Just Be Rajee

 Rajee Athai, a passing thought about you would fill my heart with pure joy  and mind with absolute resolve about how to handle everything life throws at us. Today, while you are lying in the hospital bed recuperating , you stand the tallest in our hearts. While mediocre people (read my father) might panic at this situation, for you, it is yet an another battle that you will see it through. You have been there, seen that and have won it..

Vivek Ananda once said this to all men of our country

"Brave, bold men, these are what we want. What we want is vigor in the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel..."

He had to tell all this because he could not find a living example.. If he had to tell this now, it would be simple..

"Brave bold men, be like Rajee...."

My father, trying to appear wise, often says “ It is not the medicines that had done miracles in Rajee’ s life, it is Rajee herself who made a miracle of her life”. The situation is no different.  Like in the past, ignore all the drama around you and bring the best of you. You will win this battle and after that, we would party so hard that the dreaded disease would never even attempt to touch any living being thereafter.

My dear Athai, For once, my father planned things right. He started missing you and wanted to get his visa done so that he can travel at a blink of a eye. So, he kick started that process last week is expecting the visa anytime next week. And for being the most ardent slave of Microsoft for 10 years, MS even offered to fly him from NZ to UK. So it is indeed certain that he would come to you next week. He has in fact carrying a love letter for you. It is not from him.. It is from me.. :) Of late, my father is asking me to address you Chitti rather than Athai... ... Are you smelling something fishy? :)

So am looking forward to meet you next week on FaceTime. I want to show off how much I have learnt from the map that you gifted me. Till then, stay strong, or simply Be Rajee... :)

Luv,

Surya Mohana Vivek

Thank you Sydney!

Being in the concrete jungle, my father and I always yearn to go on vacation to a place where man lives in perfect harmony with his kith, kin and nature. A place where chirping birds wake you up from the bed, awesome schools & work places to keep us busy during the day and the loved ones around you during the weekend. A place where nature trails, multiplexes and friends are at stone’s throw away. Yes, we wanted to have our cakes and eat it too J. Such a place appears far too ideal to exist… or is it?

After constant prodding by all of us here in India, my lazy father made an attempt to go to Sydney to spend a weekend. When has my father’s attempt to do anything right the first time been successful? This time was no different this time as well … His halfhearted attempt to meet my lovely aunts failed miserably, thanks to the project he is working on. His project is as unorganized as him. When we all gave him thinking that he would never go to Sydney and would claim that he never found time to go, he managed to surprise us by booking his tickets to Sydney yet again for the long weekend. Overjoyed, we were keenly waiting to see Sydney through his eyes.

My father’s Sydney trip was just perfect. Starting from the day he landed in Sydney, till the time he boarded the flight to India, Carlingford and Westmead offered unlimited warmth, love and hospitality. All his apprehensions about how the trip would be vanished the moment the Prasanna Mama coming on time to pick my father up at the airport.  Every moment was near perfect. The fun filled barbeque night at Sasi athai’s home and the hospitality showered by Rajan mama, the short rendezvous to Uma athai’s business house and the intellectual conversations with Shekar mama, the long drives along the coast of pacific ocean with Radhika Athai garnished by the delightful and open conversations with Prasanna mama, the awesome food and fun filled game of carom with the little ones at Hema athai’s house, and all this capped by a touch of spirituality offered by the temples around Sydney shall remain treasured in  my father's mind for a very long time.

What’s equally special about this trip was the locality in itself. Sandwiched between the bustling city of Sydney and picturesque Hill district, Carlingford & Westmead exhibits perfect harmony between man and mother nature. We certainly look forward to spend more time here in the future. 

 All my cousins have something very unique. The academic capabilities of Niva akka, the creative mind of Gaya akka, the hospitality and the business minds of Jagath anna, the meticulous organization skills of Sharan anna, the vocal skills of Shellah akka and the nimbleness of Skanda have left an eternal impression in my father’s mind. And am sure he would torture me to be like you all J. Thank you for the warmth and hospitality you showered on my father, we look forward to host you when you come to India.

 As I sign off, for all my bright teen cousins looking forward to accomplish great things, I wish you the best in all your endeavors. While this time around, it was my father’s pleasure to meet you all, there is not an iota of doubt in my mind, that in the future, you would achieve so much that my father, mother and I would consider it an honor to know you and be a part of your success.

Loads of Luv, hugs and kisses…

Azad….

 

All the best Mom

Sometime back,  an well accomplished man told me that there would be day when he would declare that there shall not be any blindness in this world and your Mom would take over"

I tried hard to make sense of what he was telling. You were already at the pinnacle of your career prescribing life saving drugs like Vicks and Paracetamol  to the loyal residents of Villivakkam. With their health and fitness lying squarely on your shoulders, there was no plausible way I could think of how you would pick up an menial task of abolishing blindness in this country. I was trying to connect the points forward and was obviously failing.

But today, as you don the sterilized apron in an endeavor to bring light in the life on Mrs Lakshmi, I can clearly  see the humble beginning of what is going to be an illustrious career in Ophthalmology. It is a matter of time before you become the face of Modern Ophthalmology with your path breaking findings and nimble procedures to eradicate blindness in this great country.

