When do you know you are old ?

It almost seems like yesterday we were kids and suddenly you are blogging your own kid's journey in life.

So when did i realise I was old ?

It happened one day when I took a red eye flight and landed in a city at some odd hour and tried to sleep in a hotel bed. Well I tossed and turned and I finally switched on the TV.

There was no point in catching movies half way so I turned to MTV which was belting out some real songs I liked to listen to and I watched the group close the song and suddenly the pop up screen came "...and that was MTV classics".

I gasped in horror how could it be a classic ....we love the evergreen song still and then you realise that the youth of today consider the song as a classic.

Times they are a changing.

It was terrible at three am in a strange city and hotel to wake up, smell the coffee and to realise that you are no longer in the MTV generation and you have become a part of the next generation ....classic. 

Of Friends Gone Too Soon.

Once upon a time, long long ago,
so the story unfolds before your naive eyes,
you played and laughed with an abandonment
that you never thought would end.

You made friends and left them just as soon,
Some were friends from home and school
both had an eerie boundary and rarely met
but the bonds were just as strong for either

Years later, you suddenly hear about the one
Who left too soon, the body and spirit
Either of some physical shortcoming
or of some tragic man-concocted accident.

Then in that moment when you hear,
All life comes rushing, only to stand still
as if the brakes were jammed real hard
to avoid a collision with the daily routines

The silence then, that follows strangely
Becomes louder with the emergence of past
Thoughts, smiles, laughter, fights, tears
yes the tears come rushing and then stop.

Stopping for the one reason you sensed
That the person you grieve for will never,
ever will they know, about your sorrow
which hurts because you are now alone

Memories are all we have to see,
Fading brown now the deja vu,
Brings forth every smile and gesture
True to life once again to our mind

When we question and silently shriek why,
we know the rhetoric all too well
looking up to the blue space of the sky
we are left with nothing but random thoughts.

We turn to friends we have jointly traversed
Same roads and times,to lean on with the grief
The reactions quiver from quaintly quiet
To exaggerated emotions of despair.

We try to climb up from the well of woes,
To break into a white light of hope,
Only to see tragic off springs of the departed
Silently tombing their deeper sorrows.

If then the memories are eternal remnants
For us, as we plod on our daily journeys
They enliven us with the succour and smiles
of days gone by, and friends eternally etched.

Of friends who have left all too soon,
leaving behind, friends to ponder when,
will all the friends take the tangent from earth,
with none to look back on the days of our lives.

2012 auld lang syne..

The year 2012 started very cold in Gurgaon but with onset of sunny spring in February we moved around and about in National Capital Region.

The first 2012 trip was to Jim Corbett Park ( my 4th visit) and packed my bags and camera with fond hopes of capturing a live tiger in the wild picture. Still after all these years the Tiger studiously avoids any contact with me despite my tempting belly being a good dinner prospect for him/her.

The second trip of 2012 was to Russia to St Petersburg and Moscow in May. The Hemitage Museum was absolutely a delight and two whole days was not enough to see all its treasures. The Van Goghs were worth the wait and will be etched in the mind for eternity.

The Moscow Armoury houses the fabled Faberge eggs which are amazing for the minute and intricate craftsmanship and was ticked off from my bucket list with much fondness.

Staying at the Ritz Carlton a mere stone's throw away from the Red Square was an experience in itself and made the stay all the more memorable - far cry from the school scouting trips and tents of Doddabalapur and Davangere.

The second half of the year was not so smooth as the first as we had met with a car accident in Chennai wherein all three of us survived a young licenseless driver trying to upend our car with his SUV. We managed to get away clean as the accident left us with out any injuries though my car needed to go to the body shop for repairs. This is the first time we got God to be on our side this year and little did we imagine it would not be the last....

In mid July I received a call from Abhishekh's school informing me he met with an accident wherein he had been injured by a glass shard from the window pane he had run into when he was being chased. The injury I thought was a scratch till they told me he would need plastic surgery and that got me rushing to Chennai. Fortunately we had the best surgeon in Stanley Medical College operate by the time I landed and he was back to his normal self. Apparently he had been playing catch with his school buddies and when being chased careened around a corner and to support his speed and balance he leant on the glass window which shattered and pierced his wrist. The wound healed quickly though he lost a month before he could write as it was in his dominant left hand which was totally plastered. Through God's Good Grace he is back to normal and we thank all the people who were concerned and prayed for his healing.

2012 was the year in which Abhishekh also grew suddenly and was taller than his mom and a few inches away from me by the end of the year. It was also the year my belly probably grew an inch as I moved into Shirt size 46 from 44. Viji pretty much remained the same and it would be safer for me to not go down the road of fleshy prosperity.

 In August Leo ( my 3rd sister's son) was to get married and we drove to Trichy and Madurai and the wedding to Sharmilee was tastefully done. Leo who works with Infosys is planning to go to US and taking Sharmilee who works with Google in Hyderabad.

Towards the end of the year Jeremy (my 2nd sister's son) was also married to Divya and they will be in New York where he works in the Hospital for Special Surgery.

The family seems to be adding new members almost every year and I guess my dear departed parents would have been delighted to see the new entrants.

So another year rolls by and work at Akzo Nobel with my new Execution Excellence portfolio has ended and we hope the new year brings us more joy and we wish a happy new year 2013 for our friends and relatives reading this annual letter ( my first attempt to chronicle our years on this planet).

