jabberwocky

happiness is too much
fear is too little
good things clouded by unknowns
Shadows lurking, behind garden walls

Sharp at noon
you can barely see them
but they exist
they hide under you

mani mama

Mani Mama passed away on 31st March
The day that we were planning to go and visit him.
I don't want to think of mani mama as dead
people like him don't die.. the just live on and on.

he was the kind of guy that tales are made of..
the hero in the family, the risk taker, the harami,
the guy who did crazy things..
the kind of guy that parents love to hate
that jealous contemporaries envy
the kind that kids just love

we loved mani mama, he was a hero of sorts.
He showed me a white claw when i was 6 years old
and told me that it belonged to a tiger that he had shot when he was young
He sang beautifully. All those old Mohd Rafi songs... loudly just like rafi
My uncles were called Rafi(mani mama) and saigal(thanga mama)
He had five daughters-so their house was always good fun.
He called his wife darling, and Shant(Shanthi amayi)
there was no one in our family like them. My aunt was just as admirable
They loved travelling, they loved doing things... which no one else did--bores.

Amayi was a president of some ladies thingy, Mani mama was the local(state) ball badminton Champion
He was 6.2 something tall. He was one of four brothers and all of them were the same height.
He was the best.. and Swami mama of course.
He named all his grandchildren after characters from comics and books
The oldest grandson was appu-after the elephant.
Then came thattu-to rhyme with appu
Dudu was a crocodile in the comics.. and also my little cousin's name
Chindan was a rat in the comics.. so Vishnu got his nickname from that
Guru and Anju escaped the grand plot. but Kichu and Ammu the last two became part of the party
Vinod got his pet name(which was mani for ages) from mani mama.. he named him.
Mani mama loved cricket and boxing or was it WWF-he knew everything.. or atleast we thought so
Even though we cried and everyone was sad.... it is a different story
with so many daughters, sons-in-laws, grandchildren, siblings, neices and nephews, cousins and others
it was a gathering that could beat any wedding party.
His family had people of many faiths, practising many religions, speaking many, many languages--malayalam, tamil, kannada and
hold your breath--assamese.
He was the best... hope he always stays happy.. like i saw him a couple of years ago
vibrant and active and playing badminton and singing...duniya ke rakhwale... at ear drum splitting sound level.