  As always, I take immense pride in being your son

 Luv,

Surya

 

PS : I  thought of checking with Appa if he can be as smart as you and write useful software. But then, I knew the answer very well.... So I did not even bother to ask him....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Priceless Moment...

As I have grown into a toddler with an ever-growing tail, it is becoming increasingly difficult to write to all my lifetime fans. My reader base has increased by 100% over the past week. It was 1 last week and now it is 2J.

After a lot of thought, I have decided to write for a friend whom I hardly remember nowadays. Bang! You are right, am talking about Mr. Vivek, my father. Let me start with a revelation. . For all those who think that he did not have time for me, well the reality is that I was too busy in my wonderful world of eating, sleeping and of course playing that I hardly miss him. So, please don't feel guilty dad. ;)

Well for today, I just thought of diving into my father's mind to figure out what special feelings he has towards me. While am famous for lot of cute stunts, I wanted to check out what this enigmatic man thinks about me. I was especially interested in finding out what was that one moment that he treasured the most.

Going through the labyrinth of many worthless and few wonderful memories, I found one not so special incident has indeed left an indelible mark in his mind. For a moment, I was proud of my father and thought of sharing this with all my readers.

It was one of those rare Saturday afternoons when my father was at home. Bhuvana akka had come the same day and hence I was engrossed playing (should I tell fighting) with her.  In spite of not being a great fan of toys, am not too keen in sharing my toys with Bhuvana akka. However, that Saturday was drastically different. Unlike the usual routine where I wouldn't let her touch my toys, I was happy to share them with her. I indeed gave her my favorite building blocks and watched her construct a wonderful house. Totally delighted, my father hugged and kissed me. 

Am sure many would agree with me that this is not an extraordinary event to be tagged as a treasured moment. What puzzled me more was that, even now, the vivid memories of this incident brings an unusual sense of joy on my father’s face. Only after deeper inspection did I realized that my rare exhibition of joyously sharing my things with others has made him tag that moment as a treasured one.

Two things are quite certain.  One, this priceless moment as tagged by my father is going to have a profound impact in my outlook towards life. Two, my father can be rest assured that "Giving & helping" is my innate nature and there are many more such incidents waiting in store for him....

Good lord, I have written too much for today.  Before I sign off, it would like to admit for a change, am indeed missing you. Looking forward to meet you!

Height of overconfidence ...

It was a wonderful weekend which culminated with stroll in the Anna Tower Park on Sunday evening. My schedule does not change much between a week day and weekend except that I get to spend more time with my lovely mother….

What made the weekend even more special is that I was thrilled to see my Chittapa taking baby steps towards starting his own academy for dental students. Given that he is sharp and smart (unlike my father) am sure he's going places. Congrats Chittapa and all the best for your endeavors.

To what was an already near perfect weekend, my father's overconfident blunder only served as an icing on the cake. I could not resist sharing it with everyone. After spending a wonderful day at my girlfriend’s place (wondering who??? of course I meant Achu. I'm already unhappy that my father gets to spends more time with her than me. ), he decided to leave. His plan was to go to office, finish of unending list of tasks and then go home.

So, my highly respected Mani mama, my all-time favorite Rajee Athai and he started from Gants Hill and got into the tube. Once into the tube, my father informed Mani mama of his plan to get down to get down at Stratford and catch the jubilee line to Victoria. With a queer face, Mani mama told that he is doubtful if jubilee line would not go to Victoria. My father without a trace of doubt gave a silly look to Mani mama and was wondering as how Mani mama managed to be there in London without knowing this.

On reaching Stratford, the lovely couple and my father parted ways. My father got into the Jubilee Line with the hope that he is all set to go to Victoria. In spite of sitting comfortably right in front of the tub map, his over confident mind blinded him looking into the mistake he is about to commit. It was only after reaching waterloo did he realize that the tube does not go to the Victoria. Cursing his over confidence, he evaluated his options and decided to get down  at Westminster to catch the district line to Victoria. In spite of the blunder, he was momentarily proud of his ability to recast his plan quickly only to realize that the district line was closed for planned tube upgrade.


Given the very limited options he had, he walked from Westminster to Victoria pondering as whether he would improve at all.   Given my father's track record, I'm not too optimistic of him changing overnight. I only hope that my father proves me wrong. While the whole incident is innocuous, what I want to highlight is how overconfident he is on many an occasion.  Signing off,

PS : By the by, dad, just in case you did not realize, my lovely fans have named you "A.K" just for this....

 

Miles to go before I sleep….

Rajee Athai,

This is your favorite Surya scribbling my first letter to you. It has been more than a year ever since I announced my grand arrival as a wonderful son to my intellectual mother and my lazy father. Since then, I have been thinking about penning a letter to you. However, my busy schedule of eating, sleeping, dreaming and above all playing did not allow me to do so. Today, as I was showing off the beautiful dress you got me, I realized that there cannot be a better occasion to write this letter.

