Meet on 30th august 2008

Hi Bhooma,

Nice to see the happy faces of ILites in the snap....

By the way, I suggest, you mention the names of the members in each pic. becos, I was unaware who was Uma until I saw her post in the other thread...

Thanx for putting it here

Bye

Hi folks,
boooo, I missed out on the wonderful meet.
What happened to Lakshmi1945? As Bhooma said, it would be great if more people turned out at meets. After the meet, many people voice their willingness to come. It would be nice to meet more ILiites.
Now I am waiting for Sridhar's writeup about the meet. After all, he is a real writer.

My Dear GFs,

It happened again. Just after a week after the last IL meet at Madurai. This time the crowd was large. Bhooma commented to me, "Sridhar, I am afraid we'll have only five or six people."

I told her that was the largest ILite crowd I had ever seen in my three-year stint at IL.

We were late by a few minutes because surprisingly on the road I met a former student of mine who now heads the Finance Department of Reddington at Chennai. I had not seen him for years. I took special classes for CA students back in 1984-85 and he was one of my brilliant students. The beauty is that his mother is also a CA and I had the privilege of helping her with her lessons as well. Nothing gives more happiness to a teacher than to see his student in good stead, and more than that, see him well-mannered and grateful. So even while entering Bhooma's flat S1 in the second floor my heart was full.

On seeing very energetic, enthusiastic ILites like Bhooma, Vidya, Uma and Kalupatti my already full heart expanded even more and the expanded area was filled with unadulterated happiness.

What is the connection between a mofussil accountant in Madurai and a career woman in Chennai? A part time writer and a globe-trotting grandmother? Between him and a talented Vidya and Uma? Or between the accountant and the smart ten year old Brindha, Uma's daughter? Now, ladies, it's time to remember Malathy and Jey with gratitude. For it was Malathi's effort that linked us together on 30th august and made us enjoy one of the most memorable lunches of our lives.

I have noticed a remarkable difference between a ILites meet and an ordinary meet, where people meet for the first time. In an ordinary meet, even if it is a blind date, (well, don't mistake me, I've never been on a blind date..ha ha ha.. I should remember my wife is going to read this thread) it takes some time for the people to warm up to each other. I have seen in those meets that the meeting ends precisely at the moment when people have warmed up enough to have a continuous conversation.

In an ILites meet even when people enter the meeting they are hot. (which means already very very warm). It was as if we had been conversing in some other place and suddenly we shifted the venue to Bhooma's nice compact apartment in Gandhinagar and resumed our talk.

Leg-pulling, teasing, comments.. everything was there. If you ask me to reproduce the conversation I may not be able to. But the undercurrent of love and affection is something that I will remember till I live.

When Brindha, the energetic daughter of Uma Sridharan wanted to play some game, I taught her "in the bank, on the bank" game. My learned wife corrected the name of the game - "in the river, on the bank." I had no choice but to accept my wife's correction though we poor provincial folks have been playing the wrong version of the game for aeons.

The only other male member in the meet was jaisapmm. I was curious to know the reason behind that stranger user ID. He told me that his name was BabuJai. And that he had studied SAP (the famous ERP software) and that MM was the module he was specialising in SAP.

But with another ILite I was almost sure that her user ID kalupatti referred to some obscure family name in interior Andhra Pradesh.
I confidently asked about her native place in East Godhavari District. The lady roared, "pakka thamizhaakkum" And then went on to explain the history of her user ID. Her name is Gowri. Her grandson wanted to call her Gowripatti but could manage only Kaluppatti which the loving grandmother picked up as her user ID in IL.

Bhooma is totally unassuming. She makes you feel at home. Uma Sridharan comes from a family of writers. She is quite friendly and unassuming. Vidu29 (Vidya) made me think that Tamil was her mother tongue. Her Tamil is better than mine. I found out that Tamil was not her mother tongue only when she said she could not read Tamil and hence there was no point in her getting my books. I was stunned.

