Chinnanchiru Kiliyae

Dear Shraddha,

I attended this year's Aruna Sayeeram concert (Maarghazhi Maha Utsav). She sang the following beautiful song.



Hope you too enjoy this.

Loving Brother,
Sriccharan

Tooth (Un)Fairy!

Dear Shraddha,

Sriccharan lost one of his teeth. He was rewarded Rs.100 by the Tooth Fairy! (Guess Who!!!).


He is now saying, he needs Rs.400 more to start a R.D in his name and so he has to shed 4 more teeth, which he doesn't like to. So he has asked for a hike.

One more tooth is bit shaky and he wants the rest of the amount to start the R.D.

Moving on

 

So the family has moved out of the house at Indira Colony to 18th Avenue. All bags and assorted stuff were packed and moved yesterday. Charan has passed around the new address to all his friends at IC. He was alright, apparently and Jayantha was the one who ended crying buckets that his best friend is leaving.

So much so his mum brought him over in the evening.

End of an era, isn't it? The house where you were born, the one home you have always known, is now home to the family no more. Do you know where the new house is, little one? Will you find your way to the new one?

One Year On...

 
October 31, 2009. Exactly a year since you passed on.

You are missed - every single minute of every single day. Not a day goes by when we don't think about you, amazed at your sharp intellect, your generous heart, your joyful spirit. And not a day goes by when we don't wonder how it might have been, had you been allowed to live a long and fulfilled life, as every child deserves to.

You would have been three years and eight months old today. Studying in LKG. Joining anna in his sloka and singing classes. Lighting up everyone's lives.

I wonder what you'd look like now.

I hope you are at peace, dear heart. Beyond pain, hurt and fear. In a happy place. And one day, we will meet again. Till then, every minute will be spent in thinking of you.

Dear little Shraddha.

On A Roll

காலில் சக்கரத்தைக் கட்டிக்கொண்டு சுத்துரது இது தானா?

More pics...

Sambudu's Betrothal

Hi Dear,

We missed you a lot yesterday (especially)

More picutures

Jai Shri Ram

Sriccharan as Lord Rama

Read about the event

Your Bro's latest fab!

மாடு மேய்க்கும் கண்ணே!

Lord Shiva is Lord Vishnu's amsam. I won't say "OM NAMACHIVAYA". Even He runs to Lord Vishnu for help when in trouble and hence...

Just can't stop thinking about you :(

Hi Shraddha,


You seems to have done your bit to find a Chitthi!

20 weeks to the day...

... since you've been gone. How is that possible?

Sage Charan

So (finally) Anna's annual day function was yesterday! Amma, appa, paati and your athai went to see him dressed up as a rishi and dance on the stage for a few mins, along with three other rishis. Though he saw paati, neither amma nor any one else could make out which of the four rishis was Charan!!!

There was a pre-KG girl who sang "kurai ondrum illai" beautifully and reminded the family of you. Upon hearing about the events, even I could think of only how you would have rocked such events.

Yesterday was also your star birthday. Mini paapa commomerated it by turning over on to her tummy. She did that twice so we could tick it off the list and has gone back to lying on her back! Lazy baby!

In other news, Srimathi chithi has come to Madras from US, with baby R. Amma and Charan will be going to see them at mammu paati's house over the weekend.

Dreams

I dreamt of you last night.

You were standing a distance away from me and playing. I kept calling out to you to stop and come back, let's go home, amma'll be worried. But you just smiled your trademark smile and kept playing on the swings. Swinging 'sky high'.

And then I woke up.

No sense of smell :)

Hi Shraddha,

Your mom complains that she could not smell a thing!

You know what... I held a camphor under her nose...

Hey someone out there, pl. complete this

PS: I met Aruna Sayeeram @ Satyabama University today - occasion - COL honoring Indira Nooyi, Pepsico CEO with Golden Lotus Award 2009.

I told her, "Mam, my son is very fond of your song 'vishamakkaraa Kanna..'", Is that so? she said. "Tell him, I didn't mean him... ha..ha..ha.." she concluded.

Dear Shraddha

Dear Shraddha,

Today is P's birthday. We got him a cake and he will cut it in the evening. Mini paapa saw it and wanted to eat the whole box! She is a lot like you - looks at us whenever we munch, just like you! Tomorrow P is having a party for his friends. I hope it will be a nice sunny day like today. Otherwise I shall have to manage a bunch of children in one small room for almost 3 hours!!

Charan anna's school day is finally going to be held next thursday. He is going to be dancing, wearing a rishi costume! Amma, appa, paati, athais, chithappa are all going to see him on stage. Don't know yet about thatha and Janani akka. Anna is quite nervous but excited about this. You know the funny thing? When I was at JV, the first time I went on stage as a part of the annual day programmes, I also was a "rishi"! 

Mini paapa is lying down next to me as I type this and is singing! She puts her index finger in her mouth and goes "aaaaaa, aaa-aaa" and can keep at it for up to 15 minutes at a stretch. She also keeps her feet flat on the floor and raises her bum. And does a wiggle! But she hasn't rolled over on her tummy yet - nor does she feel inclined to! Did you crawl? I remember seeing photos of you flat on your tummy! 

Cold Comfort

What though the radiance which was once so bright
 Be now for ever taken from my sight,    
Though nothing can bring back the hour  
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;          
We will grieve not, rather find          
Strength in what remains behind;         
In the primal sympathy         
Which having been must ever be;          
In the soothing thoughts that spring          
Out of human suffering;

- Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood   by William Wordsworth

Happy Birthday Shraddha!

You would have been three years old today. I cannot put in words how much you are missed now.




First pic taken soon after birth

Seated in her favourite spot

Many Happy Returns

What else can I say? Where are you my Darling?

Poignant

The house is full of photos of a little girl - last year this time, she was here, asking "how come there are no photos of me, like there are anna's?" A year on, the house is full of photos - but the girl has gone.

3 months ago...

... this day, this bright light was taken away from the bosom of her adoring family. Suddenly. Irrevocably. Out of the blue.

Leaving us to wonder. 

Moving on - or trying to

New Year's Day, Pongal, Fridays - nothing is auspicious or special anymore. Every one of those is a sharp reminder of this empty space in our lives that was so full of Shraddha.

Fridays, the day she passed on, especially are pure hell. They feel more like Groundhog Day. Fresh, raw grief comes to the surface all over again.

Jan 16 was especially bad, as it signified that exactly a month remained to Shraddha's third birthday.

The awfulness continues.