RAMAL RAMANATHAN'S 95th BIRTHDAY

Wedding Studio Photo

Appa's 90th Birthday Ayushhomam at Coimbatore: 2006

Wedding Photo

Photos clicked on Birthday at Coimbatore

Special Cake arranged by grandson Sidharth

My mother Ramal's birthday was to have been  celebrated quietly on 29-9-2020 at Coimbatore without fuss or fanfare. The day began with the three of us greeting mother and receiving her asirvadams. Due to Covid pandemic conditions the question of going out for a long drive or picnic or eating out in a restaurant was ruled out. We had to be satisfied with planning a subdued celebration at home. Shobha prepared a nice home cooked meal with Avial, Sambar, Appalams and Sakkarai Pongal to celebrate her special day - special in the sense that her date of birth and nakshatram date coincided and fell on the same day. This rare occurrence happens once in 19 years and at 95 this was one such year. Meanwhile at Chennai Meenakshi and Sidharth arranged a special cake cutting ceremony accompanied by blowing of candles and singing of Happy Birthday. And actually consuming large chunks of the yummylicious cake.

The day however was far from quiet and turned out to be unexpectedly eventful & momentous. The family WhatsApp groups were clogged with messages of greetings and memorable collage of photos from archives posted by various members. A surprise courier parcel arrived on 29th morning - a beautiful bouquet of roses with a greeting card from Sambamoorthy Anna & Janaki Manni. A most poignant happening of the day was a telephone call from my 97 year old Rasu Chittappa (G.Hariharan) the Patriarch of the KRGanapathy IyerFly to my 95 year old mother Matriarch of JudgeRamakrishnaIyerFly. The two exchanged news & pleasantries for close to 20 minutes.Later there was an emotional phone call from younger sister 93 year old Lalitha who lives in Delhi. A pre recorded video message from 88 year old brother Rajamoney mama reminiscing about the childhood days. Then there were telephone calls from Meenakshi & Sidhu and multiple calls from nephews and nieces - many living across India and some living abroad. These included Sambamoorthy, Natarajan, Lakshmi from Mumbai, Chuppu - Mala from Delhi, Dr.Jaya & Narendran, Vichu-Anirvin-Viji from Bangaluru, Bala from Chicago and Lakshmi from California. Raji Chennai and Ranjana from Boston also called and had extensive chats. Apart from this there were around 40 pre recorded video greetings received from close family members from across the country as well as from around the globe. All these video greetings are posted below.Mother was agog with surprise and excitement while watching the videos. She asked how did all these people know it was my birthday ?(I had kept the advance planning of the videos a closely guarded secret) Also received recorded audio message from Moorthy Mama,Kamala Mami who have sung a Happy Birthday song. Regrettably I am unable to upload audio messages in this blog.  It was indeed a roller coaster day for my mother. The wishes and greetings kept pouring in and it was simply overwhelming. At the end of the day mother was a wee bit tired but deliriously happy. Thank you family for having joined hands to make this perhaps the most memorable and unforgettable birthday of my mother's life by expressing your bountiful love and unbounded affection. We are part of an astonishing and incredible family and you only need to watch these amazing videos to understand the close affinity, the depth of emotion & affection, the astonishing ethos which has kept us all closely attached & networked in this 21st century. If anything with technological progress the family bonds are today stronger than ever before.

Below are posted the pre recorded video greeting that had been sent in advance and played out to mother on her birthday. The videos are not posted in any special sequence though I have attempted 

some kind of orderliness.

Videos: 1-7: GRTWhatsappIyers: 

