Our grandma Kalyani would have turned 101 today. Always in our thoughts.
The Badminton ball tree grandma planted at Puttenahalli Lake in 2010 is growing well and laden with “badminton balls” during season. The birds love the fruit.
My 100th anniversary post has many pictures and can be seen here.
Grandma Kalyani Nair would have been a 100 today!
Today was when our beloved grandma Kalyani left us, one year ago.
The last couple of years of her life, grandma stayed mainly with my younger aunt Pappi (Ramani). For her, that feeling of emptiness lingers on, expressed in these these two poems that she recently wrote. Continue reading
Our grandmother Kalyani Kutty Nair moved on, on 26th September 2018, at the ripe old age of 98. Today, as per Malayalee tradition, the final ceremonies were completed and we hope that her soul rests peacefully.
Grandma was one of the most open minded old ladies one would ever meet, standing apart from others of her generation. Mom tells me that way back, in the 1950s-60s when Princess Margaret (sister of Queen Elizabeth II) was forbidden from marrying Group Captain Peter Townstead, grandma was one of the most upset people in Richmond Town. “She couldn’t even marry whom she wanted to”, she would say. As a mother, her sentiments were echoed by her actions. She was accepting of those her children chose to marry, reassuring them that they were always welcome back if the situation arose. Years later, grandma and grandpa had the opportunity to help a relative by conducting his marriage when the parents refused to accept the alliance.
Mrs Nair, as she was known, would qualify as one of the old timers of Richmond Town having resided there in the 1940s-1970s (on Leonard Lane-Serpentine Street, Richmond Road, Langford Road) before moving to Domlur in the 1980s, and then back to Richmond Town (Rose Lane in 2004) and Yelahanka. Till a couple of years ago, she would recall events and stories of the neighbourhood that were recorded in her mind.
On life, she was quite practical. When grandpa passed away at the age of 96, she felt it was a merciful release. “This machine has to stop sometime, she would sometimes say.” Indeed. Her tenacious heart would have beaten about a whopping 412,40,00,000 times before finally giving way. Her soul lives on in this lovely Badminton Ball tree she planted at Puttenahalli Lake on her 90th birthday 8 years ago. (Read about it here.)
Planting, 19th Sep 2010
She will be dearly missed by the 8 of us cousins – Ajith, Meena, Ajay, Pradeep, Sunitha, Nagesh, Nandan, Arathi, and her 4 children Leela Gautam, Rukmani Manay, Ramani Nair, Bala Nair and 11 great-grand children.
On my grandmother’s 90th birthday, on 19th September 2010, she planted two saplings at Puttehahalli Lake.
The first was a Kadamba, that along with most of the other saplings planted on that stretch did not survive. The ground underneath has a lot of plastic, and this could be one of the reasons. The area is now a butterfly garden with lots of shrubs.
There is still no cure for the common birthday. – John Glenn (astronaut, who is almost as old as my G’ma!)
How must it feel to wake up on your 94th birthday, knowing fully well that it is your birthday? Well, that’s how my G’ma must feel this morning. With 4 children, 8 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren, a birthday such as this will not be missed. From Nemmara to Bangalore, the journey must be full of memories – some pleasant, some not so pleasant, of hardships and comforts, of doctors and medicines, of family and friends, of neighbours and neighbourhoods. 94 years. But as is said, “There is no old age. There is, as there always was, just you.” – Carol Grace Continue reading
21st June was usually “get-together day” for the CS Ananthan Nair family. If it was a holiday, it was lunch that went into tea. Otherwise, tea that eventually carried on till dinner. Apart from being the longest day of the year, it was a special day that we all looked forward to, my grandpa’s birthday. When he turned 80, we had a bit of a big celebration, where we called all his relatives, friends and neighbours. Grandpa would have been 106 today. And in a week it would be 10 years since he moved on.
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