With best wishes,

Joe, Viji and Abhishekh

Junior's Logic of Church Offering

We often leave Abhishekh at one church ( Emmanuel Methodist Church) and visit another church ( St Andrew's Kirk) and we leave him with an offering of Rs 10 to be put into the offertory box in Sunday School.

One Sunday we had picked him up after Church and found he had been eating some Vada's which are sold by some ladies in the Church after the service. The sale proceeds are supposed to go to the Church from the sale of such food items.

When we asked him where did he get the money ?

He answered quite cooly - " Look the offertory money goes to the church whether I put in the offertory box or I have a Vada - the difference is at least I get something to eat !"

It took us a while to explain the route followed was not quite appropiate, but we were having a good chuckle all the while.

The First Miracle

It was in the year 2002, when Abhishekh was all of 4 years old we had sent him to Sunday School at the local Methodist Church.

The Sunday School Teacher had taught the children about the story of Jesus first Miracle at Canaa wherein the host of the wedding had run out of wine. He was running helter skelter to get some wine.

The Sunday School Teacher asked the children - "So what would you do if were faced with the problem as that of the bride's father and the wine all ran out ?"

No hands went up till our son's hand raised up eagerly.

The teacher asked "Yes, Abhishekh - what would you do ?"

He responds - "I would take my credit card and swipe at the nearest ATM and get some money to buy some wine"

I think the Good Sunday School Teacher fainted.

Caught pulling a skirt up !

One sunny spring day in 2003, my wife and I got a call to come to Junior's school, and the Headmistress sounded very distressed.

So my wife and I rushed over to the school and we knew he would be practising for the junior school play and so went to the school auditorium.

The teacher looking slightly hesitant and told us that whilst they were all rehearsing for the play, Junior was sent to the back of the stage and was teasing all the girls by raising their skirts with a walking stick ( he was playing the role of Fagin in Oliver Twist).

Apparently all the girls were squealing and running around whilst the rehearsal was going on and soon enought the young "eve teaser" was apprehended.

A strict session of counselling began and that is when they decided to call us over.

So there we were - two very red faced parents listening to the escapades of our home grown Romeo.

When we confronted him, he just shrugged it off nonchalantly stating it was just for fun and in any case they were tights underneath so there was no big deal !

long tunnel home

The Story of the Dwarf who lived on the 15th Floor.

It was the Summer of 2005 and our family had gone with our close friends for a Summer Holiday. On the ride upto the cool Mountains, we had been tossing riddles and puzzles to tease our minds and keep awake.

I had just given the group, which included kids from 4 years to adults of 40 +, the old brain teaser (taken from the Book on Lateral Thinking - by Edward de Bono), about the dwarf who went to work every day by taking the lift down, but when he returned in the evening he would take a lift up to his flat but mysteriously stopped at the 10th floor, and climbed the stairs to his flat on the 15th floor every single day.

The question to the group was why was the dwarf stopping on the 10th Floor every day on his return from work ?

Answers came in fast and thick and ranging from the Dwarf's mistress on the 10th floor to the Physical Exercise needs of the dwarf.

The group finally claimed defeat and could not crack the answer and I told the answer that the dwarf could not reach up to the button on the lift for the 15th floor but could manage to reach the 10th floor button and hence he was forced to walk up 5 floors every day.

Well after that dampener - silence fell on the group for a couple of minutes and miles flowed beneath us.

All of sudden the Little Fellow suddenly blurts out in scorn -

"What a stupid Dwarf ! Why did he buy the flat if he could not reach the lift button !"'

By then we had all forgotten the teaser and were trying to think of another teaser to challenge the group and everyone burst out laughing at the statement of a small uncommon lad filled with so much common sense !

Sometimes when we find the answer to our questions we stop checking to see if the answer had any practical sense and fit in with what we had all been searching for in the first place. We lose sight of what we are searching for and need to look at every solution from every angle to see if it fits perfectly.

Mull over all the blessings God has given you with and you will surely find the Divine purpose fits in with your practical needs perfectly in every way.

Breaking of Toys

Junior always had a habit of breaking toys, so much so, that his mother had stopped buying him toys.

One day at a Toy shop he had seen something he liked and sidled up to me and tugged at me to buy it for him.

I was diplomatic enough to palm off the decision to his mom.

So there he was beseeching his mom - "Ma please get me this toy, I really like it."

She retorted - "There are so many toys at home all broken, I am sure you will break this nice toy also very soon."

Junior looks at her with the lost puppy eyes and begs "Ma please I won't break it immediately, I promise I'll take some time before I break it!"

People - I tell you should have seen there to see the look on his mother's face.

Mother and Son

Abhishekh was around 4 years old when we had taken him to a Mall. He was quite excited and we usually window shop to wile away the time.

His mother saw a poster advertising for bringing in old Mixer cum Grinders and exchange them for a new one. She was telling me " The one at home is rattling and making too much noise, I think we should exchange it for a new one." I was dodging that purchase with all my skills when the little fellow wondered what do they with the old ones ? - We told him they repair and sell as preowned grinders in the smaller towns.

Days passed on by...

One day Abhishekh's mother was shouting at him for messing up the room. He comes upto me and states quietly - " Next time there is an exchange offer for wives, you should exchange this one as it is making too much noise."