiness in the days to come.
Many happy returns of the day
Ramu Sarada

From Ramu

Aug 19 is the wedding day of Brig.Kumar - Mala & birthday of M.Vaishnavi .
Aug 20 is the wedding day of Arvind - Anupama
Ramu

Birthday wishes to Vivek

Best wishes to Vivek. His birthday was yesterday 15 Aug.
All the best to you and our prayers for your good success in your school and your good health. Many happy returns of the day.
Ramu Sarada

Happy Birthday Vidhya

Best wishes to Vidhya on her birthday today 14 Aug. Wishing her good health and peace.Many happy returns of the day
Ramu Sarada

Best wishes to Jayashankar & Arjun

Best wishes to Jaishankar and Arjun on their birthdays today 13 Aug.
Praying for their good health, happiness, peace and prosperity,
Many happy returns of the day.
Ramu Sarada

Wishes and updates

Wishing August celebrants a very very happy birthday. Special wishes to Anand anna on his 50th (!!!!) birthday.

About updates, all of us are now getting ready and eagerly waiting for the festivals to begin. So am I . As a warm-up, I tried my hand at making the 7-cup sweet. Well, that's the name it's called by. Probably who-ever invented that sweet could not think of a better name. Here it is, for all e-sweet lovers

Vaishnavi had her first experience of the cinema theater last saturday. We took her to Harry potter. Ok ok, I know it is not a very kiddie movie . Here she is, eager to get into the hall.

She was a little puzzled by the whole hall being dark. When we entered the hall, we had missed the first 5 minutes of the movie. As soon as we were settled in our seats, her first question was (in no hushed tones) "appa, which channel is this running on"!!!! We had a good laugh. Then every 5 minutes she kept asking "when would they switch on the light" or it was "appa is it still day? then why is it so dark"!!!

Hope Perippa and athimbers get their phone/net connections fast. Till my next update...

Birthdays

1. Aug 13 is the birthday of Jaishankar and Arjun.
2. Vidhya`s birthday is on Aug 14.
Ramu

Best wishes to Anand

Best wishes to Anand on his 50th birthday today 10 Aug. Wishing him good health, peace and prosperity in the years to come. Many happy returns of the day.
Ramu Sarada

August Dates

1. Since Jayaramanna is yet to get broadband connection, August Dates are not yet posted.
2. Aug. 02 was Niranjan`s birthday.
3. Anand`s birthday is on Aug.10. He completes 50 years.
4. Aug 11 is Padma manni`s birthday.
Ramu

Best wishes to Niranjan

Best wishes to Niranjan on his birthday on 02 August. Wishing him the best and many happy returns of the day.
Ramu

Best Wishes to Ramani athimbare

Best wishes and namaskarams to Ramani athimbare on his 80th birthday.
(30 July). We wish and pray for his good health and happiness in the years to come.Many happy returns.
Ramu Sarada

My next project et al

I just checked the blog to see my peacock mistaken for a parrot!!! APPA!!!! I am contemplating on what my next project (cross sticth of course) should be. But definitely something smaller, which is do-able.

I guess KN athimber and J perippa and co would have settled down to some extent now. But the actual getting used to the place will definitely take some time.

Wishing Shruthi a very happy birthday. Namaskrams to Ramani athimber on his sadabhishekam.

I tried to read "The sea of poppies" by Amitav ghosh recently. It was a very slow read. I was unable to complete the book and had to return it with about 100 pages unread.

I wonder why all our Indian authors have a sad a nd negative tone to their writing. Why do they have to focus only on what is not there in India? Probably their intention is to bring these things out. But then, everybody is trying to do the same thing (bring these points out in the light). Just penning my thoughts on that.

I would like to read "The white tiger" next. Has anybody read that? Any idea how it is?

Best Wishes to Shruti

Best wishes to Shruti on her Birthday ( I missed out on 21st). Wishing her success in all her endeveours and good health. Many happy returns of the day
Ramu Sarada

Namaskarams to Ramani Athimber on his Sathabhishekam.

Ramu C, I am sure you got a hell of a beating from Akila for mistaking her peacock to be a parrot :) I know how tough it is to do embroidery - I love doing it, managed one piece when I was in Muscat. I got it framed only after coming to Madras, and now after this painting I have even found the place to hang it!
I did another one metre x one meter jute cross stitch of a geometric design. I started when I was relaxing at K Gardens before Rajiv's birth. And completed when he was about 15 years old!!!
Akila, I am coming to taste all your bakes - sounds really mouth watering!

