I Met Two Great ILites! Had a Great Day!

Most Gracious ILites,
On 14^th July, 2007, around half past seven I was browsing my mail sipping a cup of real hot filter coffee affectionately made for me by my sister. I have subscribed to a web-based astrological service which sends me a mail every day telling me how the day would be. The mails have a great amusement value. The sum and substance of the forecast for me on that day was "VIP Dharshan ."

On so many days the astrological predictions from this site have been false. But it has never been as false as it was on that day. When the events of the day unfolded before my bewildered eyes, I realised that the forecast was wrong on two clear counts : One, it was not just one VIP but two. Two, not just VIP but VVIPs. Let me thank my Lord for the blessings before I describe the events of the day.

The VVIPs I met today are the two pillars, the two doyens of IL, the two formidable Cs of IL. C1 Chitvish and C2 Cheeniya.

The apartment sentry called me up to announce that a car has come to pick us up. Indhu and I who were ready and raring to go, took the lift to the ground floor.

As the elevator reached the destination we were welcomed by the snarl of a Black Labrador, a fiery dog, the favoured pet of my sister’s sister-in-law. I respect valour but I respect the better part of valour even more. I mean discretion. I used it to my advantage. We beat a glorious retreat back to our third floor apartment.

Soon escorted by two security guards we braved the Labrador which was held in control by a puny servant maid and walked with courage and confidence to the waiting red Indica sedan to be greeted with a Namaskaram by none other than CV, C1 of the site.

We exchanged a lot of IL gossip on the 20 minute-drive to the official residence of the Official Hostess of IL. (Chithra, it is your turn, your duty to explain the juicy gossip-notes we (my wife Indhu was also there) exchanged. (Ha ha, see, I have put you in a fix now….)

We were welcomed by the soft-spoken and the ever courteous Shri Viswanathan, CV’s better half, and a chartered accountant, cost accountant and a company secretary all rolled into one. People are quite surprised by the pleasing, charming manners of this soft-natured gentleman. For me it was no surprise – you see he belongs to my profession and the good qualities follow as the tail follows the head. (ha ha ha)

As we were discussing the sweltering heat, the evening rain, and the ever-growing traffic congestion of Chennai, we heard a mild knock. The door was opened to let in who, but the one and only C2 of our site, Cheeniya. He was of medium height, slightly on the plumpy side but with a face and a tone of voice which belonged to a much younger man. I should admit that at his age (I still cannot believe when he says that he is 64) he is unusually handsome with a charming white beard. Along with him walked his wife, another Maduraiite, Mrs. Indra.

Cheeniya talks in the same way he writes. Natural, humorous and warm. After a decent interval the three great ladies retired into the dining room to lay down the table for us. The three men indulged in men-only conversation for a while.

Cheeniya, Viswanathan and I sat down to dinner. The women waited on us. Compared to being pampered and served by three well-meaning ladies, a buffet is a very dull affair. We men, indulged in the gastronomical pleasures jointly provided by the two ladies CV and Indra.

Chithra, I need your help in listing the full menu. I loved the cabbage-peas kari, (I had four helpings) the typical Madurai Kathirikkai Kari (I think it was courtesy, Mrs. Cheeniya) the busi bela bath, rasam, more milakai, two types of payasam, coriander curd pachadi and a number of other items. The dessert was Gulab Jamun and rabdi soaked in ice cream.

Dinner at Chithra’s place has always been a treat. This time it was only more so. Talking about Chithra’s hospitality is not just like carrying coal to Newcastle, but attempting to sell that to the owners of coal mines there.

Splendid, excellent, marvelous – these words come near but do not reach the exact sense I have in mind to describe her hospitality

And added to that there was Mrs. Cheeniya’s contribution. But to me the greatest treat was conversation with Cheeniya and Mr. Viswanathan.

C2 was cracking jokes at the speed of light and unless you are alert you are likely to miss one or two of them. I asked the one question which I had been having in mind for a long time.

“How come Cheeniya Sir, you do not land yourself into any trouble in IL? No controversies, no heated debates, no fights. Whereas I seem to get into trouble every other week?”

