February 2023 – Random Ramblings

Contd from Part -1

Lunch at Jairam was marked by photo session by the ladies..the lionesses and the lion…

The evening of 04 Feb , indisputably was the high point of the trip.

Scene shifts to 6th cross road , rainbow nagar. To the den

Gnana who had been keeping a low profile during the earlier proposals for a Pondy trip , came into his own this time to be fully involved along with Jayakumar. Sathya chipped in with his planning, announcements and cash management.

Gnana’s house at Pondy, which had been uninhabited for years had to be done up for the event.

Full credits to Kumudini and Gnana for rising to the occasion . The house looked as if it had never been unoccupied.

His dream bar and studio or den , which would be anybody’s dream, was thrown open to the party.

What followed was a nice sing song session interrupted by friendly banterings.

There was good wine , good food and smiles all around, all under the benign gaze of Cleopatra with her pretty nose.

Couldn’t resist this Asterix comic frame!

I have tried to capture the mood in a few collages of images. Pondicherry has always been a spiritual refuge in more than one sense. Spirits were flowing; spirits were soaring !

SS Ilango was the star of the event with the nostalgic numbers that took you back by half a century… Are we that old really ?!

Venkat who never sang in the school never stopped singing that evening; he was well supported by Sandhya. Asokarajan as always was everything, singer , dancer and the stand up comedian though seated most of the time.

Venkateswaran , another prolific contributor to Smule was sorely missed.

There followed a lively bout of anthakshari .. what would be the Tamil word for that ! May be ORA the professional translator can help!

There were many videos , but I am posting one which I feel aptly captures the mood; the lyrics are apt ..

Atho antha paravai Pola vaazha vendum…

Birds are what they are; Free and light-hearted, chirping away all the time.

Could hear Bharathiyaar’s

விட்டு விடுதலை யாகிநிற் பாயிந்தச்
சிட்டுக் குருவியைப் போலே

After dinner there was this unplanned move to the flaming dragons.. unplanned for most of us.

About that in the next post..

This is how ‘Senagers in Action’ would be.

For the uninitiated ; a senager is a sixty-plus behaving like a teenager…

Senagers get particularly younger and light-hearted when grouped with the species of the same kind and when you meet up with classmates from a boarding school, it is the ultimate.

Having said that , this meeting at Pondicherry was very special for various other reasons; being the first post COVID get-together and coinciding with visits from long last buddies from UK and Australia.

After a couple of hiccups over two years to various reasons , the event when it did fruitify hit the perfect sweet spot over the two days spent at the coastal town.

The idea is not to write an essay on how you spent your vacations, but to capture the moments through videos , photographs and the text messages exchanged in the period by the participants themselves.

It’s an attempt to organize the various videos and photographs clicked by the revellers and to record the final impression as posted on WhatsApp.

It wouldn’t be fair to single out anyone for the success of the endeavour; and at the same time the organizers on ground, Gnanaprakasam, Jayakumar and Sathya do deserve a special mention .

What has been left out may please be added through comments .

That’s the reception Committee on 4th feb at Jeno Ramki Apartments Pondicherry.