EUROPE TOUR

SRAADDHAM RITUAL  OF THE OLDEN DAYS Today, the 8 th  June, 2025, is my dear father’s 67 th  death anniversary. He passed away in 1958 when I was 21 years old. From then on, I was taking leave every year and travelled from Bombay (present Mumbai) to my home in Palghat, present Palakkad, so that I could perform the sraadham in the presence of my mother and siblings. This went on for about ten years and then we shifted to Bombay. Even here, I was performing this ritual in my quarters, till my mother’s demise. But Time waits for no man and my small flat did not allow me to conduct this function as elaborately as I had done years back in Palakkad. So, as per the suggestion from my family vadhyar, I began performing it as Hiranya-sraadham, which meant that I donate some rice, raw plantain, betel leaves and ‘supari’, along with good ‘dakshina’. He would instruct me some manthras asking pardon from the ancestors and do aseervadam in the end. The whole process took about 30 minute...

 Duronto 6th May 2025 A DREAM TRAVEL BY DURONTO EXPRESS On May 6, 2025, I packed my luggage consisting of a small trolley and a back-pack, to begin my journey from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus , Mumbai  to Ernakulam Junction, to participate in the marriage function of Aiswarya and Vishal. There were many hurdles for venturing this trip, but all those were handled very well thank fully   by  my sons, Anand and Kumaresh. Reminding me that in a week, I will be 88 years old, which meant that I can no longer travel alone, Kumaresh flew all the way to Mumbai to escort me by train to Keralam. Anand promised to take care of hi s  mother with the help of the nurses, Reena (night) and Renu (day) each of whom I was pa ying  at the rate of Rs. 550/- and Rs. 500/- per day . (I remembered that my salary when I joined BARC was just Rs. 260/- per month ). At about 8 pm, Kumaresh booked an Uber taxi to LTT. He had a large trolley suit case as luggage, while I took a small trolle...