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Issue No. 26 February 2003
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Hello everyone,
WELCOME TO THE FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER
The 25th issue was the biggest disappointment for me as even the regulars like Prasad and Sudarshan did not give any feedback. The lone response was from Raghu. But that has not stopped me from making the next one.
I welcome another new contributor, Kannan (Narasimhan), who has contributed The Early Days, another nostalgic article. He has been motivated by Amritha's piece on Pollachi and Kanchipuram and writes on his growing up. Mukund is also back after a long time with an article on A Home in the Tropics. Prasad has come up with another winner For the good .I continue fun with image and we have Fun with photo-III this time. Sudarshan has contributed two pieces as usual- one being Jokes, Quotes and Trivia and the other being Funny stories.
I have completed the work of updating the Newsletter archives. It was a huge task and I'd spent the same time that it took to make the website on Deepu/Sriram or Vaishnavism. Please visit www.oocities.org/pamrithaarchives, which is a comprehensive authorwise, subjectwise and monthwise archives. It includes everything that was published in the last 25 issues - all the articles, poems, games, photos and everything else.
The section 'FROM THE NET' is devoted to cricket this time, as the World Cup is starting on 9th Feb. This section contains World Cup 2003 - ICC Rankings & Schedule for February 2003, Key Moments in the last four finals, An article on Cricket Match by Sujatha in Tamil, SIDHUISMS, Did you know? and Cricket ODI Quiz.
All the other usual features, viz. Crossword Clues (this time from Sunday Hindu ), Brain Exercisers (difficult puzzles this time) and Cryptoquip are there.
Enjoy the Newsletter, but do write on the Message Board.
The first feature, as usual, are the old photos.
MY DIARY FOR JANUARY 2003 (from 5th Jan. to 2nd Feb.)
Another busy month for us with a lot of happenings. The biggest news for the family was Kannan's(Adyar) 
by-pass surgery on 30th. The operation was a success and his recovery is quite fast. He has been moved to the room on 1st and has also been allowed to walk a little. Amritha, Hema (whom we picked up from the bus-stand) and I called on him on 1st. He is quite cheerful and keen to talk (though we tried to control ourselves). The prospect of strict diet control seems to put him off, but that is something to which he has to get used. The hospital (Madras Medical Mission Hospital) is excellent and is on par with the best abroad. Naunet Newsletter wishes Kannan a speedy recovery.
The first fortnight was a busy one as Aarthi left on 4th and we spent the second week of January visiting the dentist for Amritha's bleeding gum-treatment in Adyar next to Adyar Bakery. Our regular routine of walk and shuttle was suspended for more than 10 days as Amritha hurt her left leg while playing shuttle. Later she bumped into the edge of the wall and got hurt in the same place which was paining a lot. Added to this, Gopal left for his hometown to celebrate Pongal.
I think I have visited more temples in January than in the last one year. On the evening of 13th (Vaikunta Ekadasi), we visited two temples in Koyambedu and Mugappair (near the hospital where Kannan is admitted), both of which are nice. On 24th, which was our 30th Wedding Anniversary, I surprised Amritha by taking her to Kanchipuram and Ussoor, from where Hema accompanied us to Chennai. In that trip, we visited 7 temples. On 24th and 25th, Rukku was kind enough to stay here to take care of my mother and mother-in-law. On our return, all four of us played mail.
On 17th, we went to Naradha Gana Sabha for the music concert of Aruna Sairam. She has a majestic voice and sings very well. The programme lasted for 2 1/4 hours. We thoroughly enjoyed the concert. She sang a number of songs including a Meera bhajan and a Ganapathi bappa moria song. She sang with such enthusiasm that everybody started clapping to the tune.
I don't think I'd like to change anything if I am to go thro' my life again. Perhaps the only aspect which I may change is to develop appreciation and knowledge of classical music. I am trying to correct this and plan to learn more of Karnatic music from the Net. In my quest I came across an excellent site, which I have recommended as this month's link.
Jaya Akka (my mother-in-law) came here from Santhanam's house on 10th. She is fine. The swelling on her legs which was causing concern has come down. She is getting up 3,4 times in the night as a result of which she doesn’t sleep well and is able to get up only after 7.00. Otherwise, she is fine and her food intake is normal. She walks with the help of the walker in the garden also. Her K level, though higher than normal, is under control. Madhu’s wife Geetha was declared the best faculty in India for teaching CA and ICWA. This is a big honour and the Newsletter congratulates her. My sister-in-law Vijaya has left for Jakartha on 14th. We had her as well as a lot of other visitors.
We saw a good Paattu manram (patti manram with songs) conducted by Leoni (who is a talented and humourous compere in Tamil) on Pongal day. On our way to Kanchi, we heard a cassette of another show by him which was also very humourous. On 26th, Amritha and I attended Guindy 67 batch (my batch) annual meeting. It was a good get together with 40 families(some with children and even grandchildren) . We played a game of housie in which I shared the full house with another person. We had a good dinner as well as a good gift!
On the 29th, we saw Anbe Sivam, a nice film with excellent action by Kamal and Madhavan. Unfortunately the film has only got a lukewarm response and the hall was just half full for the 3.00 PM show that we saw. The crowd for the evening show was also not much.
Today (2nd Feb.), Aarthi came home with six of her class-mates. They were all on their way from Bangalore to Howrah. They came by Mail at 5.30 AM and were taking the connecting train at 9.30 AM. They spent just two hours here. But it was fun. Their field trip is to Calcutta and Varanasi this time.
We watched a lot of cricket and some tennis. We were happy that Agassi as well as Leander/Martina won. I saw the excellent match between Roddick AyNoyi only from 6-all to 10-all in the final set as I had to go out. But Amritha saw the entire final set. It was a very good match, with the entire crowd present even though it was past midnight in Australia. India is gearing up for the World Cup. Fortunately, the loss of manhours would be less as all the matches are in the evenings. My prediction is that Australia, England and India from Pool-A and S.Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka from Pool-B will enter the Super Six. What about the fsemi-finals, finals and winner. I shall make those predictions in the next Newsletter.
Bye,
anbudan,
2nd February 2003
This is a photo of Amritha in 1974 in Secunderabad.
