Everyone looks forward to a family re-union, and I am no exception. So, when my grandsons from USA snatched the telephone from their respective mothers to be me first to announce their proposed visit to India, I was overjoyed. I made no secret of it in my blog with a write-up, ‘Welcoming the Triumvirate’ so that the event does not fade into oblivion.
Now the first ‘batch’ has come - my elder d-i-l and her two sons. The younger d-i-l and her son will set foot tomorrow and, finally my elder son, 4 July. Too bad my younger son can’t make it due to prior commitments.
I took the two kids on a conducted tour of the Srishti complex more to hint to the Security staff not to let them go out of the complex on their own. At the basketball court, boys of their age were playing cricket. Hardly had I introduced them to the group when the two were inducted - one to the batting side and the other to the fielding side. That was the end of the conducted tour. Now less than a week, and they have more friends of their age group than I have managed all these years. But then they have no ego hassle. Also, in the spate of intercom calls received, Aunty now stays the distant second.
Well begun is half done, they say. Rightly so, the inaugural day-long trip with the first batch has been rewarding. Ahead of the long ride to Ranganthittu, Nimishamba and Srirangapatnam temples, I brushed up the Tell Me Why answers, just in case.
As we drove, I shared with them that Mysore is known as the Heritage City, Bangalore the Garden city, and… Before I could continue the elder one (Class 5) interrupted : “Thatha do you know which is the first city to be electrified in India?”
“We will come to that later. Now let us talk of things relevant to Bangalore,” I evaded his question with my customary postponing tactics whenever I didn’t know the answer. “No Thatha, listen. Bangalore was the first city to be electrified.” “Ashwin, I know you are joking.” “No Thatha, I did a google-search and got all these facts.”
It came to pass that before giving him permission to leave for India one week ahead of his actual summer vacation, his Director of Student Affairs had directed him: “In that case, make a power-point presentation of all the places you are going to visit in India.” Delhi and Bangalore were on the cards, and he has prepared one.
“So, what are the other facts about Bangalore?” I asked him. “Thatha, as many as 57 engineering colleges are affiliated to the Bangalore University. This is the highest for any university in the world… This city has the most number of Indian scientists nominated for Nobel Prize…’
That is excellent, Ashwin. But how about Delhi?” “Well, Thatha, the entire public transport of the city runs on environmentally friendly ‘Compressed Natural Gas’. But what amused me the most was that the city has an International Museum of Toilets.”
Who was it who said, Child is Father of the Man? I asked myself, as we alighted at Kamath Lokaruchi, Ramanagaram, for breakfast.
V.V. Sundaram
B-703
24 June 2015
