MESSAGE TO APPA

It was the day after my retirement and was immersed in the rituals of the marriage of a relative that my cousin brother Raja had a pleasant surprise for me that the get together of my maternal side has been fixed in May .The news pervaded me like the sweet aroma of the jasmine flowers and transported me 6 yrs back to 2001 when the first get together happened and what an experience ,suffice to say,its a ‘ happening’,and no word can add more to it .
The mere thought of the event was enough to catapult my mind to my guardian angel my mentor my grand dad our’s only Appa , ‘Appa the great’ .That name, the secret key to the tresures of my early childhood has a very unnerving effect on my heart sending slgnals to my lacrymal gland with its secretions fogging my vision and reflexly carrying my legs to the balcony imploring me to gaze at the stars in a vain attempt to locate him.
So I gazed on and on my heart silently calling out to him from the bosom of the never ending sky and lo when it seemed to be years or has the Time stopped? My sensitized ears picked up a slow whisper intensifying to a boom "Konthei! Did you call me".. "Appa ,I can hear you"my heart jumping with joy of endless misery. "I was yearning to hear from you since the last 6 yrs and do you need each get- together to remind you of me" he smiled.. "Noppa,now a days the world is spinning so fast that we don’t have time to think about our own parents or children,then how can you expect me ? sorry I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.To come to the point I wanted to tell you about your family your grand sons ,great grandsons and how they live, how the family you have so carefully and lovingly nurtured have grown,branched and flowered.The Kadamboduvazhvu clan have gone high you know ‘ Appa’ and are reaching the heights you never could have imagined .I am going to summarise their present living in a general sense so that you can boast to your friends over there.
I needn’t remind you of the first generation consisting of three graduates and their spouses finishing up their careers as one bank manager,one special buereou[I am very weak in spelling as you know] I mean C.B.I. officer who couldn’t prevent the infiltration in to Kashmir,one chartered accountant,one gazetted officer in central services and one senior accountant capable of changing money in to black or white or vice versa regarding his clients.,one sincere teacher.
Come the next generation and you have 21graduates,of which 3 are chartered accountants[they are genetically primed so,]5 engineers, four of whom being computer engineers out of whom one has risen to the level of Director in a computer firm about to buy IBM,,3 have gone on to finish MBA ,[one flowed out from the prestigious institute of I I M Lucknow,can you believe it!,one is Bank manager ,one an Engineer in atom bomb making at Kalpakkom,and another one a poor govt .doctor,offcourse as you know he ought to be an eye specialist,one is an upcoming car dealer and two are doing well in private firms,you name it and we have got one in our family.
About the third generation, ‘ Appa’ , the sub branches which are only in the making we have two computer engineers.another one about to finish the same and oddly enough one has turned out to be a speech therapist[have you ever dreamt of such a speciality Appa?]All others are kids working hard to great careers the details of which I shall duly furnish during the third get- together.
We own a fleet of atleast 10 cars of different makes and even have a garage with atleast another 5 cars at our disposal , about 20 bikes ,3 biycles of which one is for exercise only .I cannot give you details of the immovable property worth crores lest the income tax people will start a new ward,and we hold minority stake in most of the front line companies listed in the Nifty[Are you following me Appa?].Our hobbies range from Art of living,krishnapremi,Nechur,pink floyd ,Amma to cricket[which you cursed],FA cup and even Tiger woods.,dealing in shares and futures as a mere game .Are you familiar with the gadgets that we routinely use . The kids are moving aroud with the Ipods around their necks,talking to one another being not through their mouth but by a rectangular metallic piece called the mobile with out which they cannot survive .The world is in their drawing room through their T Vs and the women folk can cry ony through their mega serials . We have forgotten to walk,only ride,and as per the instruction of doctors we walk for walk sake early morning lead by our dogs.We no longer confide with our friends or wives ,but with our dogs,and shrinks.
We are bringing in girls from all around the world irrespective of their caste, creed ,language.Our anthapuram is brimming with lovely educated and highly cultured brides starting from the Himalayan belt to south of Vindhyas We are now multilingual and familiar with different cultures and customs and VASUDEIVA KUDUMBAKOM is our lattest swan song.We have become literally tolerant as taught by you.This strategy has been adopted by the clan on purely scientific basis to enrich our genetic pool which was under threat due to years of inbreeding .
Our children can rest only in five star hotels,travel in A.c coaches,but they prefer flights in general,drink coca colas to begin with and eat only packed foods .Now a days ‘ Appa ‘we believe in one kid family and the kids turn out selfish, unable to share, and see their parents once in a blue moon,.They no longer play with other children and immerse themselves with computer games and cartoons .
That’s how life goes on here.I have only surfed through the barest minimum. ‘Appa’ I can only assure you one thing, our clan will hold on against all odds and still will cherish values, you have taught and try to forge a common front in keeping your goals alight and LOVE will bind us all together and MUKKANI SAMY’S legacy will continue to yet another generation.I am feeling sleepy ‘ Appa’.Can I sleep in your laps a wee bit.?