Kingdom of Bahrain
October 10, 2009
Thanks for the "more-than-expected" response and encouragement I received from some of my well wishers, in a span of, say, 6 hours after I created this blog site ! Alternatively, this has set in some kind of pressure on me to initiate and regularize my blogging !
May I remind you once again, I am neither a great writer nor an "Ustad" in English language, but my passion to express my feelings in writing has forced me to nurture and "grow" this skill.
Before I start the sequel (yes, subject to your encouragement and continuous support), let me introduce me and my beloved family. Each and every individual introduced here (and in the future blogs) are near and dear to me and am always indebted to them for my existence today.
Some Definitions
Being a Malayali (Keralite) by birth, for the sake of a "nostalgic-touch", let me prefer the usage of the following words. Their definitions are as follows, for non-Malayali readers and well wishers!
Father : Achan (in my context, he is Daddy)
Mother : Amma (in my context, she is Mummy)
Mother's sister : Valliamma (in my context, I give Mother's honour, hence Amma to me)
Her spouse : Valliachan (in my context, I give Father's honour, hence Achan to me)
Father's brother : Valliachan
His spouse : ValliammaBrother (elder) : Chettan
Sister (elder) : Chechi
Brother (younger) : Aniyan - usually referred by name
Sister (younger) : Aniyathi - usually referred by name
About Me and my immediate family members
Me : Renjith P Sarada
Born on an April 6th (year undisclosed for the time being!!) to Capt. K. Prabhakaran Nair (Retd.) (hereafter referred as "Daddy") and Late Sarada Amma (hereafter referred as "Mummy"), I was brought up with due care, love, affection by Daddy, Achan, Amma (please refer the definitions above) and my siblings from both these family branches. In short, I was "Handled with Care" as I must have had a cover on me with a "Fragile" marking. Thanks to the Almighty for gifting me such a nice and happy family.
By the time I stopped my post-birth crying and started to open my little eyes (getting developed!) to see this beautiful world, Mummy had left to the other unknown world! I was told much-much later that she had brain tumour and I was operated prematurely and brought to this world by medical science, knowing the destiny of the life that carried me for nearly eight months! Thus, Daddy was left with four children, the eldest daughter aged 15! Being a father of two children, now I, much painfully realize the mindframe my Daddy would have experienced and been in, during those tensed days. Daddy, as I write this blog at a place geographically far away, I bow down at your feet to offer my Pranams and respects !
Mummy : Late Sarada Amma
Daddy : (Shri) Capt. K. Prabhakaran Nair (Retd.)
Those days, Daddy was serving as Asst. Commandant in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) outside Kerala and hence due to his travel and other schedules, it was difficult or next to impossible to look after a premature-born-infant on his own !
Valliachan (alias Achan) : Shri N. Kamalasanan Nair
Valliamma (alias Amma) : Smt. Padmavathy Amma
Within a few hours and without any hesitation, Achan and Amma (above) took the vital decision to take up the utmost responsibility of looking after this prematured, ugly-looking, toad-like object (as my siblings now tease me!) as a Guardian. I honour and respect Achan and Amma till my last breath for their selfless commitment towards my well being and sustained happiness. The fact is that I was brought up by Achan and Amma with a spoon of additional affection, more than what they had been providing to their own five children. Looking back, that was a great decision and a great step, considering the risk of bringing up a child not born to them biologically!
Thinking aloud, today, in the present scenario, global conditions, nuclear family atmosphere and recession all around, would me or you plunge into this kind of an action? My doubts !
Myself with the big family of 5 + 3 + 3
When I say a big family of 5+3+3, I mean five siblings born to Achan + Amma and three siblings born to my Daddy + Mummy and my nuclear family of 3 comprising my sweet wife (Bindu), son (Govind) & daughter (Gayathri).
This blog is just an introduction and a "familiarization mechanism" to all my beloveds mentioned above!
Through this blog, let me thank those five great personalities for their share and care, that has bolstered my personality. Thank you, Ravi Chettan, Shyla Chechi, Ambili Chettan, Geetha Chechi & Thanku Chettan ! Also, I must never forget the love and affection showered by my own elder sisters, Rema Chechi, Rethi Chechi & Lekshmi Chechi!
More on their spouses and their introduction will be featured in some of the coming blogs since I plan to write something about my early days as well !
Recently, on the eve of the wedding of one of my nieces, Amma took the initiative to organize capturing all of her sons/daughters (5+4 !!) in one photograph !
So, vide the below all-in-one photograph, I am happy to introduce : (Sitting) Thanku Chettan, Achan, Amma, Ambili Chettan, Ravi Chettan (Standing) Rema Chechi, Geetha Chechi, myself, Shyla Chechi, Lekshmi Chechi and Rethi Chechi.
Please note that I am deliberately avoiding their official names, to give this a nostalgic touch and a sense of belongingness !
Bindu, Govind & Gayathri
Bindu, my sweet wife has been providing all kind of support and is a good critic as well! Sometimes, I realize that she should be nominated for an "Endurance Award" for tolerating my whims and fancies.
