Kodi, Thodari, KIK, AYM, Kavalai Vendaam - Movie Review(s)

Watched few movies the last few days and thought how good directors have lost their golden touch.

Kodi - Out of this 5 movies, Kodi was way much better with story and performances. Dhanush and Trisha gave very good performances and the story is also little too different for tamil audience. You can surely watch it once.

Thodari – I can’t believe this is Prabu Solomon’s movie who made Kumki. It was one of the worst movie that I watched in recent times. Dhanush’s character was not even convincing, Keerthi Suresh looked awful and acted very bad, Thambi Ramaiah was irritating and the story line was not upto the mark. You do not even know why Prabu Solomon directed this movie? Just because he got lead pair’s callsheets. God only knows. Until the first 40 mins, only Thambi Ramaih was talking and the story did not even start. Please AVOID this.

Kadavul Irukaan Kumaaru (KIK) – This is another movie with no substance. I loved OKOK and Boss Engira Bhaskaran from director Rajesh. But this is a disaster, no clear story line, GV is acting the same, there were few funny moments from RJ Balaji, but that’s not enough for this movie. If you do not have anything useful to do, then watch this J.

Kavalai Vendaam – This was another kuppai movie. The director Deekay who took “Yaamirukka Bayamen” directed this movie. He completely lost control on the genre too.  You do not feel bad for the lead characters and their love, their breakup or anything. Just plain stupid. Jeeva should seriously think before committing to a movie. Very Disappointing.

Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (AYM) – I was supposed to watch this movie in theater. But THANK GOD, I did not spend $20 to watch this. This is the WORST movie made by Gautam Menon. He has couple of themes that he follows in all his movies – travel, police, divorcee, narration. He left the divorcee part and exactly followed the others. It started off ok but moved into a crazy movie. In my opinion, this movie can be show cased as how badly a movie can be made. There were so many logical loopholes and the way the second half was moving, it was a terrible pain to watch this movie. I usually do not stop in the middle and that’s the reason I watched it fully. The only graceful thing is the movie is – Thalli pogaadhe (that too to hear and not to watch). Gautam Menon should surely think outside the box or everything will be a disaster. PLEASE DO NOT WATCH IT.

Verdict - Kodi was watchable. Others - watch at your own risk!

Jayalalithaa - Irreplaceable

It was a huge shock for everyone when Jayalalithaa passed away last week on Dec 5^th Monday. I still feel very weird about the whole situation. I do not have any political stand, but from the time I heard that she had cardiac arrest and was on life support, I had a strange feeling and felt very low. Not sure whether the government prepared the crowd one whole day before breaking the news on Monday night.

Lot of people hated her and commented on how she handled her own ministers, party people, media etc. People always critiqued her actions but this was the first ever situation where everyone felt bad for her.

I do not know whether it is because she does not have family which in turn made everyone pity on her or her hospital visit which remained a complete mystery for the whole 75 days or the braveness and the courage that she had and maintained throughout her life.

Not sure about how others feel, but for me I saw her as a woman of empowerment, woman of leadership, woman of courage, woman on determination, woman of strength. With the changes in society, women are getting into almost all fields and prove their intelligence and leadership. But politics is not easy for anyone. You should have lot of guts and strength to even survive.

Being an only woman on the top most level in the Tamil Nadu politics and surviving & strengthening the party is not an easy task. She was a lioness. She survived through all good and bad in her life. She came back as a phoenix bird every time something happened.

Even the Prime Minister had to come and meet her in Chennai at her residence. She never bothered to go to Delhi or visited other politicians outside Chennai very much.

Whoever is her successor – her friend Sasikala or her niece Deepa, no one can replace her courage, boldness and her leadership.

May her soul rest in peace.

J.Jayalalithaa - Irreplaceable!!!

Lyricist Na. Muthukumar – Rest in Peace

Yesterday when I got up, the first news that I saw on the internet was Na.Muthukumar’s death. I was deeply saddened by that news. He was very young and was a very talented lyricist in tamil industry. It was a big shock. Looks like he has a son and a daughter and the daughter is only 6 months old : (. How unfortunate it is?

