A great silent companion

They are there from the time of your birth. They give you the first bath. They hold you in their arms with the love, affection, and warmth that even our parents find difficult to provide us with. They live to see us succeed and cherish life. They have simple dreams like wanting their hearts to beat till their grand children get married or become a parent. They love us with all their hearts. They see us grow in front of their eyes. They recall the most innocent of acts that we had done as a kid till the shyness in our eyes on the day of our marriage.

         My grand dad is no exception. He is smart, staunch, very funny (he is a swear words game package!), amazingly annoying sometimes because of his old beliefs. He is a personification of lord siva. The anger that he experiences is incomparable and brings shivers to our very soul. He flings plates, stops talking to the people he loves the most and even stops eating when his anger gets overboard. But deep inside he is a gem of a person and I came to know this side of his personality only a few months back. As they say “even the lion can be tamed”, I was the outlet for him when he is terribly anger. The calmness on his face is seen when he is around me. We watch cricket matches ( he has to yell at the players every once in a while or he finds it an utter waste to watch the match!) together. I am a solid 70 years younger to him and still we found so many ways of bridging the generation gaps during our times together. He hates watching movies but still sits with me to watch some of the recent ones ( mind it, he never stops cribbing about the heroine’s dress, the hero’s amazing super man skills, the very theme of the movie!) when grand parents are known for talking non stop and nonsense, here is a man who knows to stay silent throughout and yet have such an amazing impact in the life of a person. I loved spending time with him when I moved to Chennai and realized what a caring and fun loving person he was. Till then the equation in my mind was:

       Grand father=angry person=no patience for grand children= always grumpy=very strict=no sense of humor!

        I was dead mistaken when I started spending time with him. From being a man behind my strengths to abusing the cricketers with the most disgusting swear words, he was the best. The wide smile with half missing teeth will be always remembered by all of us thatha. You are an inseparable part of my life now thatha.

Cheers,

Aishwarya Kumar

A TAD BIT EXCESS!

There was heavy rain in all parts of Chennai for the past five days owing to the monsoons. This was one of the best monsoon seasons in the history of Chennai monsoons and on an average was one percent more than what was received during the past few years. The magnitude of the rain was felt when it disrupted the life of common man and his activities. Most of the lanes and streets in Chennai were flooded due to the heavy rain and this resulted in disruption of daily life in the city. Even the main streets in most of the areas had water clogged in the corners of the road. The drainage system in Chennai is pathetic and the sole reason for the lack of development of proper drainage system in Chennai is because of the ignorance and indifference of the government. The low lying areas of Anna Nagar witnessed workers coming in to work and correct the pitiable drainage there for water to flow from the roads into the drainage system. Is it only when the monsoon shows its true nature that the government’s eyes opens and realizes the importance of a better drainage system around the city?

                 The roads in most of the areas in Chennai is either filled with pits or is so feeble and imperfectly built that it is only natural for water to stagnate there and give another reason for the common man to feel miserable. There is a need for the government to act fast and to build strong and perfect roads so that the inhibition in the day to day activities of the commoners during monsoons in reduced.

                 This stagnation of water has not only affected the life of common man but it has also caused additional misery in the form of diseases like dengue, viral fever etc. in order to protect ourselves from the clutches of these deadly diseases government has to take quick action to remove stagnant water from all the areas of the city. If rebuilding drainage system and constructing new roads is not immediately possible, motors should be brought in to suck out clogged water from all these areas.