Wisdom by Hindsight
My readers will remember my blog post on this film that I had written some time ago.
The play which was directed by my niece was staged at Bengaluru to good reception and she has posted this on facebook. Please click on the image to get a larger resolution.
To say that I am proud of her is an understatement.
How I wish that I could have been there for the opening!
As expected, immediately after Diwali, Pune’s winter has set in in earnest and the minimum temperatures have been lower than normal so far. It was cold enough this morning for me to take out my sleeveless sweater to wear while sitting in the verandah. This sweater is a hand knitted made to measure one gifted to me by the mother of a very dear friend who is alas, no more.
I have written about Rajan here and here in my blog. Please read both the posts and go to the links given there, even if you had read them earlier. I did, this morning and decided then that I will write this post later in the day.
Rajan’s mother is a remarkable lady who had faced adversity with great fortitude and came out on top with grit and determination. My admiration for her is no less than what I had for Rajan.
Her gift of this sweater to me which came as a total surprise was such a perfect a fit that I had difficulty in believing that she had guessed my measurements and had not borrowed one of my other ones from my wardrobe without telling me. It has become my favourite sweater to wear as, it is a perfect fit and also very effective.
The onset of our winter acted this morning as a trigger to revive my memories of Rajan and his mother. It took me back to my early meetings with him, his generosity and affection for us and the many good times that we had had together.
Ps. My attempts at taking a selfie with the sweater on were flops hence the photograph of the sweater on the dining table!
My favourite music is Indian Classical of both varieties. I must however confess to a bias towards the Hindustani version simply because of greater exposure to it having mostly lived in the Northern parts of the country.
Quite why this genre of music should be my favourite can only be answered by saying that it is a matter of taste. Something that is indescribable but something that I can only experience with satisfaction.
From childhood, my siblings and I were exposed to music of all kinds and my late mother was an accomplished singer who had sung for the Indian Radio and also the Mauritian Radio. My late father could carry a tune too and during long drives and at home in our childhood, we would listen to these two singing solos or duets and we picked up some nuances of music from those experiences.
My own initial preference was for Tamil Film music which those days was just beginning to become the fusion kind combining elements of Carnatic / Hindustani ragas and blending those with the use of Western instruments. I slowly graduated to Western pop and rock n roll moving to Jazz eventually. I still like to hear all kinds of music and my memory keeps coming up with songs from the past as my readers well know. I have not however written much about my passion for Indian classical music as my readership here is not quite one that will relate to it.
Everywhere I go now I hear Hindi film music from the FM Radio and quite a few of those are from films that I have seen. Some of them are very catchy and I enjoy listening to those too.
Considering all that I have said above, I think that I should say that my taste in music is eclectic but the favourite will be Hindustani Classical.
This week’s topic for the LBC Friday Post was suggested by me. Please visit Shackman and Pravin to read what they have to say about the topic.
GP who featured in my post Memory Trigger 2, had come over to our place to exchange Diwali greetings a few days ago. She was accompanied by her husband, two children, her father and her mother in law. A full house and we had a grand time talking about the blog post, diwali, the children’s schooling etc. It was also her son Shasa’s birthday and it was quite a noisy time that we all had for a few hours.
During all the chatter, GP noticed that I was wearing a ring with a gun metal stone and since her son was studying about birthstones asked him to try and find out from me as to why I wear the ring. And that triggered off another journey down memory lane.
No, I do not wear the ring for any beneficial effect that it’s stone may bring to me. Since my sun sign is Cancer, I am told that I should wear emerald, moonstone, pearl, or ruby. In addition to the Zodiac stones, moonstone is listed as the Planetary stone for Cancer and sapphire as the Talismanic Stone. I just found out that by googling for my birthstone!
There however is a story behind the ring which I shared with Shasa and all the others assembled at the Diwali gathering.
My readers would recollect that my late wife Urmeela was the sister of two of my close friends. Urmeela’s elder sister Promeela was also a friend who subsequently became my sister in law. I had known Urmeela and Promeela for eight years before our marriage. Promeela could not attend the wedding as she was away in Nigeria at that time. Things being what they were then, she could not come down to India till nine years after our marriage. When she did, she organised a grand wedding anniversary do at their place in Hyderabad to which Urmeela, Ranjan and I had driven down from Bombay. Please click on the following image to get a larger resolution of a photograph taken on that occasion which was exactly 39 years ago today. Yes, this post is being written on our wedding anniversary day which is special for a couple of other reasons too within the family with another wedding anniversary and a birthday on the same day.
That photograph incidentally is from the album about which I had written in my post Memory Trigger 1. It is only one of many that were taken that evening but the only one that shows Urmeela, me, Promeela and my mother in law, all in one. You can see Promeela standing second from right. Ranjan sitting between Urmeela and me, was unhappy being called away for the photo op from playing with his cousins in the courtyard. Every person in the photograph brings back memories and sadly except four including me and Ranjan, none are alive today.
At that party, Promeela, being one with a great sense of humour and a wit, characterestically asked me in the presence of her brothers if I had received any dowry from the family and on being told that the answer was ‘no’, she whipped out a gift parcel and this ring was the gift inside. I wear it proudly as the dowry that I received for marrying Urmeela. Let us not go into what Urmeela and Ranjan received on that occasion!
Last Friday, an ex colleague of mine and I were on the facebook chat reminiscing about the old days and this exchange took place.
TSK: Good to recall.. I remember someone told me that you cracked a joke to kid SS
That you named your puppy as Subramanian.
Me: Yes. Fact.
TSK: Yes facts cannot be refuted
Me: http://rummuser.com/?p=4489
TSK: Went through fully. Well written.
And yesterday, another ex colleague who has recently reappeared in my life after more than a quarter of a century, thanks to facebook , and I exchanged some chit chat after I posted these photographs. Please click on the images to get larger resolutions.
Neither were at Bangalore where the dog name story happened. The former was in Madras and the latter in Calcutta. Neither had heard it from me as I had shared it with very few people then.
These two chats coming after more than a quarter century intrigued me and I carried out some investigations as to how they had come to know of the story. I found out that after I had resigned from that employer and left, a lot of speculation was rife in the company and one of the stories was that my attempted humour took a life of its own and was part of the reason for my quitting the company. One particular gentleman claiming to be my confidante spread the story that there was bad blood between me and my boss which was due to the dog’s name. Totally untrue as, after I had left the company my ex boss helped me with a number of business related matters and till today, both of us remain friends.
That joke became a legend after I left because of one man’s false claim to inside knowledge.