With his characteristic benign smile he let out a great truth, as if telling a joke. “You see, Sridhar, I have made a promise to this great woman (he pointed out to his wife, Indra) that I will not fight with any person except her.”

I only wish I had made such a promise to my wife. But now it is too late.

Now I understood the reason behind the ladies swarming to Cheeniya’s thread. He is a charmer, crowd-puller and a ladies man – the first ever ladies man, whom I ever admired.

For a while I and Cheeniya (and to some extent Viswanathan too) teamed up against the women and cut a few jokes at their expense.

Left to myself I would have stayed there for a whole day and more. But I had another important business on that day. (A separate thread is coming up on that). So with a reluctant mind we had to take leave from the Graceful Hostess, the Charming Cheeniya, the Kind Mr.Viswanathan and the Gracious Mrs. Indra.

To balance the narration I think I have to find some faults with Cheeniya. And I have come up with two.

First his Avatar in IL is all wrong. The Owl does not fit his personality at all. The Avatar creates an unconscious association in one’s mind. I was looking for a gruffy old man with stern manners when he walked in. But what I saw was a pleasant, charming, chirpy young man. The right Avatar for him should be a lark or better still, a love bird. Second he got the name of his Forum wrong. “Senile Rambling”:
Both the adjective and the noun are wrong. As far as I know senile is something connected with old age. Cheeniya is far from it. And his writings are not ramblings.

And Ladies, this meeting is going to bring to us all another bonanza. Yes Cheeniya’s picture will be released for the first time in IL.

Chithra has taken beautiful pictures on the occasion and she was gracious enough to let us choose which pictures could be posted.

Finally Chithra a big thanks to you for making things happen. For hosting us, for making us meet Cheeniya. For picking us up and dropping us down at our place. For everything.

Dear Friends,
VR, being a "writer" has given details about "our meet" in his inimitable style !
I am no match for him - but will write in my typical style !
VR sent me an invitation for his niece's arangetram on 14th July. I phoned up Indhu & she said that they were coming to Chennai for the occasion.
V immediately suggested to me "why not we have the privilege of arranging the two eminent writers, C2 & VR meet in our house?".
It was one of the few occasions, (you know I hate to tell lies, as much as possible) when I readily agreed, rather jumped at his suggestion.
When I put forth the idea to VR through Indhu, he said "double OK".
C 2 showed equal, if not more interest in meeting him.
I requested both the doyens to come with their wives ( I do not like the term better-half since there are a few occasions in life, though very few, when they fare better than us !).
They spent nearly 2 1/2 hours with us. As usual V was the ever-silent spectator and listener. Though both the men talked a lot, Indhu says I talked the most & she could sense that I was so excited on meeting the two "greats" of our site in my house.
Indra is a great cook ( I have put one of her recipes in my forum). If she starts contributing, I will have to choicelessly & gracefully quit the recipe forum !
The menu was
Caramel payasam
Coriander raita
Cabbage-peas curry
Mixed vegetable sadam
Pineapple rasam
Karuvadam & curd chillies
Hot gulab jamun with chilled rabdi
Brought by Indra:
Pal payasam
Bisi Bela
Ennai kathirikkai kari

I was so sure VR would call this thread
"Caramel Payasam & Ennai Kathirikkai"
in his latest style of "nomenclature" !

We all had a very enjoyable time & I have to mention, that the two men in the confidence that they were the majority had a few (harmless) digs at me, poor me! I did underplay, without defending myself, because V, my respectful spouse, was very much around - he never bothers about what I write in I L & does not know how naughty I can get.

