Four cities in 10 days

It all started with the invitation to address my school's ( SIWS)Alumni Association on 21st January, at the school in Wadala, Mumbai. I decided to combine it with a visit to Shirdi, Pune, and Hyderabad. I am not confident about traveling alone these days. So I was happy when my daughter Sowmya volunteered to accompany me-it was a big moral and physical support. I had decided to use the direct flight from Chennai to reach Shirdi but from Shirdi to Pune/Mumbai I opted for the road route to avoid the hassles connected with train travel.

In Shirdi, we had a great darshan of Sai Baba thanks to the ever-friendly guide Babu Rao of Vasant Kamal travels. On our way to Pune, we visited the Shani temple at Shani Shignapur. Shani Shignapur village is famous for the fact that no house is ever locked as the villagers feel secure with the protection provided by Shani Baghvan. Closer to Pune we visited the Mahaganpathi temple at Ranjangaon known as one of the Ashta Vinayaga temples located in Maharashtra. I visited all the Ashta Vinayaga temples with Prabha 15 years ago.

At Pune, we met Nadkar and his wife Muktha, friends from my Round Table days in Mumbai ( 1968-71), and of course Pradeep Lokhande of Rural Relations, one of the founders of the Rural Marketing Association of India. While Nadkars entertained us with a delicious Maharashtrian lunch at Shreyas restaurant, Pradeep and his wife took us to Vaishali restaurant, very popular as the biggest restaurant serving delectable south Indian dishes for dinner in Pune. I was happy to learn that not only had Pradeep become a grandfather since I last met him but also quietly performed the marriage of his second daughter.

In Mumbai, my host was Sundaresan and his wife Leela. Though I reconnected with Sundaresan, my schoolmate, after 53 years at a reunion 12 years ago, we have become close friends and I feel very comfortable staying with them whenever I am in Mumbai. This time it was no different.

My talk at the Alumni meet was a resounding success judging by the response I got from the teachers and students of the SIWS college in the audience. I was delighted when the Principal of the college promised to help in getting my novel `Durga Nivas` based on my experience of living in a chawl, translated into Marathi & Hindi. I hope her enthusiasm is followed by action.
The Second Grand Annual Day celebrations held the following day at the school auditorium witnessed eight alumni being conferred the Distinguished Alumni Award. ( I received my Award at the first Grand event held in 2017). The award function which was anchored by Nagesh Alai with aplomb was followed by an entertaining dance programme by a professional group and a music session in which many old students displayed their talents for singing old film songs in Hindi and Tamil. The meeting ended with a simple South Indian meal provided by a well-known caterer in Mumbai..
While in Mumbai I visited my 84 years old cousin Gopal and my old boss and dear friend- 92 years old Vijay Menon. It was Vijay when he became the Secretary general of AMIC, an NGO headquartered in Singapore, devoted to promoting mass communication in the Asia-Pacific region, inducted me as a Country Representative of AMIC in 1984. Later I was roped into the Board of AMIC Singapore and was also responsible for establishing an Indian office of WAN-IFRA, a world body devoted to the development of Newspapers. While my main profession took me to the villages of India, my role as the MD of IFRA INDIA saw me visiting many cities across the world. I am always grateful to Vijay for opening up a whole new world to me.

I also met my good friend Swamy, who was the Manager in charge of the memorable `Enga Veettu Super Star- Philips` campaign for the electronics division of Philips in Rural Tamil Nadu, which my agency conceived in 1997-98. A successful campaign that brought Sam Balsara of Madison fame to our doorstep for a collaboration. It was nice going down memory lane with Swamy. A brief visit to my brother`s daughter`s house in a posh apartment complex in Parel was the icing on the cake.

From Mumbai, we flew to Hyderabad to visit my younger brother Srinivasan who was recovering from a setback in his health, & his wife Pushpa, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award from a professional body of audiologists, yesterday.

My experience of visiting Prabha's 92 years old Chithi ( mother`s younger sister ) at a Retirement Community in PUNE deserves a separate post.

I returned to Chennai in high spirits with loads of blessings from my elders and divine grace from the Gods but accompanied by a severe cough that my family doctor diagnosed as an allergic cough- nothing to worry about!