He was very simple and his songs were very nice. All Tamil speaking people from around the world would have heard “Aanandha Yaazhai Meetugiraai” and it is an excellent song about a dad & daughter. He received national award for that song couple of years ago. It is like a national anthem for the dads who has daughters, but the irony is Muthukumar’s own daughter did not get to experience what her dad wrote about. Very heart broken. This is one of the situation where you question the existence of god.

I did not feel good the whole day and was hearing Aanandha yaazhai meetugiraai continuously.

I kept thinking about how he wrote those lyrics without having a daughter and once he had a baby girl this year, his lyrics would have made so much sense for him. But without any trace of remembrance with his little one he is gone. How much will she even remember him?

Indha mannil idhu pol yaaruminge endrum vaazhndhadhillai endru thondrudhadi – What a beautiful line……

Wish he had taken care of his health better. Our body is like a machine and after certain age, it is really important for us to maintain it for the long run. This is honestly an important message for lot of young dads. Be healthy and take care of yourself so that you can spend more life time with your kids.

I sincerely pray to God that his family get strength to overcome this difficult time. Time is the only healer of all losses.

Tamil industry lost a great lyricist but he will live forever in hearts of many.

Na. Muthukumar – Rest in Peace : (

Here is the link to that beautiful song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7vn8osqD7c

Kabali Review – Magizhchi

We watched Kabali premiere show on July 21^st Thursday evening. We really enjoyed the movie. It is the mix of both Director Ranjith & Rajinikanth movie.

Story is regular as most of the gangster movies but the backdrop set at Malaysia is new. I love Ranjith from his last 2 movies and think that he is an excellent writer. He is very clear and writes powerful dialogues. And “Madras” was awesome. Looks like he has a political view about the suppressed people in the society and he makes sure to talk about them in each and every movie which is really very good. This movie is not a regular Rajinkanth movie and it is not a regular Ranjith movie as well. It has the touch from both.

Rajinikanth acted in emotional role after a very long time. It was really nice to see him in a role that reflects his real age. He acted with ease and his acting skills showed up in this movie. Honestly directors did not use him well the last few years. There were some special moments for both Rajinikanth as well as for Ranjith in the movie. The scenes where Rajinikanth looking for his wife was dragged and looked tedious, but the moment that a guy tells Rajini that he saw Rajini’s wife and planning to take him tomorrow, you get that emotional feel about the pair and you start waiting with him. It was a great directorial scene in the movie.

I know there have been some negative reviews for this movie too, but I am not sure whether we are saying negative things for the sake of saying. I know this is neither a complete Rajinikanth movie nor a director Ranjith movie, but the first 15 and last 15 mins of the movie is a treat to Rajinikanth fans. You would still believe he is the hero. I know he is not handsome, not well built, aged etc but there is still something that attracts the audience. That needs to be accepted, people do not worship someone like this with no charmness. There is something positive and attractive about Rajinikanth. I really enjoyed the Rajinikanth moments in the movie. Some of those are not logical and cannot happen in real life, but if he does it looked convincing J. My daughters were born in another country and watching tamil movies with us is what their exposure to Tamil cinema. But they both were excited about Kabali releasing and waited with us the whole time and enjoyed watching the movie with the crowd on the premier show. They were screaming and had so much fun except the fact that the little one asked after 15 mins of the movie “Who is Kabali? Amma” J.

Like Kamalhasan says in Pammal K Sambandam movie, sila vishayam laam “Anubavikanum, aaraayakoodadhu”, this movie is the great example for it. Watch and enjoy for the moment.

It is all about experience and not about feedback. Enjoy the movie!

Kabali – Magizhchi!

Uriyadi – Surprise Package

Last weekend was a movie marathon for us. We watched 2 Tamil movies Uriyadi, Vil Ambu and a English movie. But wanted to write my review only about Uriyadi. 

The lead actor Vijay Kumar was actually the producer and director too. He also did the background score after the music director left the movie in the middle. It was a complete surprise package for 2 things – The lead actor was so very comfortable on screen and there is nothing you find that is new in him. He was very natural and did a fantastic job. The second thing was the screenplay – I do not know the exact term that use for this kind of screenplay, but thought it was very interesting. 

