I am writing
this piece on the last day of 2013, when the rest of the world will be planning
to ring out the old and ring in the New Year!
While trying to do the same I
realized that 2013 has been both a turbulent and an eventful year in my life! A Year filled with both sad and happy moments for
me. I thought I will share those
moments with my readers!
Let me start
with the sad events so that I can end this piece on a happier note!
To begin
with I lost Prabha my dear wife of 40
years to the deadly crab which had started eating into her lungs, on 5th January this year. Though we
all knew that she had limited time in this world when we discovered that she
was suffering from cancer seven months
earlier , it was still a tremendous loss for the whole family. While I was
reconciling to live a life without my life partner, I had a couple of nasty falls at home which I survived with minor bruises.
And two accidents on two successive days– one in which I was thrown off balance by the spring door of
the dickey of the Volvo Bus in which I was travelling from Poona to Mumbai and another involving the car in which I was travelling
in Mumbai , where I had gone for my book launch in November. While the car was
badly damaged I survived both the accidents without even a bruise!
When I was
hoping that I have had enough of the bad tidings for 2013, God thought otherwise! I suffered a heart attack in the
early hours of 18th December to discover later that I had two
blocks- one 95% and another 60 %. On the advice of the doctor, the family
agreed to get an angioplasty done to clear the 95% block and place a stent to
ensure that I return to normal life fast.( They
left the other block untouched hoping to clear it with medicines ). I am now eligible to
become a member of the `Stent`Club`! My friend Indu Chandhok of the Motor
Sports fame refers to people who have had by-pass surgery as members of the
`Zippers club`- because they all have a vertical zipper like scar on their
chests after the operation. Fortunately the members of the `Stent` club have nothing
to show off!
I spent a
week in the Hospital- two days in the ICU and five days in a private room.(I promise you an
interesting article on my experiences as a patient in the hospital later)
When I was
discharged I was told to take complete
rest, atleast for a week. But it was not to be. Because immediately after my
return home, we got busy with the ritutals connected with Prabha`s first death anniversary & my plans for a dream event on 29th December, where we
had decided to celebrate Prabha`s memory, and all that she stood for, rather
than mourning her absence. Though I had done all the meticulous planning for
the event and handed over charge of
executing the event to my family members, the tension and anxiety continued,
causing anxious moments to my near and dear ones. Now that the programme is over, all my tensions are behind me and having rested well for 36 hours I feel reasonably
recharged and hope to be back in
action in the next ten days. But with the proviso that I must keep my distance
from fried stuff in any form- be it
the `Murukkus & Thattais ` from
Grand Sweets (which I used to start
munching from early mornings) or the variety of starters that go with a dinner
at a restaurant/Club or at parties -
like the bondas, bajjies, samosas & fried cocktail idlies not to mention
the French fries, cheese kurkures etc. I am yet to get a clearance from my
doctor about having the two `Chotas` of
my favourite drink that used to cheer me up three evenings a week!
Now let me
share with you some good tidings in my life during the outgoing year. You may
be aware of some of them. But still let me record them for posterity.
My second book titled `Don`t Flirt with Rural Marketing` - the Handbook
on Rural Marketing based on my experience of dealing with rural marketing for
nearly 40 years came off the Press in
early October this year and was formally launched in Mumbai on 11th
November at the Cross Word book stall in
Kemp`s corner. The Chennai launch happened on 6th December under the
auspices of Advertising Club Madras. The Delhi launch is scheduled for 17th
Januray,2014 as a part of the Flame Awards function of Rural Marketing
Association of India (RMAI) of which I was a founder President for four years.
The good
news is that based on the extensive media and word of mouth publicity, the book is
selling well. The publisher tells me that he has already placed orders for a
reprint .
As you all
know since the publication of my autobiography,`Courage My Companion` I started writing articles on a variety of
topics and circulating them among my friends and relatives and also uploading
them on my blog. A few have been
published by local media. Encouraged by the positive response to my style of
writing and goaded by a few friends, I decided to bring out a book containing
70 of my articles. The book tiltled `This
& That…Then & Now` , my
third book in four years, is just
off the Press and is awaiting a formal launch
sometime soon. I must thank my Publisher
Srinivasamurthy of Productivity & Quality Publishing for
publishing all my three books.
