Laden with Memories!
Laden with Memories!
For Angel of Love
Acknowledgements
I would like to Thank you in advance, as you keep pace while I hop, skip, skitter, voliate thoughts from different times / different places!
Hariharan V
Prologue
01:00 pm: As Always, the books fly in one direction, the Exam Hall ticket in another.
01:10 pm: I see my mother smile; the morning memory strikes back and I shrug-off, mother acknowledges with a wider smile, you bet, son!
08:00 am: Tempers fly! Situation heats up! As I cry foul, accusing my Mother for my misplacing the Preparatory Class X Exam Hall ticket.
08:05am: Vapours of Steam enliven the atmosphere at home as tears clout my belief, I’m Doomed!
08:10am: My Mother is smiling all this while.
A short introduction, so-you-put-words-to-a-blessed face!
Usha (meaning Dawn), chronic patient, confidence surpasses the ‘six thinking hats’ and her love would strengthen the weakest of soul- Me! Years after, as I recollect, Now! Am filled with such yearning!
08:15 am: Neighbours’ peek at my teary creek that was threatening to breach banks of ‘motherly love’.
08:20 am: My Mother’s smile widens as I submerge in my deepest fears.
08:25 am: I rummage the house, to the growing audience of neighbours’.
08:30 am: Victory tears torment my face, on having sighted the Exam Hall ticket.
08:35 am: Oblivious to my mother’s ‘All the Best’, I collect my bag and race to school.
01:00 pm: As Always, the books fly in one direction, the Exam Hall ticket in another.
01:10 pm: I see my mother smile; the morning memory strikes back and I shrug-off, mother acknowledges with a wider smile, you bet, son!
PS: I was not a spoiled child thanks to my Mother and her antics, Phew! More on that later!
01 Jan 1986, Mother’s Tongue signifies Native language and in bilingual couples in India, the Mother’s Tongue is mostly Father’s Tongue, the first of moulds to be broken. Father (Native language Telugu) learnt Kannada, a first of his innumerable tact to perfect my Mother’s blight.
(Hosur, Tamilnadu, India, 1992)
In India, housewives are known to be cordial, but only a few, like my mother are held in high regard for their faith in people and importantly ingraining the faith with substance, mother convinced father to pledge our house papers, to shed light on my uncle’s dark transport business pathway. Years later, uncle could be heard saying “That ‘leap of faith’ Jump-started my Ascent”.
A place famed for industries, very favourable climate, a town that passes in a flicker of an eye along the Bengaluru National Highway, Karnataka was the place of my early schooling.
12:00 pm: Hundreds of Lilliputians throng the gates of Schooling heaven, as they make a break for home.
12:05 pm: I, exit the School gate hopping along with my Lunch Gang of 5, as we banter.
12:10 pm: Home Sweet Home! Mother welcomes me, as I try to whiff what’s to eat.
12:12 pm: I glance at the clock ticking away my precious few ‘School Free’ minutes, I close my eyes and open my mouth, as I anticipate the heavenly hot food riddled with vegetables and then would start the vegetable guessing game.
12:14 pm: I jump in triumph on having guessed the right vegetables and also to cushion the warm food down my throat. The day I lose the vegetable guessing game, for a day I would surrender my right for choosing the next day’s food menu. Alas! Many a Days!!!
12:20 pm: Time! TIme!! TIMe!!! TIME!!!! To rush back to SCHOOOOL!
12:22 pm: The Lunch Gang of 5 catches up with Hot & Happening Food Stories.
12:29 pm: High-Fives from the watchman welcome the Lunch Gang, who on many occasions has let the Gang enter even past Lunch time.
11 Nov 1994, in my teeny-wheeny years, I was taught the nuances of responsibility and the foremost being the Tele-abilities, a few years later I would know the life saving call, I would make to the travel agent to hurry and rush mother in a car to a hospital after my mother suddenly suffered a bout of fits.
22 Nov 1994, a medical emergency required my mother to have her one of four heart valve replaced at the Sri Sathya Sai Super Specialty Hospital, Puttaparthi, A.P., India.
