36th wedding anniversary!

Suma and I never even in our weirdest dreams, thought of celebrating our 36th wedding anniversary in such a style, when I decided to join her in Chennai at Nisha's residence. The weather was of course oppressively sultry and hot but Nisha, Lakshmi and Parvathy ditermined to give the idea a big heave and a push so that everyone enjoyed the little function. I wanted my old friends Danny, Dinesh and Prakash attend the celebration with their families, so I rang them up well in advance to ensure their presence. They were only too glad to agree to come. So on 12th evening despite the weather, all of us assembled in Nisha's living room. Danny came with Prema, Prakash with Syamala and Dinesh besides Ajita brought His lovely daughter Lakshmi to our great delight.

We hoped Danny's son Prithvi and Prakash's Vijay also to attend but they had other engagements.

One unexpected guest was Sujatha, Suma's sister whose Her presence added more mirth and laughter.



The celebrations started with the traditional cake cutting by Suma, myself, Ammu and Krishna! Danny undoubtedly occupied the centrestage. He rose up to his reputation guzzling more'fuel' to help him to energize himself to dance, sing, crack jokes and find time to play with Krishna and Ammu! He became instant hit with dear Kichu who refused to release his new friend to take his much needed sips!

When the ladies started to drown us with their chatter and laughter, we moved a bit away and huddled ourselves with our glasses and bottle in front of us. Our memories travelled past with supersonic speed towards the 70s. Nostalgia flooded our minds and out came the stories of recklