Tributes to B. Sridevi - my childhood best friend (28 Jul 1977 - 5 Dec 2021 ) Om Shanthi

 Tears rolling down as I bid farewell to my best friend from my childhood....

This is the story of 2 best friends who first met at the age of 4...both families being neighbours, and grandmothers who raised were friends, it was natural for the little girls to become instant friends...the twist to the story is everyday was a fight, fight for first bench, for standing first row in Marchfast or even to pick the lunch boxes n find best spot under the tree for lunch....the next 12 years was a superficial journey of competitive peer pressure, as this girl became an athelete, best class leader, then SPL of our batch and head girl in mock parliament...she used to feel her ego boosted every time she won over me.  She was my dad's favourite of my friends and always used to say, your dad loves me more than you...irritating me... probably she was true and thats the reason, he called her first to heavens.   

At age 44, she leaves behind two small children, boy who is 14 and girl 11 and husband n siblings heartbroken.   

She leaves behind this friend of hers feeling suddenly lonely and lost the biggest connect with her childhood, my hometown and my dad.   I feel so lost and numb

Thanks to my family, who are standing with me in this times of stillness and Raghu for coming along with me to see her one last time.   This time I will not hear her witty loud voice irritating me.   A teacher who was so hardworking leaves behind impressions that are hard to erase.   She did not have an easy life.   

Last one year her physical body was ravaged with cancer but it could never dampen her spirit.   She was loud n clear till she slipped into her final sleep.   

Wish we laughed more,. Wish we both had easy lives, we were together holding hands and raising our kids but truly wish she was there to see her children blossom.    

Yes Sridevi,. Thank you for being the finest part of my childhood and fairest part of my entire life.   I have many friends, but none who will take me granted like you fighter.   Go and rest now....you played your game well and even in this fight, it is me who lost ...Good Bye Angel ...be the tough girl you were and rule the heavens above ❤️😢

In memory of Balina Sridevi Srinivas Sreesaran Saran  28.07.1977 - 05.12.2021

Remembering and Celebrating the precious friendship I shared...

Every bit of my childhood is filled with your beautiful memories. Truly love you and miss you Sridevi. Thank you for the great friendship you gave me

Celebrating life of a friend- Whom God Loved More!

Date:  18 April 2014

Celebrating Life of a Friend -Whom God Loved More!

Dr Magati Srujana

Not much about what we do
How well we do it is what really matters
These words echo from her website
even today as we remember her
as she went out of site
Popular as a dental surgeon
remembering as a wonderful dancer
Experienced with latest techniques
and smart in her know-how in her field
She wanted her patients to have zero risk
Fate only knows why she was at risk
Smile center, that's how her clinic was called
she managed many specialties under one roof
Her pride in her achievements
is today a solace to all of us
A dancer, a lecturer, a doctor, a surgeon
A great daughter and mother and wonderful friend

Dear Srujana,

It is not right to grieve that you are gone
But to remember you in all right ways
to celebrate the life you shared with us
Remember all good things that you cherished with us

Your family rejoiced with thanking tribute
and it is how we want to celebrate You

'Life is Beautiful' 

Yes in your memories with us too!

April 18th is a remembrance day of our dear friend Srujana...time flies and its already 2 years that she left us all to find solace in her wonderful memories

A Positive Friend

Life is just too beautiful

Just with all good things;

& it is made really beautiful

With one positive friend in life!!!

My best friend ...

 

She is there when you need

No religion, no caste or creed!

She is there to share your joys,

No pain, no gain or no fears!!!

She is there making you smile

When things just don’t go right;

She holds you hand in silence

When you feel like breaking up!!!

She is just there, giving hugs

Playing with you in funny pugs;

She makes you bounce back

Every time you feel like giving up!!!

 

She is there making you take

The silent happy no need walks;

With no purpose, but just be there!

To make you feel complete in care!!!

She makes you food to relish,

Just together, over a lazy afternoon;

She calls you in mid of night!

For no particular reason of rhyme!!!

Just to ensure that you are all ok

Happy and at peace in your way;

She comes home when you are sick

Makes you smiles and become brisk!!!

Yes, she is just not another friend

But my best friend, positive friend!!!

She will be there till my end

Making me happy and applaud!!!

Yes, she is there for me today and ever

My best friend Sunitha…a soul sister..

a positive friend and Best for ever

Happy Birthday Girl!  Enjoy your Day!

