Memories of Father and of Music

The brilliant Ms. Tori Amos...I remember her great songs from the eighties.

I am my father's son...Dan Hill

My Hometown

This land is your land...

Wonderful Raitts

Come September...

Berlin Melody

Love is Blue

Bruce Cockburn- Dream Like Mine

Cheerios-Recession-weary consumers find haggling can cut costs - chicagotribune.com

Recession-weary consumers find haggling can cut costs - chicagotribune.com: "Recession-weary consumers find haggling can cut costs
Marked-down prices are supposed to be final, but Schmidt and a growing number of American consumers seem to think otherwise."

...............

How come there is no procedure for haggling on consumables- like cereal or bread or sugar?

One more memory

Hello all:

Hard to fathom- it is twenty years since we last saw father alive.

I performed the ceremony at a temple called

Sri Srardha Samrakshana Narayanan Temple - Nenmeli

http://www.divyadesam.com/hindu-temples/nenmeli-temple.shtml

It was a long journey to the temple and back- but the ceremony itself was quite alright.

We don't have Hallmark days but these are the days that are important.

I am tired, so will catch up later.

I am sure father is smiling at all of us.

I am also glad we got the scholarship going in his name also.

Hi GG
Not a day goes by when I am not reminded of dad. The best memories from my recent trip to India were the times when Bhattaram Subramanyam (and his cousin the day before) remembered him and told me how grateful they were that he was a part of their lives. Dr. Saraswati even remembered his cooking, while on the phone a couple of weeks ago. That is the mark of a man - to have touched people with his kindness and compassion, remembered long after he is gone. We all try to live up to this in our own ways.
Thanks for doing the ceremony on all our behalf.
SSR

--

You should add your email message text to your blog on Father, since
it is a part of the story.

Appreciate life, be kind, be accepting, be compassionate, live each
day as if it were the last.
Taking words from dear old Silas Mitchell, I can only say
Death is but one more to-morrow.
I am gray
With many a death of many a yesterday.



------------------

Thank you both. Excellent words from Silas Mitchell.
Yes, time slips by...today is 70th day in this year!

Whenever i feel frustrated on anything, I think of this event and immediately feel peaceful

I move on.

Vissu lost few friends too in that period, not surprised at the last line in his email.

I am not at all surprised why Sri Ramana Maharshi or Gautama Buddha chose

ascetic lives!

As Vissu says, and I know he lives by that, it's not enough to be living each moment,

it's important to be kind, accepting and compassionate.

Beauty or ugly, inside or out, it's all dust.

Gopal, Thank you and God bless you.

Anniversary of 2010

Twenty years have passed by. The pain still hurts, the memories still remain - some please and some haunt.

Lessons from father

FOcus on the work at hand
Attention to detail
Dedication

Bengali Past

Today mom and I met a couple from Calcutta- they live in Taligunj, just a couple of tram stops away from where our parents lived. We had a nice conversation- this New Year reminded us of the many years our parents spent in West Bengal. A different time, a different place.

Warm weather...

What's worse- shoveling snow four times in a day, or life in sweltering 90 degrees plus weather? I remember father cycling in the latter, never had a chance to see if he would have liked the former.

zindagi ek safar hai suhana

was a Kishore song that father also liked- it is a good reflection on life.

Bhakta Tukaram

was one of father's favorite movies. It has a song by Ramakrishna. Gynana and Bhakti- the two aspects of life- were both embraced by father. Many Indians only embrace the latter, without the former.

Christmas..Hyderabadi style

We had a Christian family opposite our house in Hyderabad. We used to admire their Christmas Tree during the holidays- made it very festive. Dad would enjoy the festival too. Since all of us went to Catholic schools,we had some elements of Christian music drilled into us, including many hymns. That was a really fun time of our lives.

trip to India

I will be going to India for the third time in a year. Wish I had done that while I was studying at Northwestern...A whole host of emotions.

Punjabi music

Went to a Sikh Paath today on the invitation from a friend. Just occured to me that we did not have Punjabi music at home- either classical or pop like bhangra. Wonder how this music appealed to father...

Putting up the mosquito nets

around our bed- I always remember father coming around and making sure we were tucked in with the nets around us. Miss him so!

House of Bamboo

We are considering bamboo flooring for our house- House of Bamboo was one of father's favorite songs.

penciling it in

Today SR was throwing a tantrum because mom had misplaced a picture of our neighbor's kids. This reminded mom of the day when dad blamed her for misplacing some sharpened pencils that dad had kept in a 'secure' place for us. Mom had absolutely nothing to do with the pencil-gate, but dad blamed her for the missing pencils- which eventually showed up as they had either dropped down or rolled down.

Getting around...on a bike

I am always amazed at the number of places father could get to on his bike. Work, school, the doctor, the rice and grain market, and so many other places were always within reach of his bicycle.

Going up Tirupati

in father's Jeep- that was a hair-raising experience. Great kudos to the driver Krishna (I think). Driving up those hills is so dangerous.

Element of trust

I remembered JD Lee's Elements of Inorganic chemistry yesterday- it was an expensive book that dad let me buy. He supported my studies completely and paid for my IIT coaching at Little Flower and all the expenses associated with writing the JEE. What a trip that was.

Eating cup cakes and cream cones

these were our favorite snacks at school, and our parents always gave us some money for those!

Yummy days!

Telangana-Andhra riots

that are happening now remind me of a similar situation when I was growing up in Hyderabad. Partitioning the state has always been a hair-splitting situation.