It is like, first they show the scenes how some character wanted to happen and then they show what really happened. Not sure whether I am explaining clearly. But it was very good to watch. It was little gory, but overall it was a very good movie. It talks about the caste politics and how the student community is getting involved.

Very good effort by Vijay Kumar.

Uriyadi – Surprise!

Cup Psychology

The detail that I am going to talk about could happen in almost all houses in various subtle ways. But I still wonder whether the human beings with XY chromosomes could identify and recognize this easily. And I am sure my dear husband will never ever have a clue about this J.

Whenever I am angry with my husband or in disagreement with him, the way I give his morning coffee/tea changes. I have 3 different kind of coffee mugs at my home. One is made of Corelle and of Indian cup size and looks very cute. The Second one came with my Corelle dinner set and it is little heavier than the first one. And I have the third set, which is the heaviest of all and this was our baby sprinkle return gift to our friends during my 2^nd pregnancy. I kept one set for myself as a remembrance and we started using it recently.

So, based on my mood and how I feel about him that morning the cup changes. 

• If I am in a very happy mood and really think my husband is my best friend who understands me, I will give coffee/tea in cute Corelle cup (first set).
• If I am not in a happy mood and have some disagreements with my husband, I will give my coffee/tea in the Cup from the heavier second set.
• If I am completely annoyed, I will give coffee/tea in the heaviest cup from the third set.

I just think that it is a way for me to express how I feel. I know he does not have any idea or a clue about why I use different cups, but if any time he reads this blog post he will know.

We live far away from our family and it is us who has to go through good and bad in our family life, we cannot bring in our extended family into everything. We fight, disagree and then just move on. I am not saying we are the perfect couple, we are not even close. Comparatively we have more conflicts and disagreements than a normal couple but we both know to give space to each other. We kind of got adjusted to respect each other as a person. I have my space and time for my hobbies, interests and my girly time with my friends. And at the same time, he gets time for his hobbies, interests, his boy time with his friends, his own whatsapp group with his childhood friends etc.

Over the years, we kind of learnt “Agree to Disagree”.

One thing to notice is, Coffee/Tea is always provided irrespective of my mood J.

Iraivi – Not Great

I have been watching lot of movies but for some reason did not feel like writing my review. I watched Iraivi last weekend and thought I should write about it in my blog. I know there was a mixed review for this film and anyways I decided to watch to give my side of review J.

Thought the director Karthik Subburaj had good intentions to make this film but was not successful in conveying it to audience, in contrary to what he did with his last 2 films Pizza and Jigarthanda.

This is supposed to be a women centric film, but felt the picturisation were more on male characters and their struggle and feelings. This movie is more about what the male characters do and how it affects the female characters around them. But the way it has been portrayed was not clear. Also on top of it, I felt that all the male characters in the movie had lot of negativity and not sure why the director chose to project it that way. May be to show sympathy on female characters? I don’t know. At some point I felt very annoyed/irritated about the male characters like don’t they have common sense to handle things?. I wish Karthik could have showed a positive & good male character in the movie who is loving and respectable towards women. And too much of liquor in the movie. I am not sure whether someone can drink this much in their lifetime J.

The only saving grace of this movie was SJ Surya. He was a complete surprise package in this movie. He acted so good and gave a power packed performance. He should continue acting rather than directing non-meaningful movies. He really carried the movie on his shoulder and did a 100% justice to his role. Vijay Sethupathy was ok and I did not like Bobby Simha as well as his characterization. Anjali was good in her role. But there is not much to say about the movie. Felt it was not that great.

Expected more from Karthik Subburaj L.

Iraivi – Not Great! Watch at your own risk.

Visaaranai – Reality Strikes

I was postponing to watch Visaaranai (means Interrogation in English) movie for few days. I saw the trailer and thought it is going to be a heavy movie and was not sure whether I am prepared enough. I love to watch movies but at the same time I get too much involved into the characters and heavy emotions linger around with me for few days. So, based on my mood I am ready to watch and sometimes I am not. Finally I decided to watch this movie.

