Tenth Day at Balamama's

Sunday marked the end of ritual mourning following the death of Balamama. Of course one can't put a time-limit on mourning by his daughters - Jayanti, Suganthi, Manju and Shanthi. We met three of them during our condolance visit to Balamama's Jaffarkhanpet residence in Chennai. They broke into tears, frequently, as Shanthi and Manju shared with me and my wife memories of their father.

In refreshing contrast their widowed mother Rajam managed to keep her cool, and she even reminisced about her husband's special affection for me, his eldest nephew.As Rajam mami put it,mama used to refer to me, with pride, as 'London Murthy' in conversations with his neighbourhood friends. Balamama had a way of embellishing even mundane incidents into adventure stories. He made a big deal of me having been the first in the Pollachi clan to have gone abroad (in 1964).

As it happened, two of his daughters, now in Pune,have been long-time residents abroad, Manju in Sacramanto, California, and Shanti in Singapore. And Balamama had occasion to go abroad to visit Shanti. Manju's regret was that her father didn't make it to her place in the US during their 12-year stay there.

Rajamami recalled that mama,in recent years, had been cheerful, spending time with his daughter's dauthter's son. At 80 Balamama became childlike; and cheerfully submitted to the whims and fancies of his great-grandson. He had gone to school when we visited Jafferkhanpet. But Sneha was there, having bunked her school in Pune to be in Chennai.
Sneha - mama's daughter Shanti's daughter - is visitor-friendly.Even though it was our first meeting Sneha reacted to me as though we were long-time pals. Not all children find me particularly appealing. That Sneha took to me instantly speaks for her friendly nature.As I fumbled with my camera to copy a photo of Balamama his grand-daughter Sneha wanted to look into the image on view-finder to see if my focus was right. Satisfied with my work she allowed me to take a picture of hers.
Sneha wanted me to take a picture of her father, Dorai Chandrasekaran. A software professional and senior manager with EDS, Chandrasekaran struck me a homely person, for whom family mattered more than most other priorities in life. He and his wife chose to come back to Pune, after their ten-year professional stint in Singapore, so as to remain close to their ageing parents.

See earlier post - Balamama's no more