My 80th Star Birthday was on 17th August, 2022. In the absence of my life partner I decided not to have the traditional Sadhabishekam. Instead the family performed a `Tirumanjanam` ( Abhishekam) at one of my favourite Perumal temples in Kotturpuram in the morning. The Prasadam - delectable Chaakra Pongal was distributed to the visiting devotees and family members.
We later moved to the Radha Krishna Hall of Mathsya Restaurant in Adyar for a lunch hosted by my children. The invitation ( see attachment)was in the name of my grand children, and was designed by my grand daughter Nila ( daughter of RU & Kavitha). The invitees, numbering around 100, were mostly relatives and a few neighbors and a couple of friends.
The entertainment started with the playing of the pre-recorded song on mother and motherhood that I had written and sung by Vidushi Shruthi Shankar Kumar. It was followed by the rendering of a couple of popular songs of MSS by my grand daughter Uthara Srinivasan ( daughter of my second daughter Sowmya and Srinivasan ) and her cousin Madhura. Next was a brilliant presentation on Harmonica by my Sambandhi Naresh ( my son Balaji`s father in law). The biggest surprise was a bold and impromptu rendering of a song by 4 years old Thavam, son of Balaji and Tulse my daughter in law. The entertainment concluded with a seven minute video presentation produced by a long time associate of my agency and a highly talented Rajeshwari Anand. She along with her equally talented husband Anand , have done scores of films for Anugrah Madison , the agency that I founded. It was a personal tribute to me by Rajeshwari trying to focus on my character than my achievements. Needless to say that I was moved by the presentation.
While all this was going on, my sixth and the youngest grand child , the 18 months old Bakthi Balaji was entertaining guests on the sidelines with her pranks.
The MC for the event was the beautiful and multi talented Nila, who conducted the event with aplomb
In the family group photo taken on the occasion (attached) my grandson Keshav , son of Sowmya/Srini is missing as he had to be in his college at Noida on that day.
And of course all of us missed Prabha, my life partner for 40 years, who left us 10 years ago. How I wished she was there to see her talented grand children stealing the show with their performances. At one point I became emotional which I successfully managed to hide from the others!
The programme ended with a delicious multi cuisine lunch provided by Mathsya, enjoyed by all.
The day ended with my visiting Shirdi Sai Baba temple at Tiruvnmiyur with Sowmya`s family where I had arranged for an Arathi/Annadhanam.
On the whole it was a very satisfying experience at the end of which I was totally exhausted .
The celebration is not over yet. Watch for my posting after 30th August- my calendar Birthday which we are celebrating with my friends. It will be coinciding with the release of my next book, my 12th in 13 years, titled `The Bright stars In Chennai Sky`
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