An oil-powered boat...

was one of the cool toys father bought for us. This was the big highlight during Dasserah - when we would get a vessel filled with water and light the boat. Great entertainment all the way around!

Sweetness...

Yesterday our mother made gulab jamun, a perennial favorite of all of us including our father. With such a sweet sweet go some fabulous songs of Jaidev- including Zindagi Mein Jab Tumhare Gham Nahi the, a wonderful Anuradha Podwal- Bhupinder duet..

anuradha:

zindagi mein jab tumhare gam nahi the

itane tanhaa the ki ham bhi ham nahi the

anuradha:

waqt par jo log kaam aaye hain aksar
ajnabi the, vo mere hamdam nahi the

bhupindar:
besabab tha tera milna rehguzar mein
haadase har mod par kuch kam nahi the

anuradha:
hamne khwaabo mein Khudaa bankar bhi dekha
aap the, baahon mein do aalam nahi the

bhupindar:
saamane deewaar thi Khuddaariyon ki
warna raste pyaar ke purakam nahi the

Lucy Show

As my brother and sister watched the Lucy Show it reminded me of my IIT days, when I used to watch it regularly every weekend. At home our dad was a regular Lucy watcher too...

A great slapstick sitcom..

Dum Dum Diga Diga

Father was a fan of Raj Kapoor movies, and had quite a few records of RK movie songs. His favorite was Dum Dum Diga Diga from Chalia, a kalyanji Anadji classic. Of Ruk Ja O Jane Wali from Kanhaiya was another classic that father enjoyed listening to.

Dasserah...

As we celebrate Dasserah I cannot help but look back at our childhood days..going around and inviting everyone to our house, wearing new dresses, and just enjoying a very festive atmosphere.

Carroms

Played carroms after a long time...something all of us used to do together...

Family get-together, almost...

A very happy time, when all of our family members get together- it is almost like our childhood but for one missing central character - our father. I remember going home from IIT in 1979 and arriving home at 4:00AM and my mom and dad were both awake, waiting for me.

Tough brothers

My brother and I are both tough nuts to crack..but today he did crack. I am always surprised and delighted at the vast difference in our approaches..

RIch SOunds of LP

Musical quiz that my brother put up for me- got a few right...

Maternal grandma

Our maternal grandmother died at a very young age. We remember her very fondly from our childhood days- they were the best days anyone could hope to have. She suffered from arthritis and other ailments, but also did not receive much support from spouse or sons. I miss her very much. On my recent trip to India,I saw the house and my mind retraced the many dosas she served me and my sisters and cousins. She was a very kind soul. The most amazing thing is that she was extraordinarily well read- she devoured all the religious books which her friend brought specially for her from Madras.

Dasserah..

This is the time of the year when all of us would get busy decorating the house and preparing the "bommala koluvu." Initially father would take a number of boxes and create a ladder like effect for us to display our collection of dolls, figurines and idols. After a few years, our landlady had a display stair case built which she lent to us for the festival. It was a great time, and we would get very busy. We had to go and invite all our neighbours and friends.

Wearing a tie for the first time...

Dad helped me put on a tie for the first time. I was interviewing at Little Flower for admission to the College. After I got through the written test, I had an interview and I had put on a really coll tie- I have the tie even now and wear it occasionally.

Kurtas...

I remember dad wearing pyjamas but I don't remember seeing him in Kurtas. He always wore a half-sleeved shirt and pants to work.

While at IIT I used to wear Kurtas with dress pants to classes. I found them to be elegant and comfortable.

Watching gymnastics

Gymnastics was another sport our father liked to watch. While India did not have a gymnastics team, we would watch foreign teams on Weekly Review of World Sports that came on DoorDarshan.

Getting a hair cut

I went for a hair cut today- reminded me of the times I went to a barber in Hyderabad. In Himayat Nagar we had a regular barber who would be instructed by our mom to overrule our preferences- no long hair!

Distinctive Bell

When we were kids we would be waiting for father to come home. He would ring his bike's bell as he arrived, and we would run to the door. He had a distinctie way of ringing the bell.

Swayze Succumbs to Pancreatic Cancer...A Tragedy.

From BBC News..."US film star Patrick Swayze dies.
Dirty Dancing film star Patrick Swayze has died aged 57, his publicist says. Annett Wolf said that the US actor, who had been battling pancreatic cancer for nearly two years, died with family at his side on Monday. Swayze was diagnosed with advanced stage four pancreatic cancer in January last year.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most virulent forms of cancer which medical experts say has a 5% five-year survival rate..."

Our father fell victim to the same deadly cancer. It is devastating. I hope Mr. Swayze's death was peaceful.

It is indeed a sad day.

Eating at Taj Mahal restaurant

I remember the day we were moving from our Himayat Nagar home to Nallakunta. It was in the summer. We took a break for lunch and ate at the Tajmahal restaurant. It must have been a very difficult day for father- memories, and also the physically difficult task of packing everything and moving. I cannot imagine how we did it.

Party Party

Dad was very fond of entertaining others and throwing parties. Often he would do this at the last minute, and our mom would gamely come through with great food. I am not that much into entertaining but today I got some of my "old" friends from grad school together. We had not met in a long time, and some of them had not seen each other in a while. This party reminded me of the ones dad used to have- usually it was his colleagues that he invited. Slowly I am getting the bug that my father had.

Father knows best...

Is seldome untrue...In our case father was almost always right...

Phillips

We had a Phillips transistor radio, and I used to hear VOA on it all the time, to improve my familiarity with American spoken English. Thanks to dad for providing us access to all these things.

Metallic voice

is how father used to describe Kishore Kumar. Even though Dad had a number of Kishore Kumar records, his preference was for more melodious voices like those of Rafi or Hemant.

Dusserah

Many pleasant memories of Dusserah...father making a staircase out of our large storage boxes, and we making a city and garden with grains we soaked for a day. Displaying our collection of art was a big part of the festivities.

In a Pickle..

As I was having lunch with mom today, I asked her about dad's favorite pickles. Apparently, ginger pickle and lentil chutney (kandipappu) were his preferred choices- both of them had generous doses of brown sugar!

Brown paper covers for textbooks

Father used to make the brown paper covers for books. There was anart and a process asswociated with making good book covers.

Mom's innovative cooking

Our mom is a great innovation and experimentation machine- she has made innumerable recipes of her own. She used to do it when our father was alive as well. Today she made a dish like Bagara baingan but with bell peppers instead of egg plant. She took classes and learnt how to make various fruit juices, and then she would experiment on her own.

Putting oil on head and ears

I remember father applying oil to our head and also putting it in our ears to clear out the junk. This really worked.

Reading the newspaper

Right now my memory goes back to our home in Nallakunta and father sitting outside and reading the Indian Express- during the summers of 1979-83. I was home then, and would also get up early. We would be reading different pages of the paper. I would get the sports pages first.

Shining Sofas

We had some elegant sofas in our living room, along with beautiful coffee tables. Father would always clean and dust them to make sure they were in great shape. We also had a number of great toys. One of our favorites was a doll that swayed from side to side, with music. It was absolutely amazing.

Lanterns

Power outages were common in New Delhi. Reminded me of Hyderabad and the various lamps that we had. Father had painted them in different colors, and they were very attractive.