2nd Feb 2001 was our Silver Wedding Anniversary and Sudha and I decided to have a get-together in celebration.
Sachin came down from Pune and we also had my mom, Kanthu, Bhagya and Anand, Viju and Veena from Bangalore as well as Ravi, Sandhya and Swathi, Shruti and Sunil. Everyone had an enjoyable time.
In the previous month, I had taken a flight from Chennai to Delhi via Hyderabad. Next to me was a lady travelling with a 1 year old kid. The poor kid was suffering from fever and had the sniffles and was crying constantly. The flight left Chennai at 6 AM. Soon , breakfast was served and I had my breakfast. But the lady couldn't eat because she was carrying the child. After I finished my breakfast, I offered to hold the baby while she ate but the child refused to come to me.
I then told the lady , if it was OK with her, I would spoon feed her while she held the baby.She said OK. So I ordered bread and omelette.I broke off chunks of toast and fed her morsel by morsel. I also broke up the omelette into small pieces and fed her morsels.This way she was able to finish her breakfast. The baby was still crying and her repeated attempts to put it to sleep were failing. This was disturbing my sleep also.
I then told her that she should use a steady rhythm called Simple Harmonic Motion which would make the child go to sleep and offered to demonstrate it.She was sitting to my left, so she shifted the baby to her right. I then started patting the baby slowly and rhythmically and in the process went off to sleep myself.
After some time, I felt something was wrong with my patting and suddenly woke up.The lady had shifted the baby to her left and had gone off to sleep herself!!
At Delhi airport, her husband ( who was in the Air Force) received her and she thanked me profusely and asked for my address. Soon , a thank you card arrived at my house. Sudha didn't know who had sent the card and then I explained the background.
In the same month ( Janury 2001), Kannada Balaga organized a Beauty and Talent Contest for Ladies. All Kannada Organizations participated and there were a few sponsors who had donated gifts to all participants. The various rounds included ramp walking and answering queries by the panelists.
Sudha got the first prize. Vrunda Sekhar got the second prize and Apeksha Bhat won the third prize.
I also remember that my uncle T B Venkatesh underwent a Bypass Surgery in Mumbai in Feb 2001. He continues to be hale and hearty today at age 86 and still goes to work regularly. A remarkable man and I wish him many, many more years of healthy and happy living.
Dodda Chaya's daughter Malini got married in Feb 2001 in Bengaluru and Sudha attended the wedding. The groom was a fellow doctor and a Marathi.. Sudha knew some Marathi and enjoyed practising her Marathi with the groom's family and generally acting as interpreter during the wedding.
In June 2001, Sanmar Engineering celebrated it's 25th Anniversary and we had a customer event in Mumbai. Sachin was now working in Mumbai. Sudha came along with me and we stayed at Hotel Regent ( Opposite to Sea Rock, Bandra) where the customer dinner was also being held. We spent a pleasant two days in Mumbai with Sachin and returned to Chennai.
In October 2001, we booked our Fiat Palio in Emerald Green. Delivery was promised in Jan 2002.
In December 2001, I was asked to go to Australia and provide Training on Xomox Valves to the Sales Team there. Sudha came along with me and we left Chennai on 10th Dec.We flew via Singapore to Sydney and stayed at a resort called Panthers in the Sydney suburb of St. Marys. Suresh and Uma and Ganesh Prasad who was also related to us was in Sydney with his wife Usha . ( I had already been to Australia earlier in March 2000--- just remembered this and I'll update it in my previous blog).
We had a scare when we landed in Sydney. After claiming our baggage, we were just about to go past the exit when Sudha was asked to step aside by a big, burly Australia Customs lady.She rummaged Sudha's handbag and took out some cloves which Sudha normally keeps.
Australia is an island and the authorities are paranoid about allowing any plant or livestock that is not native to the country.She was asked to throw away the cloves.