This movie is based on a novel “Lockup” written by Chandrakumar which actually has his real life incident(s). It shows how normal people with no money or background can be exploited in our society. It is very sad to see those characters. I think the director Vetrimaaran added some more real life incidents that happened with TN Political circle. Vetrimaaran created a very good screenplay and got excellent actors to fit each and every character. They just lived their life. Heard the shooting took place only for 35 days. He should have done his extensive research and preparation before the movie.

Attakathi Dinesh is the lead actor. He performed very well even though there were couple of things that I was not convinced. His character does couple of things which I thought why would he even do that? There were 3 other guys who acted with him and they all lived their characters. One of the character name is Kumar and he will go back to his village at the end of first half and he is that real character who wrote the book. They show him (Chandrakumar) at the end of the movie with his family.

This movie editing is top class and this was the last movie edited by Kishore who passed away last year. He got national award for Aadukalam and was in his mid 30’s. Looks like he had lot of work stress and collapsed during this movie editing. He went into coma and passed away in few days. Really need to appreciate his efforts.

I also want to appreciate Samudrakani who acted as Inspector in the movie. He has multiple shades in his characters and he did it with ease. And finally he is the prey too. He seems to be one of the most sought actors recently and it shows that on the screen.

This movie strikes the chord & shows how our politics and police/judicial system is intertwined and how it affects the people with no background. You feel so bad that this is happening in real and there is nothing that we can do about.

This movie got the highest score of AnandaVikatan team with 64 marks. Looks like this is the highest score after Pathinaaru Vayadhinile.

Story is really heavy and realistic, screenplay is very strong, actors were excellent & editing was top class. If you love to watch good movies, go for it. This might stay in your mind for a while. I would not recommend watching this with little kids due to the scenes in the police station during interrogation.

Visaaranai – Reality Strikes!

Communication – The Key to Everything!

For the last few months or may be even more I have been experiencing moments where communication plays a vital role. I can’t emphasize enough on how important and critical “ better communication” is. So really wanted to write about “Communication” and its aspects from my experience and understanding.

There are several types of communication and the most common ones are – verbal, writing and body language.

I had worked with the offshore teams for the last 2 years and my main mode of communication with them was through Phone or IM or Email. That phase really helped me to rethink my communication ideology. People always assume that communication skills mean their English speaking skills which is not correct.

There are few other aspects to it and I want to elaborate on each of them little bit. This is applicable both personally and professionally J.

Lend your Ears – Listening is the KEY. Communication is not only we saying something, it’s about we listening to others too. During any conversation or discussion or meeting, listen first. Because there could be times that you do not need to talk as you got the required information by listening. So, lend your ears!

Judge your Audience - One of the most important thing is, understanding your audience before you speak or write. The same message/content can be conveyed in variety of ways based on your audience. Keep that in mind.

Arrange your Thoughts  - I define Communication as “Expression of thoughts”. If you keep your thoughts straight and clear, you should be able to communicate better verbally or through writing. I came across few people who think and talk at the same time. It would either confuse the audience or make the audience lose focus on your content/message.

Select your Words - Effective & efficient communication is not about using fancy words, it is about saying/writing things clearly. Keep it simple J.

Show your Confidence – If you are not sure about something, do not try to overrule the meeting or discussion rather ask questions and understand better. If you are sure about what you are conveying, do it with confidence. That will surely create a positive impact.

Keep up your Body Language – 50% of effective communication happens through body language. So, when you meet someone in person for a discussion or meeting, be attentive, look into their eyes when they talk, take notes – show them you care and speak by looking at their face. Be conscious about crossed arm gesture – it shows that you are defensive and not even listening. Also do not browse through your phone and text during the meeting or discussion. That will create a huge negative impact.

Be Open & Honest – During any kind of communication, be it verbal or writing please be open & honest to feedback and criticisms. Not everyone like your ideas or suggestions, it is ok for someone to say negative comments. Understand why, learn from it and move on. Do not get stuck on it.

I had seen several smart and technical people, but they struggle to convey what they are capable of. I think giving importance to “Communication” is really critical both personally and professionally. If you insist that from the early age it helps the kids tremendously.