The painters are through a contractor who has been serving L&T employees for more than 20 years, so he is very reliable. And I can now vouch for it - the men are very good workers and very well behaved. We did not have to be after them to check each and every thing. They do offer to take out things from the cupboards and put them back, but thing is, except for the big items in the 'parann', we prefer to handle it ourselves.
Furniture polishing is still on.
Gayathri

From Ramu

1. July 30 is the birthday of Ramani athimbare and this is his 80th birthday. Tamil star was on 18th.
2. Gayathri, Didn`t you try Asian Paints offer! They do painting of the house without you doing anything!
3. Akila, the parrot has come out well.
4. It will take sometime before PCJ resumes his regular contributions to the Blog. Ramki also now-a-days is rare since his computer is in the first floor.
Ramu

Settling down

A quick post to say that we are actually moving to Brindavan today. KN and Rukku in the forenoon and Vimala and I in the afternoon. Don't know when I can see the blog again because it may some time for us to get the phone line and broadband. Shall see the last few posts only then!
The weather here is great - so cool and fresh even though it rains now and then. What a change from Chennai.

My updates

A belated happy birthday to Anuj and hearty welcome (back) Ramya .

Perippa, looks like the comments still do not appear below the post always. Let me do some more investigation and try to figure it out.

This weekend I baked some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, am too lazy right now to post a picture of it. Though it tastes perfect (exactly like pepperidge farm ones), it is not chewy like they are supposed to be . Looks like I need to work some more on it to get that consistency (is that the right word?). The main idea behind so much baking is to give as much home-made stuff to Vaishnavi as possible.

Guess what, I finally managed to finish the cross stitch project I was working on (a peacock).

This one took me a solid 3 years to finish .

Milestone

Anuj 'touches' 30 today!

Trust Brindavan vasis are now settled comfortably.
Painting work in our house is getting near completion - the last part seems to take longer! Wood polish wala has entered the scene today - at the rate he is working, I think he will take another three days at least!
Confined to one room, with saman and dust strewn all over the place, my mind and body has become so lethargic! Yesterday I pulled myself up and attended SundarKumar's discourse on Krishna Charitam at Venus Colony. Hope to be able to attend all 10 days. I tried walking to the place - a short cut thru inside roads - it took me only 15 minutes. Auto fellows demand Rs 40 (or even more)!
Hare Ram
Gayathri

From Ramu

PCJ and KN must be busy in Cbe , unpacking and setting things. It was interesting to read Ramki`s post and my mind started wandering in K.Nagar thoughts.
When I was in Hyderabad, Ashok used to say often how nice it would be if all retired children of Kunjappa and spouses, live jointly in a big house with a common kitchen and a cook!!!!! Like how all were in K.Nagar in younger days!!
Ramu

NEW RATION CARD IN APRIL

Issue of new Ration Card is planned from April 2010.
I came to know only yesterday that all existing Ration Card holders should go to their existing Ration shops with the Ration Card and sign in a Register provided there.
Aishwarya`s father came from Trichy yesterday for this purpose ( their Ration Card is in Chennai address ) and I came to know only then. I have not seen any notification in papers or in TV news!
This has to be done before end July.
Ramu

Milestone

Gayathri,
What is the milestone Anuj will be reaching now!
Ramu

Best wishes to Rajani and Koushik

Best wishes to Rajani and Koushik on their birthday today 15th July. Wishing them good health, happiness and prosperity. Many happy returns of the day.
Ramu Sarada

another july baby

Another July baby is Anuj Kapadia, who reaches a milestone this year on 18th. J Chittappa, sorry I haven't informed you earlier - I myself realised only now that his name is missing.
It is now 5 years since we moved into this house, and right now painting of the walls is going on. Last week was a total mess, especially when the kitchen and dining room were being done. We just managed to get that finished before Appa & Prasad arrived. Both the painters & us (we?)have taken a well deserved breather over the weekend. They will be back tomorrow morning and my guess is that there is another 8 to 10 days of work before I can get the house back to normal living condition.
Chittappa and Athai are leaving tomorrow - you will see this only after settling down at Brindavan. Anyway - Goodbye, and Good Luck!
Gayathri

Moving and Fruits.

