GenNext Comes of Age

GenNext Comes of Age

Recall the vibrant song that an innocent village girl sang with gay abandon in the film Roja: 

Dil hai Chhotaa saa, Chhoti si Aashaa; Masti Bhare Mana ki Bholi si Aashaa (in Hindi); and

Chinna Chinna Aasai, Siragadium Aasai; Muthu Muthu Aasai, Mudinthuvaitha Aasai (in the original Tamil version)

A few years ago at Srishti Day a school or college-going girl rendered this song (one stanza in Tamil and the next in Hindi) with incredible felicity and attracted great applause. Doesn't ring a bell? It was Preethi, the daughter of the Bhashyams. 

Well, that very young girl is now a lady and mother of a one-year old charming girl, Aadhya. Time flies.  She and Sri Ganesh celebrated Aadhya's birthday today, no doubt, fully supported by Jayanti and the quiet Bhashyam,  It was held in a hall at the Iskcon temple. Early this morning when I was in the lift for my morning walk, the Bhashyams brimming with joy boarded at the fourth floor with bags all over that they could hardly carry. I offered help, but they declined. As it turned out, these were stacks of saree-dhoti combinations to be gifted to the core relatives, and very thoughtfully selected and probably bought from Singapore, return-gifts for the rest. 

The ceremony was well attended mostly by relatives and a few Srishti-ites. We are not sure if it was mandatory to have the catering by the Iskcon temple authorities themselves Truth be told, it was very good. The only snag was that very few could do justice to all the items on the plantain leaf. Also, these were served with ladle, not tablespoon. 

Preethi and Sri Ganesh have been based in Singapore for a while. I met her and the baby in the Srishti compound the other day, thankfully along with Mr Bhashyam. So I could connect. Otherwise, honestly I might have looked as blank as I did when she hailed, "Hello Uncle, how are you?"  at Kartik's (B-306) wedding in Chennai. Preethi, an engineering graduate backed by post-graduation in business admin, works from home in Singapore. 

Shyamala Lakshmipathi (B-806) was to join us to the ceremony. But she opted for a better company and accompanied her Sambandhi (Dr Sunder's mother). For return we had the pleasure of having Shri Raghavan and Chitra (of B Block), but are not sure if it was a pleasure to them too because, as usual, I disregarded the repeated backseat shouts of Aunty to take a U turn at the next exit from Iskcon, and instead sped ahead with supreme confidence. It dawned on me I was in the opposite direction after a few kilometers, then condescended to her suggestion and took a U turn. Raghavanji gave me an exterior "All in the Game" smile, but I bet he must have sworn to himself, "Never again with this guy". 

V.V. Sundaram

B-703