As far as my personal experience, I love to listen to people and I think that is the big win for me. Be it personal or professional, I love to hear when others talk. Does not mean that I talk less J. I talk more but at the same time I love to listen too. So it gives me the opportunity to learn more, show empathy and build relationships. As far as the other aspects, I try really hard and am still working on them. Hope I get to build those aspects in my communication and make things better & easier.

Please remember that communication is the key to everything in this world – to maintain your personal relationships, to express your thoughts, to market yourself, to develop professional relationships, to show your confidence, to show your character, to show your values, to define who you are and so on.

Remember - your communication defines YOU.

Express Yourself with Better Communication and Build Strong Relationships!

Jil Jung Juk – Experience the New

Watched Jil Jung Juk recently and thought it was a very different move telling experience in Tamil cinema.

Story was simple but the way director brought it on screen was amazing. You experience a different kind of movie feel. Not sure how many would understand or like it, but definitely a strong mention to Deeraj Vaidy for directing this movie and to Siddarth for producing this movie. Siddarth is Jil and the other 2 guys who acted as Jung & Juk have done a wonderful job too. I am still amazed about how someone can imagine this story/screenplay and convinced a producer to make this movie J. Hats off to Deeraj!

And I love “Shoot the kuruvi” song even though it comes once the movie is over with the name scrolling.

If you really like to experience a new genre, watch this movie. Storytelling is really different and you would experience something new.

Jil Jung Juk – Experience the New!

Irudhi Sutru – Powerful

We watched Irudhi Sutru over the weekend. It is the story based on women boxing in India. It also talks about the politics in Sports selection committee etc. The director claims it is based on many true events, but heard a rumor that it is based on the women boxer from Tamil Nadu Thulasi Helen.

It was a predictable story line, but the characterizations were very good. Especially Madhi (Ritika Singh) and Prabu (Madhavan) acted really good. Songs were very good and hummable too.

Director Sudha worked really hard and you can see that in each and every scene and detail. Watch for Ritika & Madhavan’s performance. 

Irudhi Sutru – Powerful!

Oh My Team!

What does a “Job” mean to you? Think for a minute before you read further J.

For me, it means learning, handling challenges, working with people/team and obviously some money. In today’s generation, I do not think people stick on the same job(s) for ever or at least it is like that in IT industry. I am not judging anyone who change jobs for money, it is absolutely their personal choice. I am writing about me and my recent job experience.

I feel that not all jobs give the same experience to you even though you work with the same “Job Title”. And not all experiences are cherishable or precious. I am in a new job from this month and wanted to write about my previous job. It was one of the job experience that I will cherish forever in my career. I spent 2 years in my previous job & I learnt so much, handled variety of challenges and interacted so much with my onsite and offshore teams. I handled a team of 72 resources - I know, it sounds crazy, but true ;). I handled a team of 20 onsite and 52 offshore resources. Our offshore teams were located in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

That was the first time I worked with offshore teams – learnt so much from that perspective. When I went to India last year for my personal trip, I visited Hyderabad and Mumbai teams. That was nice that I could get to meet most of my team members personally. It was really fun to meet them, see how they work (with 1 monitor), took them out for lunch and visited their snack places J. Manjusha was my offshore manager and she is located in Mumbai. She also came to Hyderabad and we both were treated with utmost hospitality by Hyderabad team (especially Raja & Upender). We both traveled together to Mumbai. It was really a fun and adventurous experience.

I spent lot of time getting to know people, build trust and relationships with each one of them. I think I was successful to a great extent. Being a delivery manager, nature of my job was very reactive to situations and circumstances. I think I really became more patient in the last 2 years. I could clearly take a step back, analyze the situation and come up with a solution. Team members come to me for variety of reasons – be it personal or professional. There was not even a single day without any challenge J. I guess I really enjoyed it. It was time for me to move on and I did it gracefully. I really had to slow down for my work life balance and to spend more time with my little kids.

My client manager Karen organized a farewell from client side and it was a big hit. Almost 35+ team members showed up including full time employees and resources from other vendors. The team brought a cake with “Good luck” note on it and got gift cards. There were couple of tears too L. Thanks Karen!