This is Ramakrishnan Speaking. We shifted house on 20th May at Kovaipudur and it took some time to settle down and get the BSNL Broadband too. Then on 16th June I got a virus fever which ws so virulent straightaway that I could not even sit up and did the rare thing of calling the doctor home. I have still not fully recovered and feel more tired than usual. So I have not visited the blog for quite some time. Today I am in Madras on a visit at Gayathi's house and will be going back in two days.

I have seen all the postings in the blog in this month and find that very interesting things are going on, about fruits, shifting etc. In Kovaipudur, Saradam is very very upset that Chandru and Mythili are going away to Brindavan as they have been very good company to us and gave us a feeling that we have help so near.

I have been close to KN right since his marriage was fixed with Rukku and at that time every Sunday I would go to their house in Egmore in the morning and then we woould both go to the Udipi hotel for breakfast. Later it was he who put the idea into my head of buying a plot in Karpagam Gardens and building a house and if today I am benefitting by that decision enormoously (in fact it is what is sustaining me now), I should thank him for it. I know he was devoted to his work and good at it and able to absorb the culture of the organisation which is very important in a newspaper and I have seen him grow from strangth to strength. Soon after his marriage, he had a very serious spine surgery and had lie down flat face up for six months and I can never think of it without shuddering at how he withstood the ordeal. I wish him and Rukku good health and peace with the change in location.

Jayaram and I have been close right from childhood and we have fought to the extent of holding by the hair and knocking the head on the wall. And as you all know, we t ttused to sing together and it brought us closer I think. It must have been difficult for hom to take the plunge to move to Brindavan, leaving his grandchildren behind. I wish him and Vimala all peace, good health and contentment in Brindavan.Coming to the fruits, Jack fruit is one of my favourites as also chakkai varatti. I do not like Banana varatti so much. Sithaphal is a very tasty fruit though as a boy I thought it was not for us. In Hyderabad we also get a Raam Phal which is more reddish but tastesthe same. Thambi used to make very nice fruit salad, cutting all the fruits into very small pieces and soaking them in sugar syrup. That brings to my mind the PRASADAM we used to make during Avani Avittam, a mixture of many fruits and also . Vadai, Appam and coconut and curd and we, hungry afer the rituals, used to relish it. All of us, including Pattuappa used to participate in preparing it. But the ladies at home for whom we brought the PRASADAM did not like it.

I have spoken too long already. Bye.

-Ramakrishna

Update long overdue

Hello family,
My apologies for being incommunicado for so long. Amma's been urging me to read the blog and I only just got around to doing it.

I loved the "Fruits" chain:) Amma, my banana-hating days are over. Even rather over-ripe ugly bananas don't disgust me anymore! The only fruits I truly dislike are the papaya and jackfruit. Sitaphal, Kiwi and Leechi are fruits I haven't even tried because a) Kiwi is also a bird and I feel like i'm about to eat one, b)Leechi reminds me of a leech and c) Sitaphal is just weird looking. Talk about being picky!

Akhila, did you bake the muffins from scratch? Banana nut muffins are my absolute favorite! I bake pretty often here. The ready-made mixes makes it really easy to bake. I'm going to now try my hand at making jams. We stayed with a French couple in Paris during our tour earlier. The lady of the house makes the most amazing jams. I thoroughly enjoyed spreading a different variety of jam on fresh brioche everyday.

KN athimber, you've been with the Hindu for as long as I can remember. In fact for a long time, I believed that you owned the paper! Here's to a glorious career that we youngsters can only aspire to have.

To all those moving to Coimbatore - enjoy the peace and tranquility of a simple life! I hope I will be able to sneak in a visit to CBE this winter.

Happy Birthday to all the July babies:) July 15 is a very special day!!! Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince releases in the US:) Of course I'm going! I'm trying to decide whether to sport a robe or a witch hat!!!

Love
Ramya

Wishes and Comments

As appa says, Gayathri akka has expressed all our feelings very well!!! Last saturday, while returning from adyar, we all had a big lump in our throat!!! But then, we sincerely do wish and pray that the movers :) get what they expected and much more.

Anyway, you are all just a phone call away and a mail's distant away :)

Perippa, about displaying comments always, if we go to customize and go to the Settings tab, under comments, select "Embedded below post". I think this would always display comments under a post.