Dedicated to my best friend Sunitha:-)   Celebrating her birthday today

 

 

Do we need a special day to celebrate love universally? Is it not a daily thing?

Amused by the newspapers and TV ads focusing on the Valentine Day special, I could not stop from pondering over the necessity of this day in our life.   Is love not a daily thing?   When some one mentioned that we have inherited this culture from West, I could not stop laughing.  I haven't seen this craze of this day after living some years in US.   

We are a culture that is so open today, that we think everything that is new and interesting is inherited from the other side of the planet.   When some claim that this is a hyped marketing strategy aiming at immature teens and youth,  some debate what is wrong in having a special day to celebrate love?   

India from times immemorial have accepted love of all forms.  The universal love of Radha-Krishna,  started centuries before other cultures even emerged.   Love is a very vast subject to debate and debate.  To those in love, it is a blind faith, it is amazement, it is a chronic belongingness to the other person, it is a virtually oneness with the person they are in love.  But for those who look from outside, it looks like silly way of celebrating love.  I am not immune to these feelings, nor do I stop being in love.  I am blessed with a husband who is an ardent lover, who is my best caretaker and my best friend.  

So what is that I am trying to tell here?

First time lovers get carried away, infatuations dream special things on this day.  Love that is cross continental, that is beyond boundaries of caste, religion and national boundaries, take this day for celebration.  Love that is not accepted, that is either pushed or forced to be stopped finds all ways to express the same on this day creating pain to themselves and to those others involved in their lives.   It is a universal feeling of happiness, care and belonging.  Had it not been for love, there is no human race!

However, we do not need special days to celebrate this feeling of heart.   The drum sounds that get louder when you hear the first ring or the first whispers of your love in your ears for the sentence with a three letter words 'I Love you' is always special.  In families, where children are grown with adequate freedom,  liberty for thinking,  sharing of life's ups and downs and are treated as friends, these children can handle their emotions pretty well than others, who are raised in the parental boundaries of control, coercion, debates and questions of WHY phenomenon.  That's when we hear stories of tragedies related to love.

Our history has given enough stories of love..where mostly men were victims...and women move on.  Equally there are instances where people forget their first love and move on with life that time provides them.   No one need to be blamed in this paradigm shift of thoughts.  However, respecting the feelings of each other towards a goodness of minds in the long run will create happy families.  

There is no age limit at when one will fall in love.  Today's newspapers carried a news of a 17 year old boy falling in love with a 50 years old woman with couple of children.   We have seen movies like Chinni Kum, where a young girls falls in love with a person of her father's age.   The great Mumtaz Mahal married Shahjahan as his 14th wife.   Honestly, love is blind.  Love is pain if not handled with care.  Love is a tragedy if not the feelings are let to open up and time will heal all wounds.   Falling in love is not a crime.  However, falling for the right person makes sense.  For that we don't need a marketing strategically created Feb 14 as lovers day.

How many of us know the story of Valentine who died on this day?  Did our children see him?  Is he part of our history books and stories.  To many of us Valentine is just a name.  A name synonym to love today.  Why have we forgotten our own Lord Krishna who was the best lover in our history books.  

The other side of this interesting day, is many people confuse love and lust.  Lot many people think that being in love is only for wanting of sex.   Sex is honestly a biological need of all living mammals and is a necessity to create future generations.   Our temples from ancient times did not stop showcasing statues of  love making...  Our country produced the epic of Kamasutra as a gift to the world of sex.  However, love is feeling of heart, a togetherness of thoughts where as sheer lust is just an urge of the body.  It necessarily may or may not need love in it.        

But love needs compassion, warmth, friendship, sharing, caring, understanding, a genuine feelings of consideration,  mutual giving and taking of things in life, balancing the oneness of the soul and it is more powerful than anything else.  Stop making love and lust synonyms.

If love is universal, love is internal and love is a collaboration of two minds, hearts and life's it will emulate into a life long bonding and decent relationship.   Then in that case, they don't need a special day.  Those who can understand the concept of love, will respect the feeling of it and will move on.  

Love will not become a tragedy if it is true and not forced by circumstances.  Love will remain the same even after the other person's death.  For it will not have anything to do with the physical existence.  But if you cannot reach the other person through your thoughts, if you do not have the same vibrations, if you are not able to get a matching wave length, then it is not real love, it is just an infatuation that you have to leave behind and move on!

