Back ..

Reposting a blog I had written more than a decade back: I just came back from a trip to India.. it was a hectic trip.
I visited all the metros,with the exception of Calcutta -
and you can add Bangalore and Hyderabad to that list.

As you can imagine, I spent a fair amount of time travelling on planes, trains, buses, autos (and rickshaws)!

It was good to spend time at home.. And it was great fun meeting up
with my bro and sis-in-law. I hadn't spent any time with them since
their marriage last year.

Also this time, I spent a fair amount of time with
my grandparents in Chennai. And I am very glad I did.

I think grandparents are gifts to be treasured, and I am lucky to be
blessed with a wonderful set of them. My father's parents are no
longer around, but over the years, my mother's parents have been
witnesses to many things in my life, like my college years -
graduation, and some tough times.

And they have been wonderful company.

I would say that my grandfather is one of my biggest role models.

He is broad-minded, funny, pragmatic and someone who has played his many roles adeptly. Basically a cool dude.

Sometimes, I have wished that I could spend more time getting life's fundaes from him, but then .. most of our conversations have seldom gone beyond the frivolous.

He spent much of his career at the lignite township of Neyveli in Tamil Nadu. He was a gifted sportsman in his time, and played
competitive soccer, tennis and cricket! In fact once he nearly toured
Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) as part of a combined districts team. I think
that's one of his regrets, not having gone on that tour, due to some
administrative hitch I believe. He remains a cricket-crazy individual
even to this day (he's nearly 83) and stays updated on the latest
cricket news. I think I get my love for the game of tennis from him. I
got introduced to the game during one of my annual visits to his
place, and have accompanied him a few times to the tennis club in
Madurai which he used to frequent. In fact, he played tennis till he
was about 65! In his heyday, he had a flair for dramatics as well!

It's always entertaining to spend time with him - narrating stories
and anecdotes of past, and discussing cricket - replete with analogies
and absurd nicknames for the characters within. He has a unique sense
of humor, which often can be characterized as being "absurd" - and
can border on the offensive sometimes ... but ALWAYS funny.

On this visit, I noticed that he was a bit philosophical - which is
quite uncharacteristic of him, actually. I have always admired his
disciplined approach to many things in life, and his
health-consciousness (if that is indeed a word!). But obviously, with
age, things have sort of taken a toll - but the most amazing part of
all this is his attitude and the way he takes it all - without too
many complaints or regrets - and still maintaining his zest for life -
even the seemingly mundane aspects.

He is truly inspiring to me.

My grandmom is like a typical Indian grandmom, happy to spend her time
helping out her husband and her kids and grandchildren, and yet
tremendously contented, humble and down-to-earth inspite of her
troubles.

She has tremendous inner beauty. As I once told someone,
while my grandfather has been the subject of a few poems,
thanks to his sporting skills, I feel my grandmom's
life itself can be a poem. For me, knowing people like her
makes me feel wealthy in a metaphorical sense.

It's always refreshing to spend time with both of them.

Now back to the rigors of MIT.