- Click here to read the first post ( first month!)
- Click here to read the second post ( second month!)
- Click here to read the third post ( third month!)
- Click here to read the fourth post ( fourth month!)
- Click here to read the fifth post ( fifth month!) - my brother pens his thoughts here.
- Click here to read the sixth post ( sixth month)
- Click here to read the seventh post ( seventh month)
- Click here to read the eighth post (eigth month)
- Click here to read the ninth post ( ninth month)
- Click here to read the tenth post ( tenth month)
Anna is the fortunate sibling who has lived with my parents all his life and I repeat myself when I say this but I envy him for this aspect. Living together in close quarters, they have a shared bond, interests and have spent some quality together. He writes about light and happy incidents he remembers...this month.
All of us know Appa as a strict disciplinarian with a no-nonsense attitude. People assume his interests are limited to his religious pursuits; however interestingly, Appa had a varied set of interests which will surprise most of us. I will try and put it across.
Appa and Music
All of us know Appa had a great ear for Music...ardent Carnatic music Fan, he could not sing but had a great interest in music. He used to tell us how in his younger days ( he was about 11 or so) would walk upto 10 -15 kms to listen to popular musicians who would sing all through the night and he would come back and slip into the thinnai. ( refers to a raised platform outside the entrance of the house).
Appa also loved Film Music both Tamil and Hindi; his favourite singer was T.M. Soundarrajan. He used to have boxes and boxes of cassettes of film songs of TMS. He would ask me to download songs on a USB. He also had a great collection of old hindi music - Rafi, Kishore kumar, Asha, Latha, RD, SD, Madan Mohan. You would see him sitting in his room playing these old songs. He was choosy of the songs as well. He would not record, or download the entire album, he would patiently sit with me on selecting the songs to be downloaded. I often used to make fun of him saying, “Record panikirel yeppo ketu mudipelo” ( you record so much, when do you actually listen?)and he would jokingly say "neenga yenna thaniya vitta thane" ( only when you guys leave me alone!!)….. ;-)
He enjoyed listening to his granddaughters singing; he would ask them to sing - Dhrithi would sit in his room singing all the songs she knew and he would be sitting and listening while Aaradhya will sing to him over the phone or Janani would send her video/audio recordings on Whatsapp. He would tease Janani that Aaradhya sings even better than her, (he would listen to it over and over...)! :D
Appa and Movies
Appa was a movie buff in his youth. When he was in Bombay, he would watch all movies, Hindi, English, Malayalam, Tamil. Language was no bar ☺. He loved action movies. Western movies were his all time favorites. Good Bad and the Ugly, For a few dollars more, Fist full of dollars are movies he would watch any time it was on TV. Clint Eastwood was one of his favorite actors.
Baasha, Nayakan, Guna – I have lost count how many times both of us would have watched it. Today when I watch the movies I always feel like he is sitting next to me watching and commenting. I still remember he used to say "Guna le Kamal acting super da…. " ( Kamal hassan did a great job in the movie Guna)
In his later years he did not have the patience to sit through the entire movie, but he would watch all action sequences with rapt attention. He would not like to be disturbed when the fight sequences would come on TV.
His other surprising interests would be the WWE. He would not share the remote when the shows were aired, especially the royal rumble and Wrestle Mania. He would get wild if we change the channels. He would know the players by names, right from Hulk Hogan, Hitman, Triple H, the Rock and his all time favourite THE UNDERTAKER. He would sway involuntarily to the movements of the players. He would get wild if we disturb him during the programs. He would not give the remote to anybody and watch the entire program like a child.
Appa also liked comedy very much. Nagesh, Kamal, Crazy Mohan, Senthil, Koundamani and of course Vadivelu. He was a great fan of Vadivelu in his later years. Both of us would watch comedy scenes from movies daily. Our routine was after I come back from work, Dinner and Amma’s quota of TV time we would straight jump into the couple of comedy channels which would air comedy scenes all thru the day. H would laugh out loud and enjoy them. Both of us would sit watching and Amma would jokingly ask us “ Yen da ungalaku bore adikaatha paathathe paathundu irukel”( don’t u get bored seeing the same again and again}. Appa would say "unaku puriyaathu ma" ( you don't understand), we enjoy it. Vadivelu was his favourite. He would repeat his one liners very often ( "unaku vantha ratham, yenaku vantha Thakkali Chutney - roughly translates to for you its blood, and for me its tomato chutney?"). He would retire to bed late after this daily routine. I still follow this routine but miss him very badly when I don’t hear his laughter.
Appa and Food
I had earlier hinted here on Appa’s interest on food. Appa on one side, would eat whatever was served as he would not talk while eating and would never mention of taste. At the same time, he had very specific liking of food whether we eat outside or cook at home. He liked the Halwa from Bombay Halwa House in Chennai, or idlys would be always from Sangeetha. His visits to Mylapore would never be complete without his visits to Maami kadai for snacks. Even when Pongal was cooked at home, it was always accompanied with Vadai from outside. Lunch outside would have to be only in Woodlands. Dinner outside was always roti with Bhindi Masala. Even when Janani used to come he would ask her to make the Bhindi subzi. He himself was an expert cook. He would churn out awesome dals, Rava Upma, delicious sakkarai Pongal, Semiya payasam to name a few. He would say if you don’t add the extra dollop of Ghee then u will not get the taste.
Both of us have learnt quite a bit of cooking from both of them. Even today when I make Rava Upma, I thank my Guruji Mr. Rajagopalan and strive to match his taste which is still to be achieved. Satya learnt to make Upma for Janani (when she was pregnant with A) just like Appa !!!