Good Luck,Jayaramanna / KN

1. Best wishes to Jayaramanna, Vimala manni, KN,Rukku. Since a month my mind is constantly thinking only about their shifting to Coimbatore and Sarada & I talk about that daily. Gayathri has said very crisply, what is in our mind.
2. We sincerely pray that your stay in Coimbatore should be as you expect and all of you should be comfortable there.
3. Like Gayathri says, eventhough we do not meet regulary, we will be very much missing all of you.
Good luck.
Ramu Sarada

PSC Family HQ

PSC family HQ is now COIMBATORE! Could we have ever foreseen this?! Soon I guess Lalitha athai also will move there. Thambi & Raju peripas, & Ramu C will still be in Chennai. Quite a few of us of the second gen still here, but still....
It is not as if we met very often or anything, but still the thought that so many of you are moving out definitely leaves a gaping void.
Well, that's being selfish, wanting your presence here for our own sense of security. So, here's wishing all the Movers (& Shakers, hahah) a wonderful relocation to Brindavan. That includes Mythili athai-Chandru mama too, of course, though they are making the move a bit later. Praying that you are able to find peace and comfort in the better climes of Coimbatore!
Gayathri

Change of address

Vimala and I will be moving to Coimbatore shortly. Our address from around the 18th July will be:

B-237 Brindavan Palm Grove

Kempanur Road

Muthipalayam

Thondamuthur P.O.

Coimbatore 641109

For the time being, we shall have only the mobile phone - number 9444004330.

KN/Rukku are also moving at the same time. Their address will be as above, with the door number B-238.

Please wish us luck!

Jayaraman

Anniversary of the blog

Our blog steps into its third year today. I was trying to think of something profound to say but did not succeed. But this I should say. I have enjoyed the blog and the inputs of all our participants. Let us keep the ball rolling.

Comment by Aishwarya

Gayathri, please scroll down to my post of 31st May on the occasion of Aishwarya's birthday. Aishwarya had said thank you in a comment.

I know another blog where the comments are visible always on the blog. One of the members had made this possible by doing something to the blog's basics. Akila, do you know how this can be done?

Fruits

Chakka varatti is one my favorites. The kela-varatti sounds yumm, will definitely try that this weekend.
Talking about including fruits in diet, I would like to somehow introduce a fruit with Vaishnavi's breakfast. She now has muesli, with some dry fruits. Are the fruit juices available in stores really as healthy as they are claimed to be? Vaishnavi does enjoy them (as expected), but I am not really sure about the health factor. Also, they are whoppingly expensive!!!

KN Athimber's writing is simply too good. That last Monday article really touched my heart - every time my admiration grows and grows! Pattabhi Chittappa's writing is also a class apart - even now when his articles are reproduced, we can see the difference in quality. A big namaskaram to their caliber - konjamaavadu namakku pass aaguma!
I could not find Aishwarya's comments. Chittappa, can you please bring it out - like you did the first time?
Clock-calendar is a nice addition. But I wondered if it was taking the place of the picture slideshow; Happy to see the slideshow on now :)
Gayathri

Birthday wishes to Adhitya & Ramesh

Bset wishes to Adhitya ( birthday on 1st ) and Ramesh ( today ) on their birthdays. Praying for their good health and prosperity.
Ramu Sarada

The blog

I have added a clock/calendar to theblog. Also a search tool through which we can recall old posts. Comments on changes and improvements are welcome. To remind members, do not add comments through the 'comments' tab under posts. They will go unnoticed. How many of us saw the comment of Aishwarya on of the recent posts?

Jayaraman

KN

Ramu has spoken well about KN. 54 years in one organisation must be a sort of a record for any profession. The great thing is that KN has held the respect of not only his employers but also the respect (and affection and admiration) of all his colleagues and subordinates. All of us wish him piece and good health in his retirement.

I agree with Gayathri on chakkai pazham. It must be crisp and not over-ripe to be edible, for me. And I must try out the vazhaipazha-varatti one of these days, though it seems like a lot of work!

KN`S ARTICLE

Many would have read the excellent article of KN in The Hindu of today 29 June 2009, in the Readers` Editor column, in which he has mentioned that this is his last article in Hindu. ( Probably I am too small to show my appreciation!). 54 long years ! This shows how his dedicated work was liked by everyone in Hindu and the fact that he is coming out on his own shows that the dedication is still there as young as a fresher. As I was reading the article, I started getting a feeling that Hindu will stop coming to my house from tomorrow!!
Sometime back, Sri.Kasthuri, took KN personally for checking KN`s hearing and got him a set of hearing aid. Personally, I consider this equal to getting a Padma Sri.
I have no words to show my praise for KN . May God give him good health and mental peace in the days to come!
Ramu

Hey, that fruit topic has got us going! Thanks Akila!

