Vanakkam Doctor !

India has changed and Chennai by leaps and bounds. I was in Chennai very recently and came back only few weeks ago.   (Saturday 20 th August), after a so called three weeks reprieve or a holiday, or by whatever name you could call it!! The main event was the Stanley 1986 batch silver jubilee meet, which was held a week after our (family) arrival in Chennai. Sixteen of us, including Arun, Bala, and Chandru’s family have settled for our exciting journey on the 29 th afternoon from Manchester , preceded by a few months suspense and excitement over the dates and the venue. Well, we were grounded even before we started and thus how we began.   The Airbus 380 of Emirates luckily developed technical snags, before the flight was on its drive way and we were technically incarcerated for nearly 3 hours before we were let off with a ten pound voucher for each one of us for a quick snack. The flight eventually took off around 8pm local...

Well, it’s going to be a lengthy one unlike others and another in the pipeline too. It was a surrealistic experience and bliss, especially as a born again bachelor in Chennai, the city I love. I mean the build up to the reunion party and the days spent looking forward to it. I would like to thank our friendly organisers and our dear old friends for making it a successful and a memorable one. On the flip side there were none, however, in future it would be better, if we have it over two days rather than one!! Well, we planned the trip very impromptu (me and Chandru), during the Wales holidays around the New Year eve. And there we were few weeks later, cruising over the Alps, gulf, Arabian and Indian Peninsula, eventually landing in Chennai’s airport on Saturday night of 23rd Jan. I am glad and hope Chandru too, that we made the trip. Well, coming to the crunch, I have been christened again. The name is Balu Mahendra! The infamous fellow, who had made memorable movies like “ Moodu Pani”,...