The day after our arrival, Sudha took directions and went off on her own to visit the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.She was picked up there by Suresh and he took her home. She then went shopping with Uma. Here's where a really funny thing happened. During her stay so far, Sudha had only seen big, burly ladies. At one shopping centre, she saw ( for the first time) a really svelte girl. She couldn't help herself, so she went up and told the girl " You're looking nice". The girl looked Sudha up and down and replied ( Thanks, but sorry, I can't help you". Sudha didn't understand what she meant. When she told this to Uma, she said " OMG, she thought you were propositioning her!!!" Sudha felt very embarrassed and avoided the girl while they were shopping. When Sudha told me this, I cracked up since I thought it was very funny.
After I finished my program at Sydney, we shifted to the Sydney Hilton and next morning flew down to Melbourne. Here again we stayed at a hotel. While I continued with the training, Sudha went off on her own to Phillip Island to see the penguins.
We stayed that night in the house of Patanjali and Shobha. Patan was my childhood friend in KGF. Next day, Patan took us around Melbourne. It is a lovely city with lots of classical architecture and the one noticeable feature is the number of Greeks who have settled there.
Trams still run there.We went to Victoria Market, the MCG and went by the Yarra River close to the Tennis Stadium where the Australian Open is held. The Melbourne Grand Prix is also held within the city ( not on a separate race track). In the evening, we met up with Ravi Hiremath ( my former colleague at Akay Industries) and his wife who also worked in Akay. That's where they met up and fell in love.
From Melbourne, we came back to Sydney and stayed with Ganesh Prasad. He took us to the Blue Mountains in Sydney and we enjoyed looking at the spectacular caves there.
We then took a flight to Cairns. Sudha put on her swimsuit and frolicked in the Pacific Ocean while I kept a sharp lookout for sharks. The highlight of the visit was our visit to the Great Barrier Reef in a glass bottomed boat. The corals are just amazing and change colours rapidly.
We flew back to Singapore via Brisbane and spent a couple of days there. We stayed in Hotel Regent ( off Orchard Road) and enjoyed shopping at Mustafa's in Serangoon Road.
My mom, Bhagya and Anand had come to stay in Chennai during our absence and Sandeep was well looked after.
Prior to our leaving for Australia, we got the sad news of the passing away of Seethakka Doddamma ( my mom's elder sister) and spoke to all the cousins who had gathered in Shankara's house in Mysore for the ceremonies.
That's how year 2001 ended.
Sachin came down from Pune and we also had my mom, Kanthu, Bhagya and Anand, Viju and Veena from Bangalore as well as Ravi, Sandhya and Swathi, Shruti and Sunil. Everyone had an enjoyable time.
In the previous month, I had taken a flight from Chennai to Delhi via Hyderabad. Next to me was a lady travelling with a 1 year old kid. The poor kid was suffering from fever and had the sniffles and was crying constantly. The flight left Chennai at 6 AM. Soon , breakfast was served and I had my breakfast. But the lady couldn't eat because she was carrying the child. After I finished my breakfast, I offered to hold the baby while she ate but the child refused to come to me.
I then told the lady , if it was OK with her, I would spoon feed her while she held the baby.She said OK. So I ordered bread and omelette.I broke off chunks of toast and fed her morsel by morsel. I also broke up the omelette into small pieces and fed her morsels.This way she was able to finish her breakfast. The baby was still crying and her repeated attempts to put it to sleep were failing. This was disturbing my sleep also.
I then told her that she should use a steady rhythm called Simple Harmonic Motion which would make the child go to sleep and offered to demonstrate it.She was sitting to my left, so she shifted the baby to her right. I then started patting the baby slowly and rhythmically and in the process went off to sleep myself.
After some time, I felt something was wrong with my patting and suddenly woke up.The lady had shifted the baby to her left and had gone off to sleep herself!!
At Delhi airport, her husband ( who was in the Air Force) received her and she thanked me profusely and asked for my address. Soon , a thank you card arrived at my house. Sudha didn't know who had sent the card and then I explained the background.
In the same month ( Janury 2001), Kannada Balaga organized a Beauty and Talent Contest for Ladies. All Kannada Organizations participated and there were a few sponsors who had donated gifts to all participants. The various rounds included ramp walking and answering queries by the panelists.
Sudha got the first prize. Vrunda Sekhar got the second prize and Apeksha Bhat won the third prize.
I also remember that my uncle T B Venkatesh underwent a Bypass Surgery in Mumbai in Feb 2001. He continues to be hale and hearty today at age 86 and still goes to work regularly. A remarkable man and I wish him many, many more years of healthy and happy living.
Dodda Chaya's daughter Malini got married in Feb 2001 in Bengaluru and Sudha attended the wedding. The groom was a fellow doctor and a Marathi.. Sudha knew some Marathi and enjoyed practising her Marathi with the groom's family and generally acting as interpreter during the wedding.
In June 2001, Sanmar Engineering celebrated it's 25th Anniversary and we had a customer event in Mumbai. Sachin was now working in Mumbai. Sudha came along with me and we stayed at Hotel Regent ( Opposite to Sea Rock, Bandra) where the customer dinner was also being held. We spent a pleasant two days in Mumbai with Sachin and returned to Chennai.
In October 2001, we booked our Fiat Palio in Emerald Green. Delivery was promised in Jan 2002.
In December 2001, I was asked to go to Australia and provide Training on Xomox Valves to the Sales Team there. Sudha came along with me and we left Chennai on 10th Dec.We flew via Singapore to Sydney and stayed at a resort called Panthers in the Sydney suburb of St. Marys. Suresh and Uma and Ganesh Prasad who was also related to us was in Sydney with his wife Usha . ( I had already been to Australia earlier in March 2000--- just remembered this and I'll update it in my previous blog).
We had a scare when we landed in Sydney. After claiming our baggage, we were just about to go past the exit when Sudha was asked to step aside by a big, burly Australia Customs lady.She rummaged Sudha's handbag and took out some cloves which Sudha normally keeps.
Australia is an island and the authorities are paranoid about allowing any plant or livestock that is not native to the country.She was asked to throw away the cloves.
The day after our arrival, Sudha took directions and went off on her own to visit the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.She was picked up there by Suresh and he took her home. She then went shopping with Uma. Here's where a really funny thing happened. During her stay so far, Sudha had only seen big, burly ladies. At one shopping centre, she saw ( for the first time) a really svelte girl. She couldn't help herself, so she went up and told the girl " You're looking nice". The girl looked Sudha up and down and replied ( Thanks, but sorry, I can't help you". Sudha didn't understand what she meant. When she told this to Uma, she said " OMG, she thought you were propositioning her!!!" Sudha felt very embarrassed and avoided the girl while they were shopping. When Sudha told me this, I cracked up since I thought it was very funny.
After I finished my program at Sydney, we shifted to the Sydney Hilton and next morning flew down to Melbourne. Here again we stayed at a hotel. While I continued with the training, Sudha went off on her own to Phillip Island to see the penguins.
We stayed that night in the house of Patanjali and Shobha. Patan was my childhood friend in KGF. Next day, Patan took us around Melbourne. It is a lovely city with lots of classical architecture and the one noticeable feature is the number of Greeks who have settled there.
Trams still run there.We went to Victoria Market, the MCG and went by the Yarra River close to the Tennis Stadium where the Australian Open is held. The Melbourne Grand Prix is also held within the city ( not on a separate race track). In the evening, we met up with Ravi Hiremath ( my former colleague at Akay Industries) and his wife who also worked in Akay. That's where they met up and fell in love.
From Melbourne, we came back to Sydney and stayed with Ganesh Prasad. He took us to the Blue Mountains in Sydney and we enjoyed looking at the spectacular caves there.
We then took a flight to Cairns. Sudha put on her swimsuit and frolicked in the Pacific Ocean while I kept a sharp lookout for sharks. The highlight of the visit was our visit to the Great Barrier Reef in a glass bottomed boat. The corals are just amazing and change colours rapidly.
We flew back to Singapore via Brisbane and spent a couple of days there. We stayed in Hotel Regent ( off Orchard Road) and enjoyed shopping at Mustafa's in Serangoon Road.
My mom, Bhagya and Anand had come to stay in Chennai during our absence and Sandeep was well looked after.
Prior to our leaving for Australia, we got the sad news of the passing away of Seethakka Doddamma ( my mom's elder sister) and spoke to all the cousins who had gathered in Shankara's house in Mysore for the ceremonies.
That's how year 2001 ended.
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