J chittappa, Vivek hates “even LOOKING at” bananas! One kela with our breakfast is a must every day. I do have a salad of cucumber & carrots every day, but it is special on Ekadasi days with the extra fruits in it!

Palaa pazham – it’s got to be just right – crisp & sweet. Even a slight over-ripeness can spoil the texture and taste. The palaa pazham we had bought for sradham did not keep for even a day, S made chakkai varatti out of it that same evening! Rukka athai-athimber, J chittappa-chitti had the fortune to taste it! Sadly, I hate the taste (or smell) of cooked pazham, so left that joy to others!

S is a great one for buying fruits. But he doesn’t buy as much here as he used to in Bombay. Two reasons – kids not here, attitude of the sellers. S gets a kick out of getting a good bargain, & he does not get that satisfaction in Madras, heheh!

If Akila likes- here’s what I do with over ripe bananas – mash them, cook with vellam. Add elaichi, roasted cashew. It should be cooked till all the water goes. Add a little ghee. This is my version of chakkavaratti! Kela-varatti, if you please!

From Ramu

1. Curd rice with "malai pazham" ( ofcourse curd should be good ) for touching is something I love. This used to be a regular item in the menu in CAS`s house and as a school boy, I used to have it daily in their house along with Balu.
2. Nowadays, we read frequently that most of the fruits are adulterated in one way or other. The vendor from whom I buy banana regularly, refuses to give me a particular variety of "pachai pazham" saying it will cause stomach pain, on regular use.
3. No one will dislike "palaa pazham" and we have never really enjoyed it after K.Nagar days. Kappu akka used to buy regularly during season and used to distribute to everyone.Appa also used to buy or sometimes bring from Baachaa appaa`s house and there used to be big session for cutting the fruit, appa leading it and all of us assisting him.
Ramu

Fruits

To hear that someone hates 'even bananas' made me smile. I do not like them much myself. My preference is for mango, papaya, sapota, grapes etc. etc. Gayathri, why wait for Ekadasi to eat salad? We have some everyday, mostly raw vegetables. But this is part of lunch, which comes after a breakfast of cereal and fruit and is followed by dinner, apart from the odd snack!

Fruits

Akila,
Those muffins sure look yummy! Does Vaishnavi not like fresh fruits? Is that why you are trying to camouflage them? Vivek is another fruit hater. He gets nauseous even looking at bananas! Ramya was ok with fruits separately, but never as fruit salad!
As for me I have quite recently discovered that I love pomegranates, green grapes mixed in my curd rice! I welcome Ekadasi days because I make for myself a "Super Salad" with lots of fruits and dates!

The earrings look good. Sad that I am past the age for all that!

J chittappa,, so perseverance paid off! Good you got the cheque!

Gayathri

Sincere apologies and a promise

I am extremely sorry for not being regular in posting to our family blog. As Gayathri akka said, perippa you have taken soo many pains to keep it going now. So, now I promise to be more regular in making posts to our blogs.

Thanks a lot for your wishes on my birthday Perippa.

Now, on our updates.. I have taken a new hobby in trying my hand at making beaded jewellery. Here's the first result.

It is amazingly easy to make. Another area where I am concentrating now is baking. The main idea is to give home made snacks to Vishnavi for school.

So, I baked these banana muffins (eggless). And guess what, Vaishnavi did not even touch it!!! So much for my trying to make her eat fruits and something home-made. Even my last attempt at making apple cinnamon muffins was a big flop as far as Vaishnavi was concerned. I guess I just have to be patient till she develops a taste for fruits.

Hathway

I got the refund from Hathway today. It took some effort, tracing their present phone number and location. Ashok helped. When at last I got through, I find that my cheque is dated 12 May and the company never contacted me about it. I went posthaste and picked up the check. I hope it won't bounce.

Best wishes to Aparna

Best wishes to Aparna on her birthday today, 26 June. Many happy reyurns of the day.
Ramu Sarada

Random thoughts

Yesterday morning we were at Sri Parvathi, what used to be Venkatappa's house, attending a gathering organised by Ashok to flag off his new venture, a place for holding small functions, birthday parties and so on. He has done up the place well and I hope it will be a success. There were many familiar faces from PRS family, including Lakshmi, present owner of the house. Also Padma, Sridhar's wife presently visiting India. She celebrates her birthday today. Our best wishes to her. Malvika has her birthday tomorrow, 23rd June. Best wishes to her too.

