Jayaraman is born

 This is a letter written by my maternal grandfather to my paternal grandfather. The letter is dated 2nd March 1948 and is translated as under:
"Namaskar. Yesterday evening at 7.05 P.M Sow Visalam (my mom) delivered a male child. The delivery was normal. However Sow.Visalam had a lot of pain and hence a midwife stayed for the night. A doctor from Tirukkattupalli had visited her the previous day. Mother and son are fine. The nakshatram is Swathi.
Soni and Appulingam are doing well (my sister and brother). Hope children are fine over there and studying well.
P.S I will be coming over to Chennai on 6th March, but will be spending the whole day with Swamigal and leave on 7th March"
Points to be noted:
1. The letter is written on a 1/2 anna postcard. (1/2 anna = 6 paise)
2. The letter reached my grandfather on 4th and he posted a letter to my dad who was in Hyderabad. The system those days demanded that communication is only between elders.
3. While my birthsatr is mentioned as Swathi, it got changed by pundits to Anusham later

THESE DAYS THE HUSBAND IS INVARIABLY WITH THE WIFE DURING DELIVERY

Ashwin thatha's flashbacks

It is now more than two years since I blogged. The last was after our European holiday. My daughter tells me that I need to blog to give the grandchildren an opportunity to know me better.
I am starting these blogs, which will all be a flashback on my childhood, school/ college life, right up to my grandpa days. I will keep boring, in no particulate order.
This photo is a shot taken in Yelagiri to give Ash and Div a better view of the pongal celebration by the locals.
Looking forward to more sharing of flashbacks