THE SUMMER OF 76

Was it a Sunday in the summer of 1976 when a proud doctor just delivered from the medical school from Kottayam,I , mean , me for sure landed in my uncle’s[Raju mama’s] house at Nagercoil for a short stay after a hectic period of internship .I always enjoyed my stay there and we used to spend quality time with him and his friends most notably one Veeramani who excelled in satire and card playing. More about him later.After about a week[time flew like never before] Raju mama announced “ Kanna! I have a surprise for you .I am going to take you to a house. Guess whose? No let me keep it a surprise”

Off we went in his Lambretta through the bylanes of Nagercoil until we reached a street filled with the customary 3 room houses stretched in a lane with the adjoining single wall. Mama after stopping the lamby a little afar took me aside and began to give a peep short history of the house before entering the house in question. He told me “hey I don’t want to surprise you any more. I don’t know whether you will remember the lady of the house. Most probably you won’,t ,but she remembers you and made me promise to take you to her at any cost. In Alleppey when you were a 2 year old your parents lived near a Thattan’s house and a girl of 18 ,his daughter,Santha used to look after you for nearly one yr before you all shifted to Cochin . I met her 6 months back and she asked about you and I promised to have you at her house when ever you land in Nagercoil. I am telling you all this as not to embarrass you in her presence. Shall we go in now” . I was really embarrassed and was at a loss how to face her whom I never remembered at all and the whole situation became unsahikkable. O.K I replied and praying to all gods known and unknown to give m enough courage to deal with the tricky situation that my uncle presented to me in the name of surprise.

The door was opened by a obese middle aged lady probably in early 40s,fair skinned with a round face. The room lit up with her beautiful smile of innocence as she recognised my uncle. Do you recognise him, Raju mama bluntly asked her pointing at me. Her eyes feasted me for about 10 seconds. Recovering from a blissful incredulous shock as the time stopped, leaving us both in mid air.’ “Its my Kannan,isn’t it not? Sir,am I right,she pleaded to my uncle. Off course you are right,he replied. She drank me in for a few seconds as if her eyes were cheating her.Then she flew to me and hugged me in a bear hug strangulating me and soon I felt two drops of transparent saltish nectar from her ocean like eyes as it caressed my face. I was drowning in an ocean of love, so was she ,and LOVE in its pristine form dissolved us both. Releasing me from her bosom she knew not what to do as the time restarted. She was running here and there calling her four kids “ I told you no, its your Kannan anna and he has come to see me .I told you no ,he will come to me one day and God is great,she mumbled on and on and the kid’s with their noses running stared me in admiration . She scolded at her husband who was standing in the shadows “Hey what are you staring at, go and get some sweets for my Kannan.He looks famished.Aren’t they giving you anything in the hostel.You are a doctor now,no. I was telling my kids your Kannan anna will come and cure me of my heart disease. Won’t you Kanna.”. She came back with her medical records which roared MULTIPLE VALVULAR HEART DISEASE WITH RIGHT HEART FAILURE a virtual death warrant. After a steaming cup of coffee and few sweets later,we said Bye and she my obese sweating MOTHER caught hold of my hands and whispered “will you come back to see me later?” I looked back at her,my eyes cloudy and my heart savouring in the unblemished,unconditional LOVE that oozed out of each atom in her that I never believed in before or after. I have MET my MOM AT LAST. The lamby took its own time winding back the bylanes to Krishnancoil.

BLOG FOR BLOG SAKE

BLOG FOR BLOG SAKE





Hi guys ,
Long time,no see.Its now pretty long time that I have come to stage.And once you are out of match practice for so long its very difficult for a come back especially in this age group when all you try to do is to postpone citing one silly excuse after another and you feel awful seeing the empty screen staring back and if it happens to be an L C D type and a new key board something like wielding a new oiled bat [ofcourse you should allow the old man to brag about his new computer with all the state of art packages,in short it will do any thing short of making love] .So I thought let me spend some time in the nets before facing the hostile Indian crowd I mean you people .Age is catching up fast and the muscles are tiring fast and the recovery time is getting prolonged.No you cannot accuse me to be another Kumble ,.rather it is a complement, to be the new test captain and another typial Indian adhochism , a win-win situation for BCCI.If he fails India is not going to burn,you can comfort yourself for rewarding the old Indian warrior before he says bye bye,and if he clicks you can pat your back for the terrific decision..As for as the old war horse is concernerned the vyazhan is in ucha sthana and he has the neecha banga rajayogam,the two negatives conferring a positive time ,the negatives being Sachin and Dhoni or Sourav for that matter..Thank god the current has failed and I have another excuse.for shelving this nightmare to time immemorial .But fortunately or unfortunately the coach has switched on the flood lights and my eyes suffer a bout of acute photophobia before once again concentrating on the next ball.I keep missing and missing.The flow is not back and am stuttering and stammering and the few fans who has come to watch me are literally embarassed and pray for the session to end ..

Bye the bye I am officially retiring on Nov 30th after a spell of leave lasting for 10 months, I mean , I may return back to work in a private or govt work [contract], to be brief ,trying a “ reluctant” come back,I am not sure whether it will work out ,but sitting out in the pavilion is miserable as I have found out the hard way,but batting out there will be more harder.I am in a catch 22 situation..Retirement is hell that’s for sure but to resist it is more hell. Let TIME be the judge.Your mind refuses to accept the ageing factor and still craves for the POWER and corrupts you,inspite of recognizing it you cannot just escape .

The net session is called off for the day and the decision is yours.