Now that VR has posted separately about Cheeniya, I want you all to know how I got to know Cheeniya. As I wrote in one of my posts, I was not fascinated, rather I found the name Cheeniya very funny & for that one reason ( you can realise how silly I can be, ofcourse, only, at times), I never bothered to read his posts. He wrote a thread on vedanta, in his usual style with a "dig" at the listeners who come to such meetings. That "stirred" me & I promptly sent him a long reply defending vedanta students. That triggered a PM exchange when he asked me, if I call myself chitvish because (according to him) I write
Chit thathukku thevaiyana Vish ayangal
Well, I wrote to him my full name. I don't know, how he guessed, he immediately came on MSN messanger with his photo & asked me to find out from V if he knew him ! V said, they were good old friends & that he used to meet Sri ( as you now know, I prefer that to Cheeniya) eveyday, because they were the bankers to TVS, where V was employed.
Needless to say, the friendship was renewed ( Sri, please thank me for that) & we are now family friends. Goes without saying that Indra coming from Madurai is a plus point for me - infact we were almost next door neighbours in our childhood.
So, now, you can all come to the conclusion that Madurai nativity does play a strong role in I L !

How can I not write a "formal thanksgiving" inspite of my friendship with Varalotti & Sri ?
My good friends, Sri & Sridhar, you both honoured me by coming home with your wives. V repeatedly says that he had the most enjoyable time, listening to three of us talk non-stop !

As you can all guess, the photo session follwed & I am posting them.
So you can see my ever-28 year old young friend & my new young friend who makes it a special point to write about the 64 summers he has seen in life - well Sri, I do not propose to write how many winters I have seen so far in my life. That is because I am in the process of U turn with my age !

Love,
Chithra.

dear sridhar,
this time u beat me to the core, i thought i would get to meet sri someday but that remained a distant dream, though we started as a chat friend and he a charmer really drew my attention, to me who never used to bother with men who come on chat but when he directed me to his sulekha site, i got bowled over, and just could not help bring him to IL after reading most of his article, i felt, my what a man having a different dimension to something that we usually will not bother, and today u describe u had a nice evening in the company of his family u have made me very jelous pa, any way nice of u to show the sri that i had not visioned, the owl is wrong the senile rambling wrong then how does my hero look hahahahh and u did not describe mrs sri [indra] i felt always, though in his articles he kept writing abt fight she must be one hell of a back bone for him, set me right if i am wrong, and chitra being chitra her fairs have always been mentioned with so many items, that is y she is where she is in indus. Thanku for giving me a glimpse of my friend sri here...regards sunkan

Dear Sundari,
Of all the contributors to the IL, you are simply the greatest. For we only contribute articles and stories - all are but words. But you have contributed a contributor himself. I man Cheeniya sir.
Chitvish will soon be posting the pictures taken on that day. And you can have a glimpse of the man behind the owl and the senile ramblings.
As to Mrs. Indra, Cheeniya's better half, a glance at her soft, innocent face tells me that she is the real backbone and support for Cheeniya's writings. I think that in this respect I and Cheeniya are in the same boat. In my case but for the support, the total, wholesome, loving and complete support provided by my better half (in my case she is clearly the better half, and the best half) Indhu, I cannot even dream of writing. When it comes to sharing the household chores, I am a monster. I let her do all the work and she does it all with love leaving me all the time in the world to think and write.
I am sure that Indra provides a similar support to Cheeniya. Mrs.Indra is an acclaimed cook. I took some four or five helpings of her ennai kathirikkai. I am sure only a dedicated lady and that too a lady who hails from Madurai can prepare a dish like that. She is a soft-spoken lady with all goodness. For which wife would say, "When he goes to a social gathering, he is surrounded by all ladies." She said that and I think by doing so she revealed more of the depth of her love than the popularity of her celebrity husband.

Thanks Sunkan for the nice words,
regards,

Dear Friends,
I am posting two more photos taken yesterday.
The positing is mine, the viewing pleasure is all yours !
Love,
Chithra.

Dearest friends,

I haven't logged in today. My day and even yesterday was very eventful and also I was fraught with all sorts of anxiety that my mother was undertaking an international flight etc etc. I am now exhausted and over excited !! She is here and she is safe, some mishaps, but hopefully can be fixed.

To wind off my day, I logged in when the entire family has retired for the day, including my dear mom........AND.....what do I find.....All My Favorited People looking back at me:)))))

Some of you, I have seen and had the pleasure of knowing a bit closer. But...lo behold...Cheeniya with Mrs and all:)

What a pleasure!