Let the love of this universe shine not just today but everyday, creating peace and harmony.  Making love a strong bonding between relationships and unconditional acceptance of each other with their own imperfections and limitations.  Love is not trying to be 100% perfect in a relationship, it is trying to be 100% truthful to the feeling of oneness of the soul.   May all people in love have not just today, but ever lasting happy days! 

    

Why are Reunions Important?

A trip to nostalgia, now and then is good for the spirit-  Dan Bartolovic

From the time FaceBook started getting family and friends back together in the virtual world,  things have changed for many.  The social media made people not only make new friends and new dreams, but it also brought back the memories of the past, and the people who were of it , a great part!

 Many have stopped making friends, and found the comfort of finding their old one's.   Many felt the need to relate to their past and make peace with it.  Many have crossed several hurdles and painful days that they look back at memories with a sigh of relief.   Many have come across people whom they would not want to be in touch in life..and took forward with the lessons learned.  

However, one thing remained growing.   People and their connectivity to the people of their Pasts...Be it school, college, sports friends, colleagues,  book club readers,  charity partners, pool club partners or even walkers together.    

Reunion is not a new term.  It has been there since times immemorial.  But with the kind of stressful pace with lives, many people have forgotten the roots.   Relatively in India, the get-together of families happen for all good and bad occasions and for all festivals very frequently.    Even in this kind of a culture, time became a rare commodity.  

People found excuses wide enough to keep away from what is close to their hearts.  One reason - fear, fear of the past and the anxiety of the future.   Competitiveness of the world brought in bigger comparisons with wider horizons to reach.  Ultimately, we are in the world; children buy time from their parents and the same Parents get neglected as they grow old and useless.  Everything has a direct cause and effect.   Then why reunions.

Reunions are the ties that bind.  As life grows and takes it own path, many of us move on with our own roads to travel.  Some of us run, some walk, some crawl and some drag.  Despite all this, the starting of the road remains the same however be the journey called life.  There are certain things that remain common and related for ever.  The bonding, the friendship, the care, the concerns and the times shared become more important to look towards a future with promises.  

People from our childhood reflect our dreams as a child, aspirations as a teen and focus as adults.  What does not come in the way of this path is how much you achieved in your journey...the roots remain the same.  The bonding is not scared of the new branches of life that emerged as we grow older.   Every one goes through ups and downs..but when it comes to reunions, there is warmth of understanding...a time to rejoice and a memory to recollect...and future to share.

Reunions basically show how we were in the past, how much we made of the time we spent at a particular place and how many of people's lives we touched in this journey. Be it a simple family reunion, or a friends get-together or school or office reunion...the joy is immense, expectations flutter in us making us feel good and bit awkward for certain embarrassing moments that would have been probably a gossip of the past....however,  with the age and maturity comes a reflection of joy in reunions.   Nothing of the past ever hurts unless it has got to be with two particular individuals..but as a group, the reunions are the time to introspect into our own selves and the happiness.

It builds a platform where we feel assured in life that we have people who care for us and whom we care.  Reunions make simple affirmations to the fact that how much ever faster the world may go, there are still roots that get stayed grounded.   The memories of first love, first friend, first job, first school medal, first certificate,  first child....and the list goes on...gets shared...gets filled in the air.  After all, what made Facebook successful is the factor that it brought this possibility of virtual reunion of the world, people and their emotions.

We had a 50th year of Inner Wheel Club of Madras South, where we cherished meeting the charter members, first President of the club and all the past presidents and members which means that over the period of 5 decades the thread of friendship and service continued and remained alive.

After 22 years, when a group of friends met in my hometown to grieve together at the loss of a school friend who made our childhood brighter with her dance performances, we had mixed emotions.  The emotion of celebrating her life and our reunion, and the sadness of her loss and meeting at the wrong time..however...the reunion had a meaning...togetherness at times of need.

After 10 years, when colleagues of Manmar Technologies are planning to meet over this weekend at MGM beach resorts, I am excited... the excitement is like that of a child coming back home from a hostel...or a worker returning home from an on site assignment ....probably the group knows how many challenges most of us have crossed....the group shared the glorious days of IT and also have seen the worst hit recessions that sunk the corporate that was once the highest tax payer in the state.  The group was small and successful, talented and motivated...all high in spirits and aims...together in friendship and bonding....supportive and caring..and hence the reunion surely has a meaning.     

This is the time to relive the memories of the past....and rejoice every bit of it for a night and then create wonderful memories for the future to hold tight till we meet again.............until then..its just ...See You Soon and Never a Good Bye to the Real Friendships that stand strong forever!