Super-senior Balanna is no more

My mother's cousin and, perhaps, the eldest of the surviving super-seniors of the Pollachi clan died at his son's place in Podannur on Sunday. He was 94; and has been bed-ridden for the last many weeks, as a result of multiple complications caused by a hip fracture, pre-existing ailments and sheer ageing.
When we visited him in January last, Balanna,though confined to bed, insisted on making his way to the living room (with considerable assistance from his son Kalyanam), to be able to receive my mother Mangammal and share a few moments recalling their early days spent in Pollachi.

The e-mail informing us about Balanna's demise said he had been ailing for some weeks due to a nasty fall he suffered at the entrance of their Podannur house. Balanna, who was staying with son kalyanam in Podannur, had spent most of his working life in Sathyamangalam as head constable of police.

In an earlier blog post on him we wrote that Balanna moved in to live with his son because of ill health associated with ageing. Besides, he didn't have much going for him in Sathy, following retirement over three decades back. Balanna lost his wife Muthamma 20 years back. Many of his police colleagues and cronies in Sathy were gone. A conversationalist with a flair for political gossip, Balanna used to be lively company, sought after by friends. And the worst thing that could happen to such a person was losing friends, and being left with no one to relate to in the very town where he had spent a life-time.