Story.

yendi, namba aathuku pakathaathula vaidehi irundhaalolyo? Enna panra? en ava aam ku vella edho idichi katindiruka? 

andha peran oruthan irukaane, avan idha vithutu america thirumba poitaan nu kelvi patten.

Evvalo periya veedu. ethana peru valandha anga. ella ezhu pasagalume anga dhaan porandha, enakku innum nanna nyabagam irukku. andha vaal onnu irukkume, chiru, avan peru kooda marandhu poiduthu. 

Andha payyanoda maama dhaane? Swaminathan.

avane dhaan, bayangara saettai...

21 May, 2011

My dearest vaida paati.

Its raining outside here. Thank god the winter is over, this was the most cruel year in all my time in boston.

It feels so good to write to you. I don't care about phones anymore. I don't care about anything anymore though. Janaki has started to rip my mind off to pieces on this piece of property in sholinghur. She had asked me to sell it for such stupid reasons... If I don't give in, she would probably make my life even more miserable. I hate doing this to you though I could see you ache completely over this. Its your entire life, vaida. I should not do this. I am ashamed, and I don't know why I was bequeathed this in the first place. I have had my most beautiful memories etched in my mind and all of them have this house. I cannot forget the kaaka pudi on the motta maadi, or the oorvalam of the thaayar and the garuda sevai or the paneer soda  kicha thaatha got from selvam's kadai. I have become one more of those who are keen on selling their past with utmost disregard. I remember the time I wrote to you about my contempt for these people.Maybe I could go back to the time when I did not know janaki, and you and amma were the only woman that I knew...

14 Dec, 2010

Ragu.

We spoke over the phone, so this mail is quite redundant. But as much of a mad family as we are, I am still writing this one. Sell the house. I have no problems. If it can solve your problems, please go ahead. I hope to see the house one last time and take all the photos and old vaanoli magazines and ananda vikatans from 1952! That is going to be one tough job. Vaida says you can go ahead, and she says she is not terribly disconcerted by the news, which is a bold and bare-faced lie. Selling the house is selling all our dreams. I am sorry, but the seven of us have grown up in that house, and its a little hard to take. You take care, and I will call you soon. 

Swami.

30 Sep, 2000.

Dear amma,

I am awesome here. This place is amazing! I wonder why I have never been here, and I really think it was plain stupid of you and appa to leave this place in the first place! After all that hard work, he is now almost a clerk in some stupid government organization, with its bureacratic pot-bellied paan-spitting clowns. I am astonished by the efficiency of the system and the people here! People here ask me why I have a funny middle name. I tell them that my father wanted my name to have my mother's name too, and so I am raguram valli narayanan! They do tend to have problems with the last name. 

The postal clerk just laughed when I asked him for stamps to write home. He told me, 'kids these days are smart, with all your mobile phones and stuff. You still write mails? Boy, that is nice to hear!'. I am mad, aren't I? I still am not sure about the support for my program, there is just way too much competition. 

Anyway, this weather is awesome. I am just completely bowled over by it. Did I tell you I met this nice girl, janaki? She calls me valli, which is quite irritating...

8 Feb, 1976

Valli.

I hope you are doing ok. I am off to boston next week for a conference, and I might not write to you. Its not like I wouldn't have time, its just that I am going out with a couple of people and I am not sure how polite I might have to be in front of them for me to get this tenure. I am still struggling, thanks to what is appearing to be a pointless phd, and god knows when I can even get back home. That's enough complaining, how is athimber? How is my dear nephew? I might not be able to make it to his upanayanam. I am also not surprised by kicha's decision to bequeath the house to his grandsons. Thaatha has always been weird, and I still remember people in the court halls mutter 'krishnaswamy varaar, shh' when he would walk in with that funny turban of his! Its a good thing as well, less problems for us! If you are going to go to tiruttani sometime, just tell murugan I said hi... 

12 May, 1942.

Sir,

I hope this letter finds you in good health. I would like to convey a very pleasant news and seek your blessings that we have been blessed with a lovely little girl child born under the vaisakha nakshatram. Vaidehi insists on calling her valli. I am not sure how soon this letter would reach you, the telegraph office remained closed for some reason that is not quite clear till now. I am flooded with the greetings All India Telegram from all my friends and well wishers. I hope all is well in tiruchi. I am quite sure you are having much success with all your civil cases. I remember kannappan regaling me with stories about your flawless arguments in the aalavandhan case. I hope I have stood up to your expectations and that your faith remains steadfast ever since your daughter's kanyadhaanam. I am taking up only civil cases because of the amount of work, and the remuneration not clearly being commensurate now that there are many children...

Hoping to see you soon.

Sincerely,

Krishnaswamy

ps:

anachronistic errors(or errors in general) are plainly due to ignorance. Apologies.