Govind, my son, aged 11 and Gayathri, my daughter (the latest in our clan), aged 4 months also bring me loads of happiness!
Bindu, Govind & Gayathri would be "detailed" in the future blogs, as my day to day life circles around them !
Thank you, Lord, for making me appreciate and realize the beauty, warmth and strength of such a wonderful and loving family.
Looking forward to your comments and feedback, I remain.
See you soon!
Renjith Sarada
© 2009-2012 (Renjith P Sarada) All Rights Reserved
25 comments:
fantastic work, felt an ache somewhere
Sudhy
Thank you, Sudhy for the first comment I received. From your comment, I am happy to know that the message is properly conveyed. Thank you for your time.
-- Renjith
Yeah Renjith, Was expecting this from you quite some time back, as you are known to talk and write a lot(Most of the times useful......!!!!) ;-)
Anyway, nice to know your family, about 60 - 70% of them I know by names... if not faces....
Keep Blogging.........
You can collect all your earlier achievments(if any...) and Acchu's too in this, which you have sent to your friends earlier....
See you soon
Bye.
Sarada Priya
Wow.. I had a long list of 'I-dint-know-thats' .. But its wonderful and heart warming.. Keep writing.
Renjith, we salute u. Went thru the blog. U harbour so much of love in persona and for e'one. Very blessed! A hard core like me was melted by the rendering. Keep writing. Our enquiries to bindu, achu & little darling and best wishes.
It was good...U r a good writer too...so keep blogging....congrats....
Good work Renjith. It was too good for a starter.You have a promising writer in you. Keep going.
Excellent work - truly touching
Keep it up and look forward to more
Joseph D (SJHS 1987)
Thank you all for your positive notes. These will definitely strengthen my urge to write more...
Best Regards,
Renjith Sarada
quite inspiring esp t times wen i hav lost faith in all r'ships, family senti etc.kudos to ur dad for all ur success till day. worth t read wit a human touch.. would luv to read more ..keep writing
hey renjith, quite a story... must say didnt read much into you during our short professional knowing period. Hats off to your family and am sure you will get showers of blessings ... my love to gayathri, goving and bindu and off course achan and amma..
Renjith,
All the very best,quiet touching anyway we never ever spoke about any of it.Been busy fooling around and cracking jokes let it continue..............your family which includes everyone will carry my highest respects.Still remember the nice evening we all spend together.
"i was about to leave a comment on ur page but it required a google account i dnt have one so i decieded to leave my comment here.. all i can say that it is a touching story worth reading esp ur dad's part. i like how you started your blog with your family. i am looking forward to read more of your blogs :) Good luck!"
Hmm,LIFE!! it never ceases to amaze me,that was a very soul stirring intro to ur early days and the warmth of relationships,which in these time have to be searched with magnifying glass,its so heartning to see and feel the strong ties of your family and it sure seems to be reflecting in ur nuclear family too..God Bless.Easy&good style of writing!peppered with ur own style of sense of humour!, not making the read too dry,Good going! keep coming with more..all the very best!
Well written, excellently drafted. I think your project management skills have come in handy. Reading it once is enough for a novice to understand what you want to communicate. Job well done. Congrats
To be frank its very nice, good narration. I think you can continue to be a successful blogger.
Wish you all the very best.
Way to go and many many such wonderful credits to you kitty. Awesome,I really don't have much experience and words in my stock, but simbly great.......
Dear Renju, my dearest brother........very impressive, true...touching everyone lovingly......Renju, keep writing you have that spark in you..........Love......Rethi chechi
Dear Renjumamma,
Finally sat down to read ur blog. For me, it was like walking with you while you are introducing our family's most important people to the world. Indeed Renjumamma, our family will be always dear to me...and your words brought in a moment of pride in me, that I too am a part of this wonderful family. Love you for that! At the same time, I extend my sincere statuatory warnings for any blogs that might come to your finger tips. Because being from one family, I know you might have loads of embarassing secrets, WHICH NEED NOT BE PUBLISHED.So think twice, thrice and fries, lol!
Dear Renjith;
Great job! Even before you started this blog I was telling you; there is a 'writter' in you. A day will come when people realise & recognise it.
That day I will tell my other friends : "Oh I was fortunate enough to work with Renjith as a colleauge".
Thomas
Certain things i understand from ur blog Renjith 1) Words from the mind touches the other mind and the language of the mind is simple 2) Greatness of people is not evaluated by the big goals they achieved but by the unpublished sacrifices they done
As someone else commented here there was a lot of "Wow I didn't know that abt him'..But was a very beautiful introduction to ur extended family...Keep writing...
Felt wonderful to be virtually introduced to you and your family.
Reading your blog just reminded me of a line I read somewhere...If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable - each segment distinct.
The family... a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.
-- Erma Bombeck
I am very happy to know Rema Chechi and family well and have met your Daddy, Rethi Chechi and Preeti sometime back. Looking forward to meet the rest of you all too.
-Sindhu Deepak
Well written, great to know about the dearest ones you hold in every breath.
God bless.
Rej
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