1.Bhavana-Rohit-Mira-Nandita

2.Meenakshi - Sidharth

3.Niru-Shekhar-Nishe-Yash

4-7.Sekhar,Anu,Uttara,Megha

Videos: 8-16;39-40: KRGanapthyIyerFamily

8.Rasu Chittappa (G.Hariharan) Aluva

9.Vivek-Jayashree-Kavya Houston

10.Jaya-Narendra-Radhakrishnan-Prathima-Krithika, Bangaluru

11.Dinesh-Priya-Avilash-Avyuktha, Bangalore

12.Ranjana Boston

13.Manju - Chennai

14.Ramu - Saradha Malmpuzha

15.Vinod-Priya-Akshada -Arjun Mumbai

16.Jayaram-Aswathy-Kannan-Malavika chennai

39.Usha Palakkad

40.Shanthi-Kumar Chennai

Videos:16-38: JudgeRamakrishnaIyerFamily

17.Ramanan-Sujatha-Gaurav-Disha  Delhi

18.Raji Muthu Chennai

19.Jaya-Gopal Chennai

20.Raji - Solo Chennai

21.Raman Dubai

22.Rajamoney-Rajam Chennai

23.Natarajan-Mohana Mumbai

24.Gowri-Mohan from Tea Gardens in the East

25.Janaki  Mumbai

26.Narayanan - Mumbai

27.Sambamoorthy-Janaki-Pushkala Mumbai

28.Lakshmi - Ram Mumbai

29.Thambi-Subha USA

30.Viji - Venky Mumbai

31.Chuppu - Delhi

32.Chuppu - Narayanan Delhi

33.Gowri - Tea Gardens

34.Lalitha Delhi

35.Samban-Vasantha Chennai

36-37.Raju-Kala Chennai

38.Appu-Girija Chennai

                                         

                                

 

Acknowledgements:

Text/Voice Message Received: 

KRGanapathyIyerFamily: Sethu Bangalore, Shobha Balakrishnan Bangalore, Vicha-Viji-Anirvin Bangalore, Shivaraj Austin (Texas)

JudgeRamakrishnaIyerFamily: Bala Chicago, Swarna Chicago, Moorthy -Kamalam Chennai, Chinna Samban - Chennai, Krishna Sridhar Mumbai, Narayanaswamy Chennai,Priya  & Sanjeev Namboodiri Pune, Rashma Anand Mumbai,Vinoo Shwetha USA, Raja Delhi

Republic Day

India became a Republic 70 years ago today. Dr.Rajendra Prasad was appointed the first President. We are today the World's largest democracy. There have been no coups unlike in our neighboring countries and the military continues to be a disciplined outfit. No dictators, despots or autocrats only democratically elected governments. We have remained largely secular and many social, political & economic reforms have been successfully effected. Several social ills however remain in force like corruption, caste discrimination & reservations for minorities. However people retain freedom of speech, right to protest and to seek justice in courts of law. Huge progress have been made in virtually all sectors of the economy be it manufacturing, healthcare, IT or education. But the disparity between the rich and the poor remains and the gap is only widening. Moral values have eroded and ethical practices are dwindling. There is growing intolerance both amongst the political class as well as public.
The country is facing increasing pollution levels due to indiscriminate growth & largescale deforestation. As a result of global warming the country is witnessing disastrous climatic conditions like tsunami, large scale flooding of cities, extreme summers with consequent  spread of dreaded diseases and viral infections of epidemic proportions. Indiscriminate deforestation and uncontrolled development has also led to erosion and near extinction of several species of wildlife.
India remains religiously and culturally diverse and has such a rich heritage and history. A wide divergence of languages & traditions and an array of cuisines and multitude of ancient monuments. There is so much to see and experience. India is an amazing country and notwithstanding such wide diversity there is astonishing unity. It takes only a victory from our boys in blue to bring the nation to its feet as one composite nation applauding her heroes without considerations of religion, caste, creed,customs, language,cuisine.

Sri Dattatreya Anjaneya Temple, Aluva

17 January 2020:
Visited the Sri Dattatreya Anjaneya temple in Aluva. There are sanctums for Dattatreya, Karyasiddhi Anjaneyar & Patala Panchamukha Anjaneyar. A temple with a difference it has colourful and artistically done paintings on temple & sanctum walls.The temple is like an oasis with neatly manicured lawns and mesmerizing lighting. People offer coconut pooja to the Karyasiddhi Anjaneyar. There is complete silence inside the temple and you feel enveloped in feelings of piety and sanctity. The recently consecrated Panchamukha Anjaneya kshetram is mystifying: The idol is installed subterranean and has faces of Anjaneya,Garuda,Aswa,Narasimha & Varaha. For more details log onto: https://www.dattaanjaneya.org/activities

 

 

C.K.Narendra Sathabhishekam

December 28 2019: