Bye, bye Coonoor

Though settled in Mysore for the past four years, we retained our Housing Board flat till recently, in the fond hope of visiting Coonoor once in a while for a few days. This hasn't happened. So we chose to wind up our establishment there and hand over possession to Ashika's family, which plans to buy our house.

Our house is the one with the closed door.

Ashika with her mother Uma, on the cement slab at our door-front.

Younger brother Anish.

Cousin Akshay.

Youngest of Ashika's cousins.

Back from school, Ashika going to her old house, two doors away from ours.
At our door, soon to be hers. Ashika's is a joint family. Living with so many cousins, uncle, aunt, and gandma has its charm as well as hassles. But then Ashika has lived in the joint-family environment since birth. We have watched her grow, from a toddler. In our Coonoor days Ashika used to spend much of her spare time with us.
My neighbour G V Raman who was guide and companion to us during our years in Coonoor and after our move to Mysore four years back we have been relying on the Ramans to take care of our affairs in Coonoor.

Mrs Raman and my wife used to move together - to the bazar, the temple, and on occasions, to eat out,Velan Ritz was our favourite. Quiet and cozy, the Velan lobby is a nice place to hang out. The Ramans and we visited Velan every other month to celebrate something or other. When there wasn't an occasion to celebrate, we invented one.
A super-size cactus at Chettinad compound,close to the Velans.
Rangoli on a driveway on Orange Grove Road,
Residential housing is replacing a tea-patch close to our house.
A view from our house-top.


Another house-top view.

Nikhil's Birthday

We heard from Meera that my grandson Nikhil took as many as five steps on his own, on his first birthday (Nov.16, 2008) . In recent weeks he has been trying to stand up, with no crutch or support, according to his mother.
This picture is over six weeks old, when our little friend used to move around on his feet,so long as he could find something to hold on to.
This one was taken over three months back, on June 27 to be precise, Nikhil could then barely manage to sit without toppling himself over. He is seen here, all dressed up for a function to mark his Annaprasna.

In Mysore, we did a round of temples - Venkateswara at Vontikoppal and Hunuman temple on Devaraja Urs Rd - and went to the Gurudwara.
The Balaji temple has significance for Meera's mother.In her school-girl days in Mysore, Uma, Nikhil's Ajji, used to frequent this temple.
Sunday community prayers at this gurudwara had added significance on this day, in view of the Sikh Guru's birthday celebrations. Mysore has no more than a handful of resident Sikh families;seven, to be precise, if we go by Mr Ranjit Singh Rangila, a long-time Mysore resident. With the setting up of the Infosys global training centre, says Mr Rangila, there has been an increase in the Sikh and other devotees visiting the Gurudwara. Mr Rangila works at the Central Languages Institute and devotes his spare time and weekends to serving the gurudwara - 'I am here on most weekends'.

Also on our agenda, this day, was a visit to Chamundi Children's Home.They take care of 20 plus orphaned boys and girls till they finish schooling.


The boy would not tell us why he was crying, but he stopped it when he saw me trying to take his picture. On the whole, a cheerful and well behaved lot they have at the Chamundi Children's Home.

Karthick's Wedding

Got this wedding invitation the other day from Pollachi.Mr Padmanabhan's(my Pollachi chittapa) eldest grandson Karthick is getting married in Chennai this month-end. One could expect to meet there most of the old guards of the Pollachi clan - notably, both my favourite chitties - Sita and Sambu - and uncles - Annakutty and Rajappa mama.

Bridegroom works in Dubai. And my chittappa is justifiably excited about the wedding. Sambu chitti, whose health doesn't permit travel and strain, plans to be Chennai three weeks before the wedding to help her favourite daughter Vasanthi with weddding arrangements.

A highlight of the wedding is music concert by Sambu chitti's daughter-in-law Jayasree.An accomplished vocalist, Jayasree, has in the past many years given Carnatic music concerts in many towns, along with her twin sister Vijaya Sree. Known as Kovai Sree Sisters the music duo gave their first performance abroad in Singapore last year. Their next outing abroad may well be Dubai; or, perhaps, London, where the family of the bride, Meenakshi, are settled.

Incidentally, the Kovai sisters were inspired in their early years by their mother, Saraswathi Vaidyanathan, who is credited with composing over 500 devotional songs.Saraswathi is daughter of the late Sarmanna of Pollachi.

(Would anyone send us pictures of the Saraswathi family ? )

Ooh-- Halloween!!

Halloween is one of the greatest holidays of all time! It falls on October 31st and the main event is to dress up as something scary and go around the neighborhood asking people for candy. It's a pagan holiday that originated from the Irish and British. This year, my sister dressed up as a runaway juvenile and I dressed up as Sarah Palin's ghost. She is the Republican nominee for vice president this year. I collected two full buckets of candy and had a jolly good time. Feel free to respond!

Hey Everyone!

For those who don't know who I am, I am Anjana; Sreedhar's daughter. I think this idea to link our entire Pollachi clan together is just great! We are using the benefits of technology to connect to our family that is scattered geographically. I'm 14 years old, and I have a sister named Anushree who is 12 years old. I live with my parents in Edison in New Jersey. I am now in the 9th grade, known as the first year of high school, while Anu is in 7th grade. School started in September, and our teachers have given us a lot of homework from day one. Phew! Our everyday lives are filled with singing, playing instruments, going to classes, doing homework, studying, and doing chores. I give all relatives a shout-out from the Sreedhar family in New Jersey! Also, everyone who has been informed about this blog should utilize it by publishing their post. You can write about whatever you want; just go crazy and have fun with it! I look forward to reading many posts in the future!
--from Anjana Sreedhar (also known as Kunju the Great)

Halloween Day at San Ramon

Received from Meera a set of photos showing what my grandsons, Nikhil and Siddarth, did on Halloween Day. Siddarth dressed himself as a race-car driver and Nikhil, as Teddy Bear.Siddarth is ready for a Halloween party at his school.
With a couple of friends at school. The boy next to him, it seems, would not let go his mom (or is it the other way about?) Anyway, the boys had fun showing off their fancy dress. Siddarth's race-driver's suit was ordered online; and , for a mail-ordered item, said his mother, the suit fitted Siddarth so well, as if it had been picked off the shelf and tried out at Macys.


After fun and snacks at school, Siddarth joined other children going door-to-door on their street wishing folks and collecting sweets. This year, says his mother, Siddarth couldn't do too many houses because of a drizzle. Not to disappoint the children their parents took them to the mall, where they went from shop to shop for toffees.
No, he isn't Mexican, the guy holding the kids. He is grandpa Jagannath (Pheonix thatha, to Siddarth) trying to play Halloween with the children.
Grandma Uma has her turn with Siddarth, at a family outing. Nikhil goes with his dad Ravi.
Nikhil, a quick change artist, has slipped out his teddy bear outfit to play Don of the Mysore mafia.
Siddarth here strikes a pose,with hint of a smile.

An update on Gautam

Heard from my niece Uma (Bhagya's daughter) in New Delhi. She has resumed work at Tata Mcgraw Hill,after maternity leave. Four-month old Gautam is learning to crawl these days,says Uma.In an e-mail Uma says her in-laws are a big help; they are staying with her, so that Gautam, Saranya and their maid could get used to each other when Uma is away at work.Gautam, says his mother, has started to roll over and is trying to learn the art of crawling these days. But then winter has set in and "we are not able to put him on the floor;its fun to watch both the kids play with each other". An earlier picture of the kids.
Uma is avalable at Uma_Govindan@mcgraw-hill.com

Her mother Bhagya has recently acquired an e-mail ID - bhagya.narayani@gmail.com