Reminescences

My Children

I never tire thinking about them, though I don’t say much about them.I think I am not giving them their due by not telling about them.  You see, we are just four altogether, my wife Kala having left us for her heavenly abode over a year ago now.  We are me, Raju, short for Rajagopalan, my son,widely known as Rajgo in his Office and Internet circles, my daughter in law,  S. Rupa, short for Swarna Rupa, and my daughter Chitra, affctionately called by us as Paplu, which could be a slang for Pappulu or whatever.

Kala was the soul of the family, the driving force, mother for all of us after children were born.  She only shared her joys with me, keeping her miseries to herself.  She took all the initiatives, met all the people, did all the work, and left me to take care of grown up children, who could not only take care of themselves but also of me.  Kala’s moods were our our moods, the selfless mother that she was, and the perfect wife for an imperfect husband.  I will never tire of  writing a paean of Kala, bless her soul.

Well, like I said, children grow up and elders become children.  Raju passed out of IIT Madras with a Degree in B.Tech (Mechanical Engineering) and landed  his first job in the year 2000 though Campus Interview, and still holds it, going up,  getting promoted, taking up responsibilities and be the sole breadwinner.  I settled down to the leisure of a retired man’s life, staying at home all the time, while Raju and Rupa went about their duties.  That left me holding fort at home like a dummy,  having run out of all steam  to do anything else.   Despite being on constant medication for my defective heart, I am comparatively in good health, with a great paunch, but as happy as any fool can be.

Raju is now the Product Manager in his software firm.  Kala found a mate for him, and Raju and Rupa got united in holy matrimony with a minimum functional religious wedding.  They get along famously well, as an evenly  matched pair on a yoke.  Though  now they are both earning partners, Raju leaves the running of the house in Rupa’s hands which she has learnt to handle efficiently, shopping, cooking and looking after our needs in addition to contributing to the resources of the house.

  As usual it was Kala’s initiative which encouraged Raju to invest in a home of our own.  Our home is being built by the eminent builders, Modi Properties, and it is nearing completion.  It is one of the bungalows out of the over 70 homes in about 6 acres of land,  under the name of Silver Oak Bungalows, in Charlapally, within the city limits of Hyderabad.  It is a compounded community with adequate security, a children’s playground,  swimming pool, gymnasium, recreation room, game courts, landscaped garden etc.  There is a back up generator, 24 hour security with intercom, avenue plantation.  Earlier we had our doubts about staying there but after a few trips and seeing the house taking an attractive shape and the ambience, we have decided to shift to our home when it is ready, most likely around the Ides of March.

Raju has become a good Blogger and is gaining ground and recognition by writing what he is writing there.  If you are a software person you may be interested in browsing his posts and leave your comments too.  Please refer his blog address which I am giving below:

http://qrdn.brmsblog.com/

I have mentioned several times that I am not a religious person.  Somehow my children are also not very religious.  Raju calls himself highly spiritual.  Though I haven’twitnessed much of his spiritualism, he has one attribute of a spiritualist; he becomes abstract at times and we have to repeat to him whatever we are saying, several times, before he takes cognizance.  Not that his thoughts are scattered, it is just that he is intensive into whatever he has been thinking at that moment.  One avenue where he has to exercise a little more moderation is his impatience while driving, though he is a very perfect driver.

I will lay off Raju for sometime and take up Rupa for analysis.  Rupa prefers to be called that, not as Swarna or Swarna Rupa.  Perhaps there is a deep rooted psychological reason behind that, or that she simply likes the name Rupa better.  She used to be a connoiseur of good food, with a special liking for pizzas, burgers, pastries, ice creams, chocolates etc., but now she is on a diet regimen, shunning butter, clarified butter, oils, fatty foods, thus ruling out imbibing and injesting all her favourites.  What is more, she and Raju are now going for early morning walking and jogging.  She has also starting her driving lessons from a nearby driving school, as it will be imperative for her to drive sometimes in the unlikely and few and far between occasions when Raju will be constrained to stay late in the office.  Once we move to Charlapally, they will have to compulsorily keep to a regular time schedule so that they can leave for office in the morning and return home together in the evening.

Rupa is a Gold Medalist recipient for her M. Phil Papers, from Pondicherry University.  She is fond of Hindi Movie Songs, PC games, and as soon as she gets into the car her IPod earphone will shut her out to the external world, though she will constantly caution Raju not to get impatient while driving.  Obviously she can also sing, because occasionally I have heard her humming some tune under her breath.

Chitra, aka Paplu, is one case in study.  She was Papa’s daughter from the time she was a baby, only splitting her affection to include Kala when Kala was on constant medical consultations and hospitalisations.  The doctor attending Kala said he wished he had such a doting daughter like Chitra who also didn’t slip in her studies.  She cleared her M.Sc. in Biotechnology from IIT Roorkee, did a one year Project Work in IISc., Bangalore, before netting a scholarship for  research graduateship in Rutgers University, New Jersey.  She is used to hostel life since the past five years and fends for herself efficiently, keeps her sense and sensibility and  also takes care of her own finances.  This year she has to give the qualifying exam., after which she will come home for a brief stay of perhaps about a fortnight or twenty days, to be with us.

 Chitra likes Indian music, has a special taste for Western Music, and she owns her own guitar and violin too.  She hasn’t made much headway on these musical instruments, what with trying to squeeze her extra curricular activities like exotic dances like flamenco, martial arts like Jujitsu,  and her lab work, seminars, presentations etc.  She uses a bicycle for locomotion.  We chat every day on Yahoo Messenger Talk when it is midmorning for me and late evening/night for her.  Becauase of this facility we don’t feel the distance that separates her from all of us.

  She has another three years or so to get her Doctorate,  has plans to go for her Post Doctoral Thesis and then taking up teaching or research thereafter.  I don’t know when she will start thinking about her marriage.  Kala tried to induce her into marriage but Paplu had been adamant not to get hooked for some years now.  Let us see.