Ramakrishnan and Saradam were planning to visit Chennai for a short while, arriving tomorrow, in connection with the sale of the flat in Deepak Apartments. But he has called it off, as he is feeling quite tired. I hope he gets better soon.

Best wishes to Kristin/Kumar, Mani/Bhuvana and Lux/Cheenu on their wedding anniversaries.

Best wishes to Mani-Bhuvana manni & NG-Lux

Best wishes to Mani - Bhuvana manni and NG - Lux, on their wedding day today 22 June. May God give them good health and peaceful life in the days to come.Many happy returns.
Ramu Sarada

Dear Chittappa-s,
Thanks for all the praise!! The 'ice' on my head has helped in cooling down what has otherwise been a terribly hot month!
I really loved every minute of the workshop with Vedavalli(Amma). I had read about the 72 Melaragamalika, but had never heard it sung. It is truly a monumental work, and the most amazing thing is its simplicity & logical progression. But it is a tight-rope walk - the kind of focus we need to sing it - I am sure we can keep Alzheimer's at bay if we try out this one song, hahaha!
I now got hold of a cd where MS has sung this piece. And, my God, what perfection! I am now working on it on my own, with the recording we made during class. Once I am confident, I have decided to hone it on MS' rendering.
I had told Rajam sir about my joining this workshop right at the beginning. But somehow he sort of dismissed it as - bits and pieces of a raga, nothing to rave about. But he never dissuaded me from joining and learning from another Guru. And he was also good enough to attend the function and give away the certificates. So I was doubly blessed.
Gayathri

From Ramu

Jayaramanna has posted the picture from Hindu of 19th June , Gayathri in full concentration in the music class. I saw the picture in The Hindu and showed it to Sarada also. We were talking about Gayathri for sometime, how she keeps herself very busy in so many activities. It is not very easy, I think. We always appreciate her. It is always in a corner of my mind why Gayathri has not become a popular karnatic singer, in spite of her sufficient knowledge and talent!!
Ramu

Music workshop - Gayathri

Here's a picture from today's The Hindu, Friday Review. Gayathri participated in the workshop conducted by Vedavalli on Mahavaidyanatha Iyer's Melaragamalika. See the absorbed learner in the photo above!

Best wishes Kumar Kristin

Best wishes to Kumar and Kristin on their wedding day today 19th June. Wishing them good health and prosperity. Many happy returns.
Ramu Sarada

OUR Family Blog

Dear J Chittappa,
First I guess apologies are due for non-response from most of us in the Blog. You have taken so much pains to create this blog which can connect the entire clan at a click. And you have worked to make it appealing both visually & content-wise. Only when I saw your previous mail did I realise what we might lose if YOU take the backseat. I do hope we will all make an effort to post once in a while at least & not allow this to sink into oblivion.
Sorry, I have no clue abt Hathway. Hope you are able to trace them - it's not just the money, but the callous attitude that makes one seethe.
Gayathri

From Ramu

1. Hathway set top box in our flat is changed to SCV. We had taken set top box in our previous flat just before shifting and it was SCV there. After we shifted, we got the box only after a month since, in the new premises, it was being changed from Hathway to SCV. If we had shifted a little earlier, probably we also will be in the same position as Jayaramanna.
Ramu

Hathway

Does any one know whether Hathway Cable & Datacam still function in Chennai? I had my cable TV cable connection terminated in Febaury 2009 and the company were supposed to refund the deposit of Rs.999 within 45 days. But so far not a whiff from them. I went to their Besant Nagar address yesterday and they are not there. Their various phone numbers now seemingly 'do not exist/are temporarily not being serviced/do not answer'.

How is this for business ethics?

The blog

Looking at the performance of our blog over the last two years, I have come to the conclusion that some changes are warranted. Hereafter, there will be no routine posts FROM ME re. birthdays and other events. Members are welcome to drop in and view the posts whenever they wish and to contribute whatever they would like to.

My contribution for today. Ramesh and Ujwala are visiting with us for a couple of days, mainly to sort out some routine things prior to our move to Brindavan. We are enjoying their company. Mostly we are all home bound, dealing with paper work.

Saradam, Charu and Ramakrishnan are all understood to be indisposed. I hope they will recover fully very soon.

