Chennaiyan

My favorite city has been (and may be will be) Madras (not Chennai) always. My association started when I visited Madras with my parents when they went there for Thyagaraja Aradhana in the month of December when I was 11 years old. Music Academy was the venue. I was left to play with kids in father's friend,Mr. VK Balasubrahmanyam , a professor in Madras Law college. They were living in Shenoy Nagar, on the outskirts!!  (Now it is such a busy center).

My next visit was a memorable one for it got me kicked out of Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada, where I was doing my PUC (class XII). I wanted to attend the convocation and receive my Visarada certificate from Dakshina Bharatha Hindi Prachar Sabha in T. Nagar. I was denied permission by our Vice Principal, as it will mean missing 3 days of college at such a crucial time (quarterly exams). I went anyway, had a jolly time, saw Cleopatra in Safire and went back to Vijayawada, only to find that I was expelled for indiscipline.It ended happily after my father came, apologized and paid a hefty readmission fee. To his great credit and to my utter astonishment, he did not scold me. He merely said " you won't fit into such colleges." I remembered this when I went to admit my son in Bangalore when I chose MSR over PES due to the strict rules of the latter and as my son was more free spirited than me.
Safire complex hosted a theatre with continuous shows--The Blue diamond. You can buy a ticket and walk in any time, stay any length of time, see the same movie again and again. But if you come out, you have to buy a new ticket. In the later visits, I used to walk in in the middle of a movie, watch till the end, wait for it to start again, see till the point where I started and then walk out. So most of the time I knew how it ended before I knew how it started.
Once I became a student of JIPMER, I was a frequent visitor as I had to pass through Madras on my way to Pondicherry.
More to come----------------

Grace & Forgiveness

Third Class in Indian railways: In those traumatic days when SRN was in the ICU, I also used to do shifts in the lounge outside. It reminded me of the times when I travelled in unreserved compartments between Chennai and Hyderabad (lack of planning being a long term vice). Strangers of all creeds and from all corners of the country, squeezed together in a small space in impromptu sleeping arrangements (mats on the floor in  between rows of plastic bucket seats), with a  daily competition for the 'cushy' berths (the spots in line with the wall-mounted fans), were yet able to spend many nights in quiet companionship and a camaraderie born of mutual sympathy. There were the 'long-termers' (such as us) and the dailies, with the former having some unwritten rights to their previously staked-out berths. The long-termers eventually got to know each other and the reasons they were there. (By the way, I took the title of this paragraph from the name of an interesting essay by MK Gandhi...just Google for it.)

The lady who said grace: One such long-termer was this middle-aged lady, who used to be next to Durga pinni and me. Her husband, a blue-collar employee of the Indian Railways, was in the ICU with a grievous injury, the details of which I forget now. Both Pinni and I were struck by her. She had a stillness about her, and had grace in her motions. Every night, and every morning, she would veil her face for a few minutes and offer a prayer. Over time, Pinni stuck up a friendly conversation with her and we found out she was a Christian, which seemed to explain her rather unique style of prayer. Her family seemed to consist of a brother and sister, who visited her at the hospital occasionally.  Days passed, faces changed, and we all remained a constant, helping each other with minor things.

The sleepless night: One night was a sleepless one, thanks to a series of alarms going off at different times of the night. My  hypothesis for this Greek chorus of alarms: people rushing to the hospital from out of town usually do so in the wee hours of the morning and have to use alarms, which on most phones seem to be by default in a 'recur daily' mode. Hence, the alarm rings  again the next night, and usually the said people are too deep in sleep to wake up to it. I had to get more than once that night and search for the offending phone in a dark room as it screamed away with impunity. That night, the ICU visitor lounge also seemed to be hosting a mosquito convention and I was definitely the popular item on the menu.

Three is company but four is a crowd: This next night, when I came to lie down in my spot, I saw that this lady had visitors-her siblings (not unusual)- who also intended to sleep there along with us that night (unusual). Pinni had gone home for the night and it was just me flying the Singampally pennant in the lounge. The place was more crowded than usual that night, and the mat that we proposed to share was just too small for 4 people (3 of them and 1 of me). Though I am not normally fussy about such details, the sleep deficit from the previous night had dried my reserve of patience. I thought it selfish of them to treat this like a hotel and have 3 people sleep when 1 or 2 could have sufficed, specially on a crowded night. I told the lady's brother that the place was too small and he should find a different part of the hall to sleep. I don't think I was impolite and but I was short with him. They didn't say a word and seemed strangely embarrassed. When I came back to the spot a few minutes later, the brother was still there, but had squeezed himself into a small space, leaving ample room for me to sleep. It was a compromise that I was OK with and the night went by peacefully.

Righteous, not righteously angry: The next morning, I was not feeling very good about my actions. While I may not have been selfish, I could have been more selfless, perhaps. The lady & siblings left, ablutions were performed and  a few hours later, pinni came back as expected. In conversation, I mentioned to her about the incident of the night, and asked her opinion: Should I apologize to the lady? Pinni said:" Well, the mat on which we are sleeping is actually hers. A few days ago, I was so struck with her piety that I requested her for her mat. I felt that God (whether Christian or otherwise) has to be with such a person and her grace can only help us". So: Even though I was the guest (on her mat), I had busily bundled out the hostess's brother from the guestroom. And the lady (and her siblings) had not once mentioned that to me. Instead, they accommodated me at the cost of their inconvenience. I thought back to a few occasions where people had wronged me: I don't think I let a moment lapse before I bubbled over with righteous anger at their offence.

Forgiveness: The next time I met her, I apologized. She immediately dismissed the matter to be nothing, and that was that. "To err is human, to forgive, divine." ,  said Alexander Pope. But I aver that the forgiveness is truly divine when it is bestowed silently upon the offender. The hospital had many lessons to offer, but this was a good one. 

My city

Would you like to describe your favorite city to the blog? We can see the city through your eyes and enjoy and may be see the same city in a different way next time? I shall start off with Madras AKA Chennai.

yesterday srn,durga,kanth svn padma manas summu came to our house.it was fun through out.every one shouting at the same time on different topics.elders nostalogy,youngerones indulging in selfies.dmr a silent spectator as usual.a typical singampalli union. very happy to see srn in his old form.

Phoenix

As Krupakar pointed out, this is indeed a Phoenix rising from its ashes. Come on guys and gals! Put your fingers to the keyboard and push or press those buttons! Let’s go. Race you to the first post!