Sorry, we are a busy lot in SFV

Yes, what with a host of activities.

Preparations to celebrate the third consecutive Onam festival in SFV with excellent fun fare in place kept resident-Keralites on their toes… until floods in Kerala forced them suspend Onam plan in favour of relief operations. Col Paddy and Nalini deserve special compliments for the outstanding job they did in coordinating the efforts. No less was the enthusiastic response of all SFVians, which resulted in another flood in Col’s house with relief items of all kinds.

Similar efforts are now on for Kodagu area in Karnataka which is also affected by unprecedented floods. The lady (Ms Komala?) on the ground floor just opposite the entry to Food World (Maple 3011?) is coordinating, I learn.

Today it is Yajurveda Upakarma – or popularly known as Avini Avittam. To quote a reliable site, “The main purpose of the Upakarma ritual is to offer prayers and express the gratitude to those Rishis who gave the knowledge of Vedas and revealed Vedic Mantras to the mankind. The next day is Gayatri Japam day.” Gayatri Japam coincides more often with Raksha Bandhan in North when sisters display their love and affection to their brothers.

The Varamahalakshmi puja was in full blast in SFV last week. This festival is more pronounced in Karnataka though it is celebrated in Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Telengana too. On this day sumangalis observe vrata, fast, for the welfare of the family in general, and the husband in particular. Sumangalis get invited to each other’s house for haldi kumkum. I can count having stood guard to my apartment at least six times that day when Aunty kept honouring various invitations.

All work and no play would render life monotonous. Both should go side by side. In keeping with that, the sports wing of SFV was equally busy conducting BPL Tournament (Badminton Premier League), this time for Seniors too. Today was the last day with a host of matches lined up from 8 am till 7.30 pm. With the sky overcast in the evening followed by a thunderous shower, one felt apprehensive if the closing ceremony to be held at the Amphitheatre from 7.30 to 9.30 pm would be a washout. That was not to be. The sky cleared by 7 pm to let us go ahead.

The ceremony also revealed some hidden talents. Manoj, of 3181, whom we have seen frequenting the tennis court and the badminton court, is a versatile – he is quite at ease as a compere, and kept the audience in good spirits in that open air and inclement weather.

My friend Professor Manikutty gave away most of the prizes and I, the rest of it. As an aside, for the Independence Day it was nice of an Oak resident, working in a school in Rajarajeswari Nagar, to request me to be the chief guest at the school function. I had to politely decline since I was keen to be part of SFV celebrations. Nonetheless I felt happy the lady decided to identify a commoner for the honour.

Back to BPL, different kinds of food stalls, cake shop and readymade garments had sprung up in the Amphitheatre vicinity. I would guess all of them had brisk business. For, when I was returning home, I still saw some residents trying their luck, and the stalls cleaning up.

They say not only must justice be done, it must also be seen to be done. Precisely that is what the present MC has been busy with. They deliberated on a few issues and in one go shot out five directives streamlining the operations.  Empty gas cylinders will no longer be left with Security staff for replacement, postal men will hereafter sort mail in the respective mail boxes, no food items ordered will be permitted delivery after 11.30 pm, residents will collect electricity bills, if any, from Association Office, etc.

And, before we get a breather, Gokula Ashtami is due on 2 Sept, and Ganesh Chathurthi on the13th, to be followed by Navarathri in October and Diwali in November.

Yes, being busy is the name of the game.

Lifestyle Transition

Attendance last week at a 70^th birthday ceremony in Hebbal and a visit to a retirement home in Devanahalli where my friend in his mid-eighties and his wife have shifted, helped me observe certain lifestyle changes in them. The Hebbal friend and his wife bade farewell to hair-dye once and for all, and looked a warehouse of wisdom and knowledge in their sparkling silver grey hair.

My senior friend in Devanahalli whom I don’t particularly remember ever having worn a sweater even in winter and always in half-sleeves with chest button open for free flow of breeze, greeted me, an afternoon, wearing a full sweater. His pre-dawn run of 8 to 10 rounds everyday has yielded place to just a few rounds of walk, and very much after sunrise. These triggered me to gauge how much my own lifestyle has changed with age.

Discussions with the likes of me these days no longer revolve around the latest movies or fashion trends. They mostly concern health issues. “I undergo touch-therapy for my BP, and it is normal now,” asserts one. Another says, “Through WhatsApp I got to know of a herbal decoction, and that is working wonderful for my cholesterol.” “I have a simple solution for both, as also for …,” joins yet another espousing his brand.

In one sweep someone propounds remedy to all these with regular pranayama and meditation. Another introduces the relevance of religion and spirituality. Yet another makes inroads to Vedas and Upanishads. This goes on till a drizzle, unruly wind or mosquitoes drive us seniors to our respective abodes.

Outing in the earlier days meant picnics and vacations. Now it manifests in the form of attending 60, 70 and 80^th landmark-birthday celebrations. Sometimes it also includes visiting friends to get first-hand account of how they fare in retirement homes.

During the morning walk, it is no more listening to Rafi, Kishore, or Lataji or their counterparts in South. It is now trying to keep pace with Challakere Brothers’ Rudram, Chamakam so that at religious functions you can join the chorus with confidence rather than make lip movements.

