Since child hood i have been always accompanying some one(Mostly my dad or my parental uncles) either to receive some one or bid fare well to some one else.When i look back down the memory lane, a few of them stand itched in memory while most of them had got drowned into oblivion.
While i had not gone thru any mental disturbances (positive or negative)due to such events of send off /welcome of late i had been experiencing some sence of happiness or sorrow whenever i go to send off some one or to receive some one.Whether it is due to age or whether it is due to the close bond of love and affection experienced, is a moot question.
My wife had her lines drawn up clearly. If it is to welcome some one, she will be inclined and if it is send off some one it will always be an emphatic no.Thus invariably i have to take the reins in my hand either to receive some one or to send off some one else.
My memories go back to my days spent in my village Asokapuri when all members from my dad down to all his brothers and their siblings who used to come to the big BANYAN tree either to receive some one or to give send off to some one. It used to be a bus called Natana Rani (translated as Dancing queen)whose drivers and conductors had the great regard and res pect for my dad and his brothers who were always known as Asokapuri mirasudars and by pet names such as Sivappaiar,bankiyer, karuppaiyar and so on.My wife who is a fan of Rajinikanth (WHILE I HAPPEN TO BE A FAN OF kamal) would still win an argument over me when it comes to any issues relating to Colour by saying that my father and her mother (who happens to be my father's elder daughter and my mother in law)are also black like Rajinikanth.Reason as to why my father is nick named as KARUPPAIYAR.
Sorry that i have digressed a bit.TO put it simply the timings of the bus used to be punctual and all of us used to be assembled near the banyan tree atleast half an hour before arrival/departure and would be excitedly involved in some conversation or other and now in retrospect it appears that all of them were stage managed by some one senior in the family, so that the pain of parting is not felt and the joy of union is also not overtly enjoyed.
Now that long prelude and comments are all reflections arising as a result of send offs and welcomes that i have been associated with in the past one year or so..It all started last year when my son (first) and daughter(next) left for Hongkong and USA in a span of 15 days. My daughter returned first after completing her project within a record 45 days to be just in time for her betrothal.My son returned later availing his annual leave in advance for my daughter’s marriage.He left exactly a week after the marriage and returned again last week to qualify for his doctorate at EFL, Hyderabad.Having successfully qualified for the same(one of the few doctorates at his age of 26)he left back for Hongkong today by theChennai- Kualalampur flight leaving at 12.30 pm.The same flight which i took about a decade back when i first landed in Hongkong.History keeps repeating itself.
And the feelings that arise as different points of time when you come to see off different persons, or the same person keeps changing all the time.Some times you were overjoyed. Some times you had a tinge of sorrow.Some other times it is a mixed bag of feelings.And the re4ason as to why a particular person feels in a particular manner is verey difficult to decipher.But with all my experience which i narrated in the earlier part of this post my feelings were under control or well balanced..or so i thought.And this time my only thought was about the next time when i will be visiting the airport to welcome my “doctor son.” This next trip of my son one is important to me,. as important as his recent visit, for by the next time he visits i expect him to have secured one more doctorate up his sleeves besides also earmarking for him some great heights and place in the history of linguistics and phonetics .This would ensure him to look at the world and those with whom he moved with , radiating confidence and self reliance.
And then there will be suitors waiting to win his hands, provided he is in the mind set to stop his academic pursuits at that time and decide to settle in to a harmonious family life.In the process there will be sighs from those who missed out on him and there will be competition amongst eligible girls to woo him.
If that be so where is the need to feel dejected or sad??And that is the reason i was feeling high and happy when i bade him good bye for i knew that when he comes back he will be a role model in many aspects including that of a great son to his dear parents.And the fact remains that the three days fever which made him/ rather forced him to cancel his flight and settle for a flight on the next day, according to me , is an indication that “DRUSTI KAZPPU “ had already happened which means he is free of the evil looks of the envied eyes.
The point therefore is that as and when we go to meet some one or send off some one let us wish all good luck to them with full of happiness and affection which enables a positive energy to engulf both the parties.
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