kartik kannan's space on the web

YAADEIN...........


. Sometimes memories are the only tool that provides some kind of a comfort especially when one is alone.I was just walking down memory lane this afternoon ..of my tour to Hyderabad in early jan 2003, exactly 2 years back. We were there only for 5 days ,but it felt as if we were there for many more days. What was so exciting then was that we (aanand,kishore,prasanna and myself ) college students (halfway into our third year ) had gone there officially to attend a summit called the partnership summit where many corporate honchos and political leaders gave their views on various topics .This was the first time I was interacting with world famous people on a personal scale …and we delegates were allowed to question the speakers and I did put up a few questions …and received immense satisfaction when my questions were answered by these people.This was my introduction to corporate life…..and not to forget the lunch we had with these senior people.On this tour we got to hear biz talk from people as famous as Bharti’s Mittal,C.K.Prahlad,Marty subrahmanian,Ramesh Vangal,jairam ramesh,Ashok soota,Ramaraju,Ministers of defence ,US government,LK Advani…..and literally the who’s who of the Indian corporate world .

The first two days we were lodged in a place called gachibowli in the IIIT campus .To come out of wilderness from vel tech engineering college to another technical institute like the International institute of Information technology was a huge thing for us …seeing a campus full of greenery ,excellent buildings and in general the campus by itself was like being in dream land for us.Where else in the world would one get up to hearing rock music at 6 am …and have a canteen that was 24 hours open and the biggest of them all –have a guys hostel right adjacent to the girls hostel.It was fun staying there and roaming all night through the campus…and the highway on which the college was situated.

The next day we were to shift to another place in the city where one of my mothers friend lived.I knew her all along as Parvati aunty for the 20 years that I had existed.She was my mothers friend since the time we were in Hyderabad.(I was born in Hyderabad…and stayed there till I was 4). . Parvathi aunty stayed with her mother in Hyderabad. She, due to certain family circumstances had not married and was living supporting her mother. I remember when we stayed there …..the whole house seemed as if it sprang to life …..as instead of two …now there were 6 people in the house and parvathi aunty was busy serving us ….food and other delicacies.I knew what it must have been for them,as she had no children,so she was so pleased seeing us ,she took extra special efforts to make sure we were comfortable.

Her mother,probably a septuagenarian too took great efforts to make sure we enjoyed our stay there.Every thing from being dropped at the hotel where the summit was held to the time we were in their house …was made enjoyable to us.It was a small 2 bedroom flat …….where we 4 guys managed to get into one room and spend a couple of nights there.Parvathy aunty’s mother had seen me since I was a baby ..and was seeing me after a gap of something like 17 years …and when the time came to part ..she seemed very sad .I paid my obeisance to her by kneeling down on her feet to have her blessings…..She was so happy to see me doing that …..I could feel it in her eyes,…as tears were slowly collecting in the edge of her eye …without actually showing she was emotional. Soon after I left their place she rang up my mother and was complimenting my mother for having such a nice well mannered son like me.

Generally elders ……have a lot of affection amidst memories of a child they had seen when it was newborn and now here that child was ….grown up…to be a responsible lad who still remembers them.The fact that I had remembered her , gave her a lot of joy…as it was 17 years later that I was meeting her.
Last afternoon as I was glancing into my computer …..skeptically seeing a piece of code …whether the syntax was correct………I got a call from my mother that parvathy aunty’s mother had passed away……and for a second it seemed as if the world around me had frozen………her memories flashed like a powerpoint slide show…..one after another …….and hence this post ..dedicated to this lady………..whom I really revere .