I royally enter the sprawling Hospital in my father’s company jeep, moments later am lifted, so I peek through the ICU watching mother Breathe. Heave. Breathe.
I have wondered and questioned my father, did you know she was cardiac, when you said a yes to mother? He would say, knew it and am glad I married her, what a lady!
It was always mother and me at the house, visited by father monthly twice, as he was a residential engineer for a construction site. There have been many visitors, including snakes on couple of occasions.
One such occasion, mother spotted a snake around the refrigerator’s condenser coil. When I heard of the snake, I was on high alert, refusing to budge from atop the sofa. The gardener comes and displayed the snake slung around a stick, further alarming my senses. Trying her best to appear calm, so as not to alarm me more, was a show of character!
11 Dec 1995, Happy Birthday Mary! Happppppy Birthday Marrryyy!! My dear friend's Birthday Party!!! Swinging legs on the fence with friends was heaven on earth; the exam the next day, was hell!! Long gone was the time of mine to return home, to save a sliver of time, I jumped the fence and RUSHED home. Never was I gladder to find mother not at home. After 10 minutes, she comes panting, glaring at me, intuition tells me to scurry, and I do, not knowing why! I hear the tale of her going in search of me to Mary’s house and hearing how I risked the high fence jump, all the while running around the house, with my mother like the devil on my heels wildly swinging the club.
Pacifying me in the night she said a Tamil Language Phrase “Vidra Moochiyum, Svaasikara Kaatrum, Ithu Rendilum Yedhaavadhu Ninnal; Vaazha Mudiyaadhu!” In English- “The Air we intake, the Air we exhale, imagine, one of it stops, living is impossible! Contextually she meant “Keep Word”, Mary being intelligent than me could make up for the lost time, unlike me!
15 Jul 1997, we shift to the metropolitan city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
A whole different place, people, school; the only comfort knowing my mother is close as always!
Mother’s hospital visits as an inpatient increased and so did her recovery; our house was completely air-conditioned to comfort her in the hot-humid Chennai city weather. Family Life could never have gotten better than this!
(A Good Many Years Later)
We, as humans, tend to territorize our 4w's of life (what-when- who-why), influenced by society, in turn lead to believe by the confluence of Regional-National-International ideologies.
My present is paused, as I reflect on my Mother’s Notions that fail to Oblivion!
01:10 pm: I see my mother smile; the morning memory strikes back and I shrug-off, mother acknowledges with a wider smile, you bet, son!
Laden with Memories!
The Jewel that shines is relative to the light that’s cast on it!08:00 am: Tempers fly! Situation heats up! As I cry foul, accusing my Mother for my misplacing the Preparatory Class X Exam Hall ticket.
08:05am: Vapours of Steam enliven the atmosphere at home as tears clout my belief, I’m Doomed!
08:10am: My Mother is smiling all this while.
A short introduction, so-you-put-words-to-a-blessed face!
Usha (meaning Dawn), chronic patient, confidence surpasses the ‘six thinking hats’ and her love would strengthen the weakest of soul- Me! Years after, as I recollect, Now! Am filled with such yearning!
08:15 am: Neighbours’ peek at my teary creek that was threatening to breach banks of ‘motherly love’.
08:20 am: My Mother’s smile widens as I submerge in my deepest fears.
08:25 am: I rummage the house, to the growing audience of neighbours’.
08:30 am: Victory tears torment my face, on having sighted the Exam Hall ticket.
08:35 am: Oblivious to my mother’s ‘All the Best’, I collect my bag and race to school.
01:00 pm: As Always, the books fly in one direction, the Exam Hall ticket in another.
01:10 pm: I see my mother smile; the morning memory strikes back and I shrug-off, mother acknowledges with a wider smile, you bet, son!
Humane Greatness is not Achieved but Persevered.
08 Feb 1985, A Glorious Day that matrimonially united my Parents, ‘A ‘Worlds Apart’ Match Blessed by Heaven Enlivened by Love’.
‘Marriages are made in heaven and consummated on earth.' - John Lyly
A Fabled quote scorned by many and adored by many more couples, best coins the Wedding of my Parents.
Differences of Characteristic – Caste – Linguistic – Deteriorating Health – Regional, only strengthened the Quality of Life and the Similarities of Mutual Love – Respect accentuated the Family Life- Proud Son
‘Marriages are made in heaven and consummated on earth.' - John Lyly
A Fabled quote scorned by many and adored by many more couples, best coins the Wedding of my Parents.
Differences of Characteristic – Caste – Linguistic – Deteriorating Health – Regional, only strengthened the Quality of Life and the Similarities of Mutual Love – Respect accentuated the Family Life- Proud Son
24 Oct 1985, surpassing pregnancy odds- owe it to chronic problems, a premature birth welcomed me at the Gunasheela Surgical and Maternity Hospital, Bangalore, India. A ‘Lucky’ child; Self Praise! Self Praise! Will Refrain!!! Lol.
PS: I was not a spoiled child thanks to my Mother and her antics, Phew! More on that later!
01 Jan 1986, Mother’s Tongue signifies Native language and in bilingual couples in India, the Mother’s Tongue is mostly Father’s Tongue, the first of moulds to be broken. Father (Native language Telugu) learnt Kannada, a first of his innumerable tact to perfect my Mother’s blight.
(Hosur, Tamilnadu, India, 1992)
In India, housewives are known to be cordial, but only a few, like my mother are held in high regard for their faith in people and importantly ingraining the faith with substance, mother convinced father to pledge our house papers, to shed light on my uncle’s dark transport business pathway. Years later, uncle could be heard saying “That ‘leap of faith’ Jump-started my Ascent”.
A place famed for industries, very favourable climate, a town that passes in a flicker of an eye along the Bengaluru National Highway, Karnataka was the place of my early schooling.
12:00 pm: Hundreds of Lilliputians throng the gates of Schooling heaven, as they make a break for home.
12:05 pm: I, exit the School gate hopping along with my Lunch Gang of 5, as we banter.
12:10 pm: Home Sweet Home! Mother welcomes me, as I try to whiff what’s to eat.
12:12 pm: I glance at the clock ticking away my precious few ‘School Free’ minutes, I close my eyes and open my mouth, as I anticipate the heavenly hot food riddled with vegetables and then would start the vegetable guessing game.
12:14 pm: I jump in triumph on having guessed the right vegetables and also to cushion the warm food down my throat. The day I lose the vegetable guessing game, for a day I would surrender my right for choosing the next day’s food menu. Alas! Many a Days!!!
12:20 pm: Time! TIme!! TIMe!!! TIME!!!! To rush back to SCHOOOOL!
12:22 pm: The Lunch Gang of 5 catches up with Hot & Happening Food Stories.
12:29 pm: High-Fives from the watchman welcome the Lunch Gang, who on many occasions has let the Gang enter even past Lunch time.
11 Nov 1994, in my teeny-wheeny years, I was taught the nuances of responsibility and the foremost being the Tele-abilities, a few years later I would know the life saving call, I would make to the travel agent to hurry and rush mother in a car to a hospital after my mother suddenly suffered a bout of fits.
22 Nov 1994, a medical emergency required my mother to have her one of four heart valve replaced at the Sri Sathya Sai Super Specialty Hospital, Puttaparthi, A.P., India.
I royally enter the sprawling Hospital in my father’s company jeep, moments later am lifted, so I peek through the ICU watching mother Breathe. Heave. Breathe.
I have wondered and questioned my father, did you know she was cardiac, when you said a yes to mother? He would say, knew it and am glad I married her, what a lady!
It was always mother and me at the house, visited by father monthly twice, as he was a residential engineer for a construction site. There have been many visitors, including snakes on couple of occasions.
One such occasion, mother spotted a snake around the refrigerator’s condenser coil. When I heard of the snake, I was on high alert, refusing to budge from atop the sofa. The gardener comes and displayed the snake slung around a stick, further alarming my senses. Trying her best to appear calm, so as not to alarm me more, was a show of character!
