The Bouquet and the Shawl

17 March 2022

Wow! I am indeed elated. I feel I have become a VasEnite (VasEn – short for Vasundhara Enclave!) again 19 years after leaving the place; I lived in Sreeniketan during 1999 to 2003. (Am currently in Noida.) I have also once again become a Delhiite after having participated in a programme organized by Delhi Malayalee Association, VasEn. It was a real home coming on 13 March. Thank you DMA, thank you Unni (not using a Mr, nor using his full name Unnikrishnan, because then it lacks the proximity) and thank you Pradeep, for inviting me to yesterday’s edition of Aksharavedi as well as for the 2020–2021 DMA VasEn Souvenir release function.

Earlier last week Unni invited me to attend the next edition of Aksharavedi, this time physical and offline, unlike the earlier two on line editions, which also I had the opportunity to attend, thanks to Unni. I was glad to receive the invitation to attend this function, though I did not stay in VasEn or even in Delhi. I gratefully told him that I would certainly like to attend the function. And then came the bomb shell. He said that the subject for this edition was Jnjanappana and that I was expected to talk about the book. This was quite unexpected. I told him that I am a nobody and would rather not attempt any such misadventure. But he insisted. And I had to oblige.

I was aware that not many members knew me because I was never, and still am not, a part of VasEN DMA, nor did I know most of them. I expected to see and say hello to somebody from Sreeniketan, but it looked like nobody turned up. I however, was glad to see Aarav from the society receiving an award.

And here I was, talking to a very silent and attentive group of enthusiastic Malayalee devotees and DMA activists on Jnjanappana! That too after a very beautiful and devout rendering of the poem by 18 gorgeous ladies! Wow! I was doing something which I have never dared to attempt before. It was not an appreciation of the poem, which I am not qualified to do. So I explained what I felt about the poem, how it explains our daily life, and so on.

I thank from my heart the lady who offered me a bottle of water when I was having a little trouble in talking, due to a surgery I had to undergo a few years back.

I was honoured to receive a ponnada (shawl) and a bouquet presented by Shri Babu Panicker, who needs no introduction to Delhi Malayalees. Thank you, VasEn DMA and everybody connected with the programme.

A surprise gift was meeting and talking to Smt Surya, who hails from our own little village Veliyannoor, the northern-most part of Kottayam Dist. Thank you, Surya, for the initiative you took in coming and talking to me. We shall meet again, as Veliyannoorwallahs and alumni of the same school.

It was a magnificent function and I enjoyed every bit of it. Thank you Unni, Shri Raghunath, Shri Babu Panicker, Pradeep, and everybody else who made the function a grand one.

Post script: While in Sreeniketan, I was very fortunate to have been able to bring out several issues of Sreeniketan News, a quarterly newsletter on matters of interest to the members of the society. I acknowledge with gratitude the help and cooperation I received from all, especially Shri G.C. Sharma, the then President, in this venture. I remember it was while travelling to meet with an MP (or MLA?) that I presented the idea of a newsletter to Sharmaji and he readily agreed. After having gone through the newsletter while on a visit to Sreeniketan, Dr Pandey, the then President of the Senior Citizens Forum, invited me to join him in bringing out a six-monthly newsletter that he used to bring out then. I helped him with one issue, before shifting out of VasEn. Sweet memories of my association with VasEn still fill me with pride and gratitude.