After all
the ups & downs I am happy that the year has ended well for me, with the grand
function that the family put up to
commemorate Prabha` memory, on 29th December. A dream event for
which I was planning since Prabha`s demise.
Friends who
visited me, days or weeks after Prabha`s
demise , used to console me - `Don`t worry- time is a great healer. You will
slowly get over the grief & learn to forget
her & get used to a life without a wife!`
While I had
no choice but to live without the company of my dear wife during the last one year, I decided that I
will not forget, easily, a person who
had been an integral part of my life. A person
whom I had begun to love deeply , in the last couple of decades!
While I do
miss her very badly, (especially during the last ten days recovering from a
heart attack, lying alone on my bed), I decided to take up activities which
will perpetuate her memory and provide an inspiration to talented women.
Women who don’t have family support or
the resources to bring out their talents in the open-and give them the message that age is no barrier for pursuing
their creative passions, because Prabha was an outstanding example of
such a person. Essentially a shy,
introverted and highly domesticated
person in her early years she blossomed into an accomplished writer, social activist and
much more -after the age of 37. In many ways she was a role model for women. I am sure many such women with self or family
imposed limitations are languishing in our
society and I want them to come out of their shells to pursue their passions and
live a fulfilling life.
When I set
about thinking of what I could do to help such women in my
own small way I conceived the idea of starting Prabha Rajan Talent
Foundation,(PRTF for short), an informal
non registered body without a bank account , depending solely on contributions
from the Rajan family. The basic objective of PRTF is to encourage young women from poor families in developing
their talents in the area of creative
writing or drawing.
In the first year of its operations PRTF has supported five budding female writers by co-sponsoring
the printing of their books published by Manimekalai Prasuram, a leading
Publishing House in Chennai. A Prabha Rajan memorial short story competition in
Tamil was conducted by Kalaimagal, the 80 year old Tamil monthly known for its
literary excellence. Another Essay
contest in Prabha`s memory was conducted by Ladies Special- a popular ladies
monthly in Tamil. Cash Prizes for the
three winners in both the
competitions sponsored by PRTF were
distributed to the winners at the Function on 29th December.
A deserving girl student
from St.Raphael school received
a Scholarship for undergoing training in Computer Graphics & animation
at my Rotary Club meeting. Many more such ideas to encourage talented, young
and deserving girls are in the pipeline.
As you all know Prabha was an accomplished writer of short stories in
Tamil. She has two books –collection of
her stories- Kadambam & Thayumanaval
to her credit. Unfortunately her own children & grand children cannot read
Tamil and appreciate Prabha`s enormous talent for writing. To correct this
situation and also to reach Prabha`s stories
to a larger audience I decided to bring out a book containing her select
short stories in English. I am grateful to Dr.Geetha Jayaram, a family friend, who volunteered to translate the stories into English. And she has
done it very well. Manimekalai Prasuram, who published Thayumanaval in a record
time have also brought out the English
book titled `Shyama and other stories`
in record time thanks to Ravi Tamilvanan. The book was officially released on 29th
December before an enlightened audience
of 200 people, by well known dignitaries, at TAG Centre, Chennai, owned by my
dear friend and ever helpful R.T.Chari. `Shyama` happened to be the third book
by Prabha in three years. Six books in all from Rajan family in four years!
Could that be a record for a family?
The most heartening part of the function on 29th December,
was the scintillating performance of my twelve year old grand daughter Utthara,
singing Carnatic music for 45 minutes accompanied by another teenager
Mridangist, Subramanian. Her lovely voice
and the range she displayed coupled with
the confidence with which she gave the performance stole the hearts of the
audience. As I mentioned in my speech at the function ( which was read out by
my brother Seshadri, as I felt I did not have the stamina), I pray God that
Uthara continues to work hard to be able to give enthralling performances in
all the leading Sabhas of the city, in the future! She made the whole family
proud that evening!
Let me sign off this rather
long article on that Happy note. Since
God has given me a new lease of life, you will continue to receive my thoughts
on a variety of topics, until how
long, I don`t know!
I take this opportunity to wish
every one of you, my dear readers, a very Happy & Prosperous New Year!
All the Best & God Bless!
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