11 Dec 1995, Happy Birthday Mary! Happppppy Birthday Marrryyy!! My dear friend's Birthday Party!!! Swinging legs on the fence with friends was heaven on earth; the exam the next day, was hell!! Long gone was the time of mine to return home, to save a sliver of time, I jumped the fence and RUSHED home. Never was I gladder to find mother not at home. After 10 minutes, she comes panting, glaring at me, intuition tells me to scurry, and I do, not knowing why! I hear the tale of her going in search of me to Mary’s house and hearing how I risked the high fence jump, all the while running around the house, with my mother like the devil on my heels wildly swinging the club.
Pacifying me in the night she said a Tamil Language Phrase “Vidra Moochiyum, Svaasikara Kaatrum, Ithu Rendilum Yedhaavadhu Ninnal; Vaazha Mudiyaadhu!” In English- “The Air we intake, the Air we exhale, imagine, one of it stops, living is impossible! Contextually she meant “Keep Word”, Mary being intelligent than me could make up for the lost time, unlike me!
15 Jul 1997, we shift to the metropolitan city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
A whole different place, people, school; the only comfort knowing my mother is close as always!
Mother’s hospital visits as an inpatient increased and so did her recovery; our house was completely air-conditioned to comfort her in the hot-humid Chennai city weather. Family Life could never have gotten better than this!
(A Good Many Years Later)
We, as humans, tend to territorize our 4w's of life (what-when- who-why), influenced by society, in turn lead to believe by the confluence of Regional-National-International ideologies.
My present is paused, as I reflect on my Mother’s Notions that fail to Oblivion!
- Work Hard. Think-Be Positive!
- When down with fever, don’t be idle, go and play!
- Never rely on antibiotics, unless helpless.
- There will be a time in future, when ‘Money’ will become the centre of an issue, steer clear of such situations.
- Respect Others Time! Be On-Time!
- When somebody is advising, listen-Don’t Intervene! Later, filter-off the inutile.
- Act as the ‘Situation’ deems fit.
Good one hari. All the best!
ReplyDeleteThanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGood Job Bro... u have a good flair for writing. keep it up.
ReplyDeletesuper sir!! gud one!
ReplyDeleteMan too GUD..Hats off 4 ur memories..I really luved it :-) Gud Wrk Hariii..
ReplyDeleteWonderful Hari...lovely way to talk abt ur mum..really beautiful...continue writing!
ReplyDeleteu bet! if i were the judge i was simply give way to your excerpt...soon be a novel someday if u never lose track fo writing...i bow to u...its a splendid piece of write-up...i loved it immensely..specially the vegetable guessing part...oh how lovely...not everyone has the art of penning down emotional episodes but u my friend! most certainly of those few artists i have come across...impressive! highly impressive!
ReplyDeleteI loved it hari...:) And wow on ur writing..amazing..Usha atha will be so proud of u rt now :)and i can definitely imagine lil hari getting kicked by Usha atha..lol..
ReplyDeleteAll technical jargon apart, the detail with which you have recalled all those seemingly tiny, but significantly huge memories is what makes this a winner in itself! I esp loved the bit with the vegetable guessing game; and the award you got for getting it right :)
ReplyDeleteGreat going, Hari!
good work da!! the inter twining words of practicality and poetic verses make it a very enjoyable read!!
ReplyDeleteOMO!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!! try publishing sme stuff
ReplyDeleteIt’s really nice of you to think and write good things about each day that you had thought was close to your heart. The smile on your mom’s face has given the teardrops for those who has been with you and loved u so much, I’m proud to say that you have been my best of best friends who has shared things good and supported me through good and bad times…I take this opportunity to say all this was only becuz of ur mom who has stood by with you till this day of your life with a broad big smile on yours n her face. Lovely writing which inspires others to know what true love is. Aroona Venkatesh
ReplyDeletewow.. good stuff hari! :)
ReplyDeleteDo write often!
cheers
joe
g8 work da.... keep it up.....see i m not a good writer myself but i can tel u one thing most writer can't write the way u did...macho man loved it really from my heart {insight: would like to praise the word "mother" in the way u did} thank man thank u
ReplyDeleteVery Very Lovely Hari, A big Hugg to you mate, I know you love your mom a lot and i know she will be proud of u da had she read this.
