Letter To Iyer Viji

Dear Viji Maami,

This letter from me to you has been long overdue. I have thought of writing many, many times but kept putting it off. Tonight, I decided to write to you. I am Aamrapali and that is how I am known on Indusladies. You and I have never met, never known each other outside of IndusLadies, never messaged one another. In fact, this is the first time, I am contacting you at this personal level.

I am a simple ordinary middle class woman from Chennai and now residing in USA. Across both these countries, I have met a few people who have stayed with me forever in various forms - some coworkers, some friends, some on online forums like you. For many reasons, these people have never left me in the sense they have been strong influencers and are with me through my most mundane days, somewhere in the background, influencing the way I think, act and do.

Viji maami, you are one of them.

You may find this amusing, but sometimes a day does not pass by when I do not think of you. You may wonder why - but it is the so little that I know about you that has impacted me.

Your posts that share your memories about your early married life in a chawl, your memories surrounding your job - promotion - retirement - colleagues, your children and grand-children, your passion for hand-made jewelry to give to your friends and family, your religious pursuits, your spiritual thinking, your finding strength amidst difficult circumstances. Above all, I learnt from you how to be simple, down-to-earth, have minimal needs but to derive a whole lot of contentment from what I have.

I learnt from you how to balance personal interests, family relationships and professional expectations. You have thought me how to find happiness in the little things in life, how not to be greedy, how to be sentimental, nostalgic AND practical - all at the same time. I learnt from you to be comfortable being who I am without guilt, shame or remorse. We spend a big (useless) chunk of our life worrying about what another person is going to think about us. In this fast-paced busy hurried world, we have a constant need to be noticed, for approval and to impress. We are then depressed and dejected when our expectations are not met. You have rekindled the belief in me that if one is simple, pure at heart and a sincere good human being, there is truly really nothing to fear at the end of the day. You have made me confident to keep doing whatever I do with sincerity no matter who agrees, disagrees, accepts, criticizes.

We meet many people in our life who have a positive impact on us but we hesitate to tell them - sometimes our ego or pride comes in our way to acknowledge, at other times we think we may embarass them with our compliments, or they may feel obligated and uncomfortable accepting compliments. Even if in an online forum, I am happy I could share this with you.

I think your children and grand-children are lucky to have someone like you in their life that they can look up to as a role model and an influencer to help them lead productive, constructive, positive lives. I don't know if our paths will ever cross - I hope they do.

Thank you Viji Maami for everything. I am glad I met you in my life.