Jayaraman

Birthday greetings

Birthday babies of 9th June - Saradam, Akila and Siddharth. Happy birthday and many happy returns!
Vimala and Jayaraman

Greetings from Ramu

Best wishes to Saradam manni, Sidharth and Akila on their birthday today 09 June.
Wishing them good health and happiness. Many happy returns,
Ramu

Greetings from Ramu

Best wishes to Rajani - Sekar, Ujwala - Ramesh, Neeraja - Anand who celebrated their wedding anniversary in the last few days. Wishing them good health and prosperity. Many happy returns.
I used to have a list of dates and used to send greetings(sometimes) .During shifting in March, I have lost the master list.
Ramu Sarada

Greetings

June is here, already two days gone and I am late in updating the layhout of the blog. Rajani and Sekar had their wedding anniversary yesterday 2 June. Ujwala/Ramesh and Neeraja/Anand celebrate theirs today, 3 June. The family extends to them its heartiest greetings and wishes them many happy returns.

In the side panel, in the item 'dates to remember in June', if there is any omission will members please let me know?

From Ramu

Nice posting from Ramki . Only yesterday I was thinking that Ramki used to sit in the computer after, noon nap ( I saw this when we were there ) and why there is no posts from him. If now the computer is upstairs, he may not check mail daily. Hope Ramki is fully settled down in the new house.
Hope Ujwala`s exhibition was a success. It is nice to hear that she is using her talent well.
Ramu

Greetings and Congrats

In our new house in Kovaipudur, the computer is in Prasad's room upstairs and to some extent this reduces my frequency in looking into the mail. I have just gone thro all the postings by you all and I join in Congratulating Jyotsna and Prashant for their excellent performance and also my greetings to Ujwalaa. I hope the exhibitiion was a great success. Many happy returns to Aishwarya on her birthday. Vivek has joined the Ashram Matriculation School here in Kovaipudur in 8th Standard.
Mowli's demise makes us sad when we think of all the old days and it was a blessing that he did not suffer much in the end.
-Ramakrishnan.

Happy birthday!

Best wishes to Aiswarya on her birthday, 31 May. Many happy returns!
Vimala and Jayaraman

Exhibition of Ujwala's Paintings

Mythili and I send our best wishes to Ujwala for the grand success of the exhibition of her paintings at Dhaka.
Mythili and Chandru

Ujwala's solo expo

Ujwala is holding a solo exhibition of her paintings for a week in Dhaka, starting this evening.  I tried to post a copy of the invitation in the blog but could not.  But there is a link below.  Thought I would at least pass on the information.

We wish her success in the event.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ujwala/3558797521/

Birthday greetings

29th May 2009
Happy birthday Sundar. Many happy returns!
Vimala and Jayaraman

From Ramu

It was sad to know the demise of Mouli anna. Sarada and I went for the condolence on 27th to Periappa`s house and the old cot, easy chair, etc., brought to my mind, again, those K.Nagar days, long long back. Recently, Papa was saying that she stayed in Periappa`s house for some time/years(?) and had the oppartunity to be closer to Shantha manni.
When I was a small boy, Periappa used to come with Babu,Lalli,Sriram,Uma,Bharath and take me,Lux,Lalitha,Rama,Ashok to Marina beach, every Sunday. He used to sit on a folding chair near the water, to supervise us. How nice were those days!
Ramu

CONGRATS!

Huge Congrats to our family SCHOLARS Jyothsna and Prashanth!
Hats off!!!! And ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR FUTURE STUDIES!
Gayathri & Sundaresan

From Ramu

1. I happened to be in Coimbatore during Prasad`s birthday and we were able to wish him personally.
Ramu

Greetings

May 10 was Prasad's birthday and I missed it.  I feel very bad.  But our good wishes are with him.  May he have a great year.  

Jayaraman

Congrats, Jyotsna!

Congratulations to Jyotsna on topping her school in the 10th standard Board exam.

Jayaraman

Jayanth's birthday

     I missed posting greetings to Jayanth on his birthday.  Forgot.  Papa had spoken to me from Coimbatore on that day about some thing else and even then I did not remember the birthday.  I called Papa the next day. Jayanth was away on a study tour some where.  Funnily enough, Papa said neither she nor anyone alse in her home had remembered the birthday!