Vidya, you should start a course "Tamil for Non-Tamils" Some of our heroines and TV announcers imported from the neighbouring states will be greatly benefitted.

Here I should place on record Bhooma's thoughtfulness. When I called her in the morning she posed a multichoice question to me.
Sridhar with reference to dogs,
a) you love them
b) you don't mind them
c) you are scared of them
I being what I am chose d) which was not there. Very, very scared of them.

When Bhooma's affectionate dog Joshua was led through the room we were sitting, Indhu and I were glued to our seats being barricaded by valiant women like Vidya and Gowri.
"Why are you so afraid of dogs, Varalotti?"
"I am sure in one of my previous births I might have been bitten by a dog and that would have accelerated my journey to the next birth.
Whatever it may be fifty is not the age to test one's fears and feelings.
"
Lunch was wholesome with chapathis, jeera rice, rajmi, curd rice, coconut barfis, carat geer and endless conversation on everything under the sun.

I had been just a writer in IL. I never knew that there were women who could design jewellery (the type of women I know only wear them) paint pictures and do so many wonderful things. A really sobering experience for me!

The time between 12 20 pm and 3 pm on 30th August 2008 would go down in my life history as the most memorable 160 minutes.

Thanks Bhooma for playing the perfect host. Thanks Vidya, Uma, Gowri, Babujai, Brindha and of course my dear wife Indhusri for giving me a good company.
And thanks Malathy for making that happen!

Dear Bhooma

It was wonderful to read your IL meet. Even though I am yet to meet a single IL, I feel as if I have known most for a long time.

You have made me hungry ( it is still breakfast hour here) for lunch already with so many dishes.

Dear Sridhar

I too belong to category (d) when it comes to canines. In my case, I was bitten once on the heel in this life itself.

BTW, what is " Rajmi"? . I only know an IL by name RajmiArun.

Dear Bhooma & Sridhar,

It is very nice to read your words and how you all enjoyed in the get-together. It is indeed a memorable one !! Menu is amazing.... Keep it up !!

Will catch you all... once I reach Chennai !!!

Best wishes...

Dear Bhooma,

It was wonderful to read about the lovely IL meet at your place ! It feels as though I've met all of you in person (the virtual meet with your description along with the photos make this feasible)

The potluck menu sounds awesome. Looks like all of you had a lively, fun packed 2 hours !

Cheers
Krithika

Or was it Rajma? I don't know much of the north Indian names. There was this stuff that resembled more kozhambu and it was yummy. I think I heard it wrong.
Or is there really a Rajmi amongst dishes.. Sorry Usha, I will have to lift my hands and plead ignorance.
sridhar

Originally Posted by sundarusha

Dear Sridhar

I too belong to category (d) when it comes to canines. In my case, I was bitten once on the heel in this life itself.

BTW, what is " Rajmi"? . I only know an IL by name RajmiArun.

Thanks Gowri. In fact when Bhooma said that "Gowri" is coming for the meeting I thought it was you, though my more intelligent wife kept on telling that Gowri was in the US.
Only later did I find out that Kaluppatti is Gowri.
thanks for the nice words,
love,

Originally Posted by Gowri66

Dear Bhooma & Sridhar,

It is very nice to read your words and how you all enjoyed in the get-together. It is indeed a memorable one !! Menu is amazing.... Keep it up !!

Will catch you all... once I reach Chennai !!!

Best wishes...

Dear Sridhar,

Your description about the meet has complemented well with Bhooma's !

Makes us feel we were also sitting there with all of you, chatting and enjoying the lovely food.

Yes, as Usha pointed out, me too join with you and Indhu for choosing option (d) since i am also very very scared of dogs!

Good to know all of you had a gala time !

Regards
Krithika

Dear Bhooma,

Very happy for you all... Nice seeing you all. Thanks a lot ...for sharing with us.