Cheeniya......I always imagined you the way you are! Believe it or not!! Only, you have a mole to boot!!!!!!! Mrs Indira looks lovely and has a lovely name, Indira.

Sridhar, dear friend, you look hip:) New haircut and seem to have lost a few kilos??? Indhu is absolutely sweet..Indhu and Indira...my...is that a co-incidence or what!

Chithra......you are a chithiram....as usual....And....Thank You for the pics.

Now.....

I MUST sleep.......for I am badly needed by the whole family..4 generations in alll....Tall order!

Love you all.........Kamla aka Sujata

Varalotti- Thank you for posting such a warm and vivid write-up. I must say that it was not just you who had a prediction of VVIP darshan. Cheeniya must have had the same forecast since he got to meet you. Tell Indhusri that she looks super.

Cheeniya sir- And let me also say (Girl Guides code of Honour)- you look exactly as I expected/dreamed/imagined. I can think of many modifiers here, affable is the first that comes to mind. You look smashing like your writing. For some reason, you and MrsCheeniya together remind me of my parents. Maybe not the exact looks, but I can sense the spirit, the affection, the gusto is the same. I will be lucky if I get to meet you both some blessed day.

Well, we all know the fairy tale of how the Kiss of a Princess turned a green, loathsome frog into the handsome Prince Reginald of Skadavia! I had always thought that such a magic touch was confined only to fairy tales but here comes Varalotti Sridhar who with a few taps on his keyboard transforms a non-descript old man into some kind of a cult figure.
I had posted in my sub forum a few months back a thread titled "The Eternal Myth" based on the Berkeleyan Philosophy that nothing exists unless it has an observer! By writing all that you have done about me, my dear Sri, you have given me existence!
At 64, I guess everyone looks handsome since everyone looks alike! Yet, those who keep smiling all their lives, no matter what they go through, acquire those special creases on their faces that give them an edge over others. Maybe, having been one such person, I have all those lines on the right places save the crow's feet!
My sense of humor is wholly the product of some highly dedicated reading of PGW. In fact, at some point of time in my early life, my friends warned me that my visage was getting dangerously close to that of the Empress of Blandings and my God! how elated I felt at that comparison!
And yes, I do feel that my forays into the cyber world would not have been successful without the support of my wifey. In this context, I cant help remembering a foreward written by Wodehouse to one of his novels in which he said, "I dedicate this book to my dear wife but for whose incessant nagging, I would have completed it much earlier" or words to that effect!
Sri

Chitvish is what chitvish does. She has reached a position in IL which will be a distant dream for most of us. From maakkolam to morkozhambhu, from Baghawad Gita to Aagama Sastra, her range is awesome but what is more significant is that she makes it eminently readable. Her 'Ask Chitvish' is still running to packed houses as Haridas did several decades back!
In fact we started off with a near fight when I wrote on Vedantha that roused the puritan in her but being adept at ducking when there is a prospect of a long drawn battle, I patchecd up instantly and our friendship has grown from strength to strength since then! Her darling hubby Vish turns out to be my long and good friend too!
Chitvish knows that I like her lighter side better than her counselling side and l am happy that her responses to my threads have more of a humor content than serious arguments.
I have had the pleasure of partaking some of her preparations and I can assure you that they taste as nice as they look in her photographs! Which makes me believe that she never presents a recipe unless she has tried them herself. God has blessed her with a hubby who never fails to appreciate whatever she makes and if that cant bolster self confidence in a wife, what else can!
I tried guessing her age but I get confused everytime. Sometimes she says she is older than me which I think is only to bolster my image! Her grand daughter Manaswini must be lucky that the sponsors of the Miss Chennai contest has restricted the upper age limit or she would have stood no chance against her grand mother ( assuming of course that the judges were a bunch of old men with dentures!)
How can I thank her enough for the opportunity given to me to come face to face with someone who rides IL like Collossus? Thank you my good friend, Chitvish , for making this momentous meeting possible!
Sri