From Ramu

Nice posting from Jayaramanna on Kamala manni. Raja athaan introduced me to Mylai Thirupugazh Sabha and used to take me for bhajans regularly on Tuesdays. We used to go to bhajans to various places for about ten years. During that period, I used to go to Kamala manni`s house very often. A great lady,
Ramu

Best Wishes to Jayanth

Best wishes to Jayanth on his birthday. Wishing him the best in his future endeveours.Many happy returns,Jayanth.
Ramu Sarada

Happy birthday

Best wishes to Uma on her birthday, 20th May.
Many happy returns.
Vimala and Jayaraman

Kamala Manni

The demise of Kamala Manni a few days ago will have saddened many of us who have known her for a long, long time. I was reminded of her Lakshmikara presence in 'Akka aam' and later in her home  in Alwarpet. She played a big role in the family. Thinking of her brought back memories of her father G G Krishna Iyer's home on Murrays Gate Road, known to us as 'the Plot', his wife and children - G K Rajagopalan, G K Narayanan, Sakku ...
I am reminded of the lines in Isaac Watts's hymn  "O God our help in ages past:
Time like an ever rolling stream
Bears all its sons away
and we are left with memories.

Wishes

Best wishes to Ram, Shankar anna-Priya manni, Raju Perippa-Padma perimma. A very happy birthday to Mythili athai. I missed wishing her this year :(

Happy birthday, Ram!

It is Ram's birthday today, 14th May.  Best wishes, Ram.  Many happy returns!

Vimala and Jayaraman

Wedding anniversary

                                Shankar and Priya - Wedding Anniversary, 13th May
                                                             Many happy returns!
                                                           Vimala and Jayaraman

Best Wishes to Shankar Priya

Best wishes to Shankar Priya on their wedding day. Wishing them good health and happiness always. Many happy returns.
Ramu Sarada

Best wishes

Best wishes to Raju and Padma Manni on their wedding anniversary, 11th May.
Many happy returns!
Vimala and Jayaraman

Happy Wishes to J Chittappa & Chitti (belated again, I am sooo sorry I didn't remember when we met yesterday!)

Happy Birthday to Mythili Athai - for once I am doing it on the very day!!!!

Hare Ram
Gayathri

Celebs of May

  Thank you Akila, for the info on another May celeb.  Have added her in the panel and in the slideshow.  

Jayaraman

Happy birthday, Mythili!

It is Mythili's birthday today, May 8th. Here is wishing her a very happy birthday and many happy returns.

Thanks everyone for the good wishes conveyed on my (and Vimala's) wedding anniversary. Ramakrishnan's post reminded me of the quality of rail travel in the 'fifties, when there was no reservation except for the upper classes. Some times passesgers would get in through the windows as the doorways were blocked by people or baggage. I remember our Puja vadhyar, who was accompanying us to Madras for the wedding (of Thambi, I think), trying to secure a seat from unwilling passengers on the strength of his going for a wedding in the judge's house!

Jayaraman

Another celebrant

Perippa, we have another member in our family now whose birthday also falls in May. Aishwarya celebrates her birthday on the 31st of May. Please do include her in our list too.

Hello and wishes

Wishing Papa athai, Cheenu athimber and Divya a very happy (belated again!!!!) birthday. A very happy wedding anniversary to Vimala perima and J perippa.
Ramki perippa, we had a copy of that tape and then somebody took it, Mani Perippa if I am not mistaken. I think he even converted that to a cd.
Mohan is back this thursday!!! I am not sure whether that is good or bad. Good coz he's back, bad coz he should get a project immediately here. Anyway, ellam nanmaikke, so just taking it by the day.

Vimala Jayaram WA

Saradam and I wish Vimala and Jayaraman a happy Wedding Anniversary and many happy returns. We had made a short movie of the wedding with a 8mm camera in colour and later I got it converted into a video tape. Now the tape seems full of fungus and the VCP does not work. But, I remember seeing the video some time ago and we have in it Mannargudi Paati, Kappu, Thambi, Padmini, Saraswathi and of course Appa and manni. Vimala's father was old and so the functions were performed by Vimala's elder brother Rangu. If I remember right, there were no rail reservations then and on the return journey Jayaram and I travelled sitting at the door of the coach the whole night. Kumbakonam was hot but we enjoyed a session of tiffin at the Venkateswara Hotel (Thambi and a few of us). Usha did not come for the wedding because she was in Peruvemba, having delivered Gayathri in February.
-Ramakrishnan.