ReplyDeleteThanks Fellas!!!! Our 'God Gifted' loved ones, yearn for our love, but we shy away from showering it; Our 'Chosen' loving ones, yearn less, but, we empower them with it; Irony!
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous- If you know me, please post your name.
Life is Beautiful !
wow Hari. I ve heard from Joe about your dad - his protective nature and love. But as I read this I could see your mom!! watta blessing it is to have such a mother and treasure her memories for lifetime.
ReplyDeleteGreat Stuff to learn.. :-)
ReplyDeletegood job........well thought and well phrased makes for an interesting read !
ReplyDeleteHari..machi..its really beautifull n dont ever bring tears in my eyes again..I WILL KILL U..
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see people remembering their loved ones! In this fast paced world, it is hard to find true love and respect for parents, and I'm glad you feel it!
ReplyDeleteAll the best. Looking forward to more writing.
Good one da..
ReplyDeleteGreat work hari... the language brings life to the verses.. she'll be proud
ReplyDeleteFantastic read Hari!! U definitely have a flair for writing :)
ReplyDeleteSuperb..U do hv the flair to write...
ReplyDeleteFriends, share 'One' of your Mother's Wisdom that you Treasure! Will be Enlightening!
ReplyDeleteHari Hari..i always knew that you were a good writer. But here more than the usage of words i enjoyed the emotion which was present right from the beginning till the end. I loved it more coz u refrained from writing about certain things. I cannot juz look at this as a write up, this is the wonderful relationship that you share with your mother. Thanx for sharing it with us. After reading this i respect you more than before. great
ReplyDeleteMy good friend, very good writing. Your form is more inspiring than content b'coz i'm not so crazy abt my mother or anyone to say. I appreciate the way u loved people so far and still continue to do so, and also ur writing. If possible i will learn and follow what u have been doing. Very inspiring dude.
ReplyDeleteThank You Friends!!! Nice to See; You Took Delight in the write-up it, as much as i Enjoyed Reliving it. Cheers!!!
ReplyDeleteExcellent write up hari. Was emotionally moved. This post shows ur flair for writing and the love for ur angel. I can see that she was such a big support to u and ur father. Really wonderful mom, she is. To quote "When I heard of the snake, I was on high alert, refusing to budge from atop the sofa." - that was really funny. Would like to see you as a novelist soon hari. All the best.
ReplyDeleteI luvd the feel tws carried right frm th beginning.
ReplyDeleteWas excellent!
"My present is paused, as I reflect on my Mother’s Notions that fail to Oblivion!........"!
At times you may find it hard to follow all of them, but believe I can see all of your mother's notions, in you Hari! Good luck keep it going:)
hari..i jus had tears when i read..de way u expressed in words was simply amazing!! all de best hari deary!!!!! hugssss !!!!
ReplyDeletehari, I relived my moments with Usha too........ my best memories of her is her big smile, and the methodical way she'd peel oranges off their skin, i mean each section!
ReplyDeleteBasanthi, Amma carried her patient-methodological way. One such occasion was when, for some prank i had hid below the bed, in the farthermost corner (The bed is like a T to the wall). Mom tried swinging the Chapathi roller but was unable to reach me. My mind was like way to go buddy! Then without my knowing she had climbed onto the bed and like an animal waiting for the prey, was waiting for me to crawl away. With my eyes wide open and eyeing the open the door, i calculated my 0-40mts. Whack! Whack!!! What! From Where! OH NO! The legendary patience. Good Days!
ReplyDeleteSuperb da Hari..
ReplyDeleteSuper da doubt if I am worth enough to comment on this
ReplyDeleteMe too! Haha! Arasiyalley Ithe Yella Sagajam!
ReplyDeleteIt shows you look at your mom as a poem; a poem that will never fade. It was a soul-piercing read. Mothers can never be replaced.
ReplyDeleteYou have a beautiful and a very strong father.
All is well.