Certain self-imposed regulations on diet that you inflicted on yourself since your last health check, yield place to relaxation initially, and total abandon thereafter. A WhatsApp message for seniors, “Enjoy the rest of your life,” comes handy to submit to the dictates of your mind rather than of the body.

As a septuagenarian or octogenarian, you can proclaim from the top of the terrace, “Everyday Holiday”, to display signs of total bliss, but life is never without a grouse. Higher premium for life or health insurance, the ever-increasing costs, more so of medicines, unmatched by pro rata increase in pension or interest rates, keeps you occupied, not to speak of your unfailing presence at every free health-check up point in the vicinity, be it at every other day. Checking and re-checking your bank account to rest on your back that it is not hacked after all, is another daily engagement.

In the office-going days when your children were still amenable, you passed on to them your dog-collar shirts and baggy pants that were way past the fashion, and they innocently accepted them. In a similar vein, you might guess that they now pass on theirs to you. Far from it. They discourage. It is you (read I) who chance to look at the clothes they have dumped into the ‘Goodwill’ bag for donation, and smuggle one or two into your suitcase.

But it so happens that your children know you no less than you know them. While my younger son lets go such acts, the elder one handles it differently. “So Appa, everything packed,” he would ask on the eve of our travel back home, sounding casual and concerned. “Yeah, yeah,” you hasten, having passed the audit. “And how many of the Goodwill clothes have managed to find their way into your suitcase,” he asks you catching you off guard, and insists on them to their original place.

Yes, the solitary exception where ‘habits die hard’ is yet to allow ‘lifestyle transition’ get past it. And exceptions prove the rule.

Back to Forest

Forest View Apts I mean, after a gap of six months. Nice to be back, no doubt.

Change is constant, they say.  That is exactly what we found on arrival. New humans moving around the complex. Just blank faces, no greetings, no smile – but thankfully no stare. We thought SFV’s accredited cab driver Akram’s substitute got it wrong and dropped us, instead, in another Sobha complex until we spotted a few familiar faces all eager to hug us in the long-lost Ram-Bharat milap style. Yes, in the interim many families have moved in. The present occupancy, we learn, stands at 550 families out of the total strength of 889. What a fantastic feeling. The more the merrier.

We were in time to attend the AGM of the Association, in no way by design. In one stroke you get to meet all your friends and well-wishers. You felt a bit taken in when entry to the meeting hall entailed a lot of procedures. But as you got involved with the proceedings you realized this filtration process was necessary to get an accurate feedback of the audience, and prevent dual voting and the like. Most of us made a day of it what with coffee on arrival, lunch, and again tea in the evening. It was purely a working lunch, as it was supposed to be, and in no way reminded you of Onam Sadhya.

Onam celebration in SFV is on the cards, on 2 September. Alas, we realize it is Gokulashtami that day when homemakers will be busy from morning trying their hands at Murukku, salt Cheedai, jaggery Cheedai, Nei Appam and Avil (poha), as prasadam for the evening. The menfolk normally assist in preparing Cheedai balls with homemakers looking back now and then from the kitchen shouting, “Not so big,” to be followed soon by “Not so small either…” The whole exercise will last till 3.30 pm. And then comes the most unbearable two-hour wait for the sunset when only they are offered to God and we get to taste them initially, before mounting a full fledged attack.

Back to the Onam programme, if Plan A works, which it should, you are in for a day-long entertainment. By this I mean, to the entire SFV community. A selection of known orchestra groups are being invited to elevate the mood of the audience with Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and Tamil songs. The star attraction would be Vaishnav Girish. He was the winner of Star Singer contest some years ago. He also featured in a national Hindi channel and rendered the Hindi song Bin Tere... It was so soulful that the judges came to the stage and ventured to lift him, his heavy weight notwithstanding. Aside this musical bonanza, there will be the usual Chenda Melam, and Kerala-specific dances, not to speak of the Onam Sadya (feast) at noon. We all look forward to the event next month.

While that is a little way off, SFV is now geared to celebrate Independence Day next week at the Amphitheatre starting at 9 in the morning.

Preoccupation on the personal front has been no less. Even before we could unpack suitcases, we had to rush to Hosur to attend the 80^th birthday celebrations of my colleague. Yes, a reminder that “if it is his today, it will be mine tomorrow.” “How are you Raja?” I asked him when he gave me ‘audience’ amidst the 300-odd guests. “Can’t be better Sundaram.”  “No health issues, no BP, no Sugar?” I persisted. “Perfect Sundaram. No BP. Just sugar. And for that I inject insulin myself daily,” he delivered a googly nonchalantly.

Then the filing the Income tax returns before deadline round the corner. As is wont, the Auditor was out of station. Fortunately with less hassle the returns were filed. What a relief when the system popped with refund figures in both our cases.

It is Aadi masam now. Some communities perform Bhagawat Sevai (Devi puja). In the evenings we could hear chants reverberating from one building or the other. We had the pleasure to attend two, and perform one in our home too. The occasion? Birthday of both our sons, yes both born on 3^rd August. Only the year is different.

Aunty resumed her Narayaneeyam class with aplomb this morning - with probably double the attendance. Moral: Stay away for long to feel wanted.