My Sogeti team organized a farewell lunch and it was really sweet. I felt I left the company with utmost respect and positive note. I am glad that I made that positive impact with each one of them.

Quick Test for me -- I am really trying to name each one of them to see whether my memory still stays strong – Stacey, Nandhini, Hima, Vijay, Nirmal, Ram, Syed, Suresh, Adarsh, Priya, Lakxmi, Harpreet, Shaju, Mahadevan, Bob, Aaron, Kavya, Likith, Manu, Matthew. From offshore – Manjusha, Kalyani, Sidharth, Ankita, Nishad, Nishita, Srujana, Vamsi, Gaurav, Dipti, Sumant, Sarath, Kapil, Ravi, Nishtha, Supriya, Prachi, Priyanka, Pranav, Madhukar, Ranga, Sunit, Renukaprasad, Harish, Sujatha, Raja, Upender, Vijaya, Damodar, Mohammed, Sravan M, Bhasker, Ramya, Seetha, Santoshi, Pradeep, Venkat, Partha, Surya, Sambit, Malikarjun, Rajesh, Mahesh, Murali, Sravan N, Rajeev and the new resources whom I hired Ashay, Rakesh, Bidhu, Hariom, Manoj and Priya. Yayyyyy!!! I DID IT J. Thanks for being a wonderful team member everyone!

Special Thanks to Conor for being a wonderful coworker and account executive for our account. I learnt so many things about the consulting job from him!

Special Thanks to Manjusha for being a wonderful listener and a support. Learnt so many things from her about working with offshore!

Special Thanks to Anand for being a nice friend and a support!

I think I complemented very well with each one of them in their roles and built a wonderful relationship with all.

After I moved to new job, there is not a single day yet that pass without thinking about my team. It is actually a great feeling J. I am proud that I left with a success note and with the sense of accomplishment. I really hope that I could get to work with any of them in the future.

Miss you ALL!

Gethu – Sema Soththai

I watched Gethu last weekend and it was one of the waste movies in recent time. It has both weak script and weaker screenplay. Not sure why Udhayanidhi acted and produced this movie. For every movie, I think screenplay is very important and you need to engage the audience within first 15 to 20 mins of the movie with all the character and story introductions. There were lots of bits and pieces and the funny part is even the hero (Udhayanidhi) know the villain’s intentions (along with us audience) in the scene before the final climax. It was that bad.

Not sure why they showed Udhayanidhi as a guy who does yoga and a vegetarian. Does not mean anything? Ayyo, the character of Amy Jackson – that is another waste. She is Nandhini Ramanujam – supposed to look like a Brahmin girl. Not sure who got the idea of making her act in that role. The songs were misplaced and once in few scenes, you see a duet song. Sathyaraj is also wasted in the movie.

There is no clarity in anything in the movie. Also the background score whenever they were showing Vikranth became a torture after a while. I really liked Udhayanidhi in OKOK. I think he should stick on to lighter roles and good story. He cannot just act in movies since he can produce them. After couple of movies, it is time to commit to good movies to stabilize in the market.

Please do not watch this movie J.

Gethu – Sema Soththai!

Aso mama - We miss you

I am planning to write at least one topic per week going forward. Hope I could stick on to that routine.

I really wanted to write about my mama (my mom’s 3^rd older brother) who passed away last week on Feb 6^th 2016. I am feeling very confused and disoriented from the time I heard the news. Not sure whether Vijay or the kids understand what I am going through. There are multiple factors to this. Usually in our family longevity of life is more – in the sense I had seen people dying only by aging and not through any other factor. So the last death that I remember in my family was around 16 years ago and my grandpa was 91. It was sad but not very disturbing as we all felt he lived his life to the fullest.

But Asokan mama (Aso mama as we fondly call him) is an exception. He is around 64 years of age and had suffered with cancer for the last 12 to 18 months. I came to know about his health issues around 10 months ago before I was going to India in 2015. I could not believe it and cried the whole day. And I made sure to visit him in May 2015 and he was all looking strong and healthy. He talked to us and was very happy that we visited him (me along with Vijay & the kids).

