என் எண்ணங்கள்

MADRAS, namma MADRAS. PURASAIWAKKAM. A small obit advt in today’s (6 th Nov) paper caught my eyes and took me back 15 years, to the time when my wife and I landed in Chennai in December 2001. That obit note was the remembrance of Haji Madharsha the owner and founder of a great cloth store. The name kindled many sweet memories of Purasaiwakkam, a beautiful locality. We lived in Kilpauk first, halfway between Anna Nagar, and Purasaiwakkam. On the third side was the Poonamalee High road, another fabulous road. Also, Vepery was nearby. Having never been to this part of Chennai earlier, I was pleasantly surprised to see many roads named after English gentry. Landons’ Road, Harleys Rd, Ormes Rd, Taylors’ Rd, Halls Rd, Strahans Rd, Waddle’s Rd, Kellys’ Rd, Barnaby Rd, Flowers’ Rd, Millers’ Rd, Balfour Rd, … the list continues. Starting from our house at Aspiran Gardens, we come to Rajaji Vidhyashram, then proceed along Balfour road, come to the Kellys corner; the r...

SAVITHRI Srinivasan. 05-05-1943 --- 11-10-2016 SAVITHRI was born at Salem, Tamilnadu on 5 th May 1943 as the seventh child of our parents’ Sri GR Subramania Iyer and Smt Sampoornam Ammal. சுபானு வருஷம் சித்திரை மாசம் , 22- ஆம் தேதி , 5 May 1943, புதன் கிழமை , சேலத்தில் , பகல் 12:30 க்கு , கிருத்திகை (2) நக்ஷத்திரத்தில் பிறப்பு . After a few years there, our parents shifted to Pudupalayam, Cuddalore, where she started her schooling. She completed SSLC course (11 th standard) from the Government Girls’ High School, Tirupapuliyur, in 1958-59. Then she learnt type writing and tailoring as a hobby. She was married on 24 April 1966 at Tirupapuliyur to Sri SRINIVASAN. He was employed in a private firm at Salem and Savithri went to Salem. Their first son lived for just a few hours. Then her son RAMESH (Balakrishnan) was born on 3-9-1968 at Tirupapuliyur. When she conceived their second son, her husband Srinivasan suddenly died on 10 June 1970 of a heart attack at the ...

Sugavanam (Krishnan SS) 19 OCTOBER 1946 – 27 AUGUST 2016 My younger brother Sugavanam was born on 19-10-1946 at Salem, Tamil Nadu. He was the 8 th child to our parents – GR Subramania Iyer and Sampoornam Ammal. Being the 8 th child, he was named Krishnan. When he was months old, we shifted to Cuddalore. Initially we lived in Pudupalayam locality, but in 1953-54 we relocated to Tirupapuliyur area, behind the temple. 17, Babu Rao Street was the address where our father purchased a house and we shifted to this our own house. Sugavanam, like all of us, had his schooling here St Joseph’s High School. After passing SSLC, he applied for Diploma in Mechanical Engineering at Sri Ramakrishna Mission Polytechnic at Mylapore, Chennai. This was a charitable Institute where education, lodging, and food were free for students. He was fortunate to get a seat here, where apart from the academic curriculum, strict discipline and Vedic Learnings were taught by great Seers. He left for Madr...

OUR BANGALORE VISIT  8-AUG-  to 27 AUG 2016 After our Thiruvananthapuram visit, we returned to Chennai on the morning 0f 1st AUG. Then, we left for Bangalore by Double Decker train on the morning of Monday the 8th Aug. 9-8-2016 Today was my mother's 107th Birthday. 10-8-2016 A Long walk, and purchased battery for Vijaya's watch 13-8-2016 Fri    We all went to RSM house for Varalashmi Poojai 15-8-2016 Mon We two went to SUBRAMANI KUMAR's (my Periyamma Peran) house. Met him for the first time, his wife GEETHA, 2nd son NIKHIL and 1st son's wife VINIDHINI. Nice people. Returned to Ashok's place by 8-30PM. Old B&W photos of periyamma periyappa 16, 17,  Walking in the evening 18-8     YAJUR UPAKARMA at Ashok's place. 19-8     SRI VARALAKSHMI POOJAI, GAYATHRI JAPAM. 20-8    Krishnaraj and family visited us at BTM. 22-8 Monday    We two visited SriVidya house and also TR V...

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 26-7-2016 >> 1-8-2016 We went to Thiruvananthapuram for a brief visit during the last week of July 2016. This trip / visit was overdue. Last time we visited was 9 years ago !! We left Chennai on 26th July by 22207 AC Express (dep: 4.30PM) 3AC coach. The train was almost empty !! With a non-stop run upto Salem, the train reached TVC by 06-45 AM on 27th. Ramani was waiting for us at the station with his car. We reached his home. During this stay, I had severe cold and so I didn't move out of the house for most of the time. One evening, we walked a long distance to a temple and another evening to a supermarket. On another evening, Vijaya went to SRI ANANTHA PADMANABHA SWAMI KOIL with Ramani. We spent a very peaceful time in the company of Ramani and Padma Manni. We left TVC on 31 July by 22208 AC express 3 AC (dep: 9-30PM). No crowd in the train - half empty ! We reached Chennai by 11.45 AM on 1st Aug and came home in OLA taxi. A nice trip. Ra...

BANGALORE VISIT  27-4-2016 --- 12-5-2016 After our New Delhi visit we returned to Chennai on 16th April 2016. On 21 April we heard the shocking news that KAMAKSHI (sister of Vijaya) has passed away this evening at Bangalore. So, we two left Chennai on the morning of Wednesday the 27th April by Double Decker. We went to Ashok's place and stayed there for the night. Next day on 28th, we left for Krishna raj's house and stayed there till 3rd May (Tuesday) - that day was the Subasyam, (Read the OBIT for Kamakshi in a separate Blog). We returned to Ashok's house in the evening. On 5th May, we went to Anand's house and returned by evening of 6th May. Rama, Santosh, Satya and the child arrived in Ashok's house 8th morning. On 9th morning we all (except Neeraja) including Vibha, left for Mallasamudram in two cars for the Mudi Irakkuthal [Read about it in a separate Blog]. Rama and others left on 11th May Wednesday for Secunderabad by car. On 12th May (Thu) we tw...

SATHWIK (b : 2-8-2015), is the son of Santosh / Sathya. The child is nearing one year and his mudi irakkuthal was to be performed before Aug 2016 at Mallasamudram koil, near Salem, TN. Rama, Santosh, Sathya, and the child came to Ashok's house, Bangalore on the evening of 8th May 2016. Sathyamoorthy couldn't come because hw wasn't well. Santosh drove his car from Sec-bad. Vibha had come to BTM for this occasion. We two (we were already in Bangalore), Ashok joined them for the trip. Got up on 9th May 2016 by 3 AM, took bath and started by 5 AM in two cars. We two and Rama travelled in Ashok's car, and the others in Santosh car. After breakfast at Dharmapuri, we went to Mallasamudram (225 km from Bangalore) by 10.30. Mudi irakkuthal was done at the koil. Then Abhishekam to the Deity - Angala Paramesawari Amman. Then abhishekams at nearby Sivan koil and the Ambal koil. We started from there by 2 PM, had lunch at Salem. Then coffee / tea on the roadside by 4...

OBITUARY B: 10-09-1941    D: 21-04-2016   KAMAKSHI was born at Kanchipuram on 10-09-1941 as the third child to Smt Annapoorani Ammal and Sri GN Yegnaswamy Iyer. The family had 2 sons and 4 sisters and everyone of them had their schooling at Kanchipuram. Their father GNY was a teacher in Pachaiyappa's School at Kanchipuram. After her schooling, she went to Bombay (now Mumbai) to live with her elder brother and she was employed there for a while. She married Sri Sundararajan at Kanchipuram on 07-11-1965 and led a happy married life. They lived at Avadi, Chennai. They were blessed with 3 children - Poornima, Krishnaraj, and Nirupama. Poornima was married at Avadi. By1998 they shifted to Thane, Mumbai where their son was employed. Nirupama was married at Mumbai and Krishnaraj was married at Pune. On 18-05-2001, Sri Sundararajan passed away at Thane. Kamakshi and Krishnaraj continued living at Thane. By 2014 they shifted to Bangalore, Marathahalli area. Ka...