Let me start by revealing a small secret about Appa. Whenever I address you as Athai, he is not quite comfortable about that. It took me a while to find out the reason. By calling you Athai, am implying that you are his sister and he does not like that at all. Poor AppaJ.

Am sure you are wondering as why I am writing this letter to you. Isn’t it? Well let me start it this way. There have been multiple occasions where Appa has been very lucky. The best example is that of him getting married to Mom.  I can’t imagine the disaster if he had married anyone else. Can you?

Another instance where he has been quiet lucky is his friendship with you. And this letter is not to discuss about how much he treasures that. It is more about the profound impact you have upon me. Ever since I was born, hardly has a day passed without my parents thinking about you. I even started wondering if I need to compete with you to gain their attentionJ.

My father to a very great extent had the privilege of having a very inspiring person as his friend, I had the pleasure of hearing about your mental strength and your amazing attitude towards life every day. Thanks Athai to be my father’s friend. We truly enjoy and relish your company.

While I wish to write a novel about your accomplishments and how you have inspire me, my busy schedule of eat, play and sleep would not let me do that. So, I decided to put it simple. What Jessica Ennis is for Great Britain, Rajee Athai is for us. We love you for what you are, what you have accomplished and all the great things you are going to do in the future.

Few things are etched too deep in one’s mind .I have scribbled down one such verse. The best thing about this verse is it reminds me about you every time I read …

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Signing off with Loads of Luv,

Surya Mohana Vivek

Happy Birthday Mom...

Amma,

 Of late, I have been watching a quite a few Bloopers. They, apparently, are more entertaining than the actual show. What I have scribbled below is a hilarious, but true rendition of sequence of events and goof ups Appa did while planning your birthday. The only difference though, is you are reading the blooper first and then seeing the actual product. It goes without saying that you are the most my world. So, even a smirk on your face after reading this would only reinforce the truth behind the statement "Ek Idea Mera Dhuniya Bhadal jayangae".  So, please smile after reading this J

It all started like this.

I was anticipating a great birthday for you and was checking with Appa as what his plan is. As always, Mr. Vivek (yeah yeah, Appa only) was lazy and was looking for an avenue to escape. His physical unavailability here in India only helped his cause. I was not convinced and prodded him to come with a plan.  After lot of thought, he came out with the idea to buy a Samsung Galaxy S2 for you and then claim that he has fulfilled your wish. This is what I would classify as the dumbest idea I have ever heard. Sorry to say mom, he has such a poor his imagination. Thank lord, am like you.... J

As you have told, every challenge is an opportunity in disguise. Appa's dull plan just served that purpose if not anything else J . It quickly dawned upon me that there cannot be a better day than your Birthday to tell you as how much we love you.  And I was very sure that we could express in much better way than just getting a Android Phone (It is not even a windows phone... )

I, for once other, took responsibility and donned the hat of an event manager with the goal to make this birthday the most unforgettable one till now. Right after becoming a self-proclaimed event manage, I realized that I needed a partner to execute this plan. I, immediately, struck a secret alliance with Chittappa as I knew he was equally keen to make this moment big. (Everyone other than Appa are more keep on your birthday  J ) While Appa was busy watching the Olympic ceremony, Chittapa and I had marathon discussions and etched, what we called the "Surya's super cool plan". As always Chittappa was very generous and named the plan after me. Thanks Chittappa.

Casual Conversations can at times trigger great ideas. It is no different here. I was telling Chittappa as how much you are interested in creating a diary for me, marking all important events of my life and how disinterested Appa is about that. As I was telling this, an idea struck Chittappa's brilliant mind as why we should not capture the best moments ever since I became the cynosure of your eyes and make a personal album of it. It was this personal touch that was missing in Vivek’ s so called master plan.

With the high-level plan in place, we quickly identified that the first thing we needed to garner is a collection of your photos. Chittappa attempt to grab your photos from Appa was futile. We weren't overly surprised :). I exactly knew whom to rope in to get going. Who else other than my all-time favorite Chitti would be more interested your birthday????? So the GOT (Gang of Three) team got into act again and came out with this album which we think capture the 12 most best of your life

I have posted the poster  at http://sdrv.ms/Ndem6s . While I took the pleasure of designing the poster, Chitti and Chittappa designed the album.

I hope you liked the poster. However did you try opening the album Mom? Ah Ah .. Too early! 

Let’s have the starting ceremony before viewing the actual gift. So, here we go. Please go and collect your first gift from Chittappa and then continue reading..... Yeah, we did not want Appa to feel miserable about his hopeless plan. We decided to have it as the starter. Chittappa, being one of the 2 partners in crime, forged Appa’s signature in one of the cheque leaves to withdraw money for the mobile. Chittappa, has mastered the art so well that I would not be surprised if the bank starts rejecting those cheques which are actually signed by Appa. :)

You should have figured out the password for the album by now. Haven't you? So let’s open the album together and view what's in store.

Hope you liked what we presented to you. Just before I sign off, I wanted to tell that the master mind behind this plan is...... I know what you are thinking but you are wrong.... it is of course me J

Loads of Luv,

Surya