My mom’s side of family have lot of contradictions but they all loved each other very much. They never expressed their love to each other, they were all more of “murattu” affection. My mom has 3 older brothers and 1 younger sister. Aso mama was my mom’s 3^rd older brother and they both had around only 1.5 years of age gap. They almost grew together. My mom went through knee replacement surgery last year in Coimbatore and when she was back at Chennai, my mama visited her in spite of his health issue. My mom still talks about it. But their way of showing affection is asking “nalla irukkiyaa?”.

I still remember the time when we visited my mama’s family in Dec 2013 (my last to last India visit). They live in Pozhichalur , a place much further from Pallavaram. Me along with Vijay & kids went to their home in call taxi. We somehow went half way asking people about landmarks that mama/athai provided. Still, we were stuck. But mama came half the way in his car and was waiting & looking for us. He saw us asking for address somewhere and came towards us. He asked the driver to follow his car and finally we reached his home. When we were there eating dinner and talking, I got a call from my mom that my dad had some severe leg cramps and could not even sit or stand. She did not know what to do and called us. Aso mama along with athai immediately took us back to hospital in their car. My dad got better and got discharged the next day. But Aso mama was very timely and brought us to hospital immediately. I would never forget that day.

Also in my home for some reason or the other we do not have childhood photos (my immediate family). When I was around 9 or 10 years old, I participated in a school culturals and my cousins Ragini & Rogini participated too. Aso mama took pictures of us and he was treasuring them. Every time we go to India & visit him, he would show us those photos with much pride and joy, but I know he would not want to give it to us J. Vijay took the photo of that photo. I know how much mama treasured those photos and I do not think I would have wanted them with me. I really liked the way he kept those with pride and happiness. That made me so happy that someone is treasuring my memories. I hope my cousins will continue that.

Another interesting connection that I have with mama is, he & I both stammer. Interestingly none of his kids stammer. And no one in our family stammer except us. So, I think I carry some of his genes which was dormant with my mom (Mendel theory). We had this commonality, but the way we handled that was very different. He was a very quiet person and conversed very less, but to the contrary I am very outspoken and made sure that I am not getting intimidated by the stammer. Now I stammer only when I am tensed which is very rare J.

This might sound really weird, but I spoke very less with my mama and had very less interaction. But still somewhere I had so much love and affection for him. I always made a point that I visited my mama and his family whenever I go to India. I made sure to show my kids that they have a large extended family.

Mama was a simple person with not much expectations. He led a very simple life and had a just enough life which is really very difficult and important. He never interfered in anyone’s life or troubled them in any way. I knew he was in lot of pain the last few months/weeks. May be this could be the right time for him to reach heaven. My brain understands but my heart does not L.

His 39^th wedding anniversary was on Feb 7^th, and he passed away on Feb 6^th. His older daughter’s 15^th wedding anniversary was also on the same day. That was really unfortunate. Coincidentally he gave some money to his daughters and daughter in law that week – not sure whether he was preparing himself (the way Saibaba did it before his Samadhi). Looks like he was also talking until 5 minutes before he passed away. May be he knew or may be not.

My mom’s oldest brother do not have much connections with any of us and my mom is always used to address 2^nd and 3^rd older brothers for everything. She says “Damu mama, Aso mama vandhanga, Damu mama and Aso mama ku phone pannanum etc.”. Now it is time for her to include her oldest brother and take Aso mama out of the dialogues. But I do not think she is there yet. Now it’s her time to do some customs and she still mentions “Damu mama and Aso mama-ku vaanganum”. I am not correcting her, it is her 63 years of relationship and will take time. Every time she went and saw her sick brother, she came home and got sick thinking about him. Hope she and all her siblings get the courage to overcome this difficult time.

No one knows how long you will live in this world. Please forget all the differences/ego that you have with your family and friends and live your life with near & dear ones.

I really pray to GOD wholeheartedly that my athai and cousins come out of this difficult time soon. Please remember that Mama is in heaven blessing all of us and at peace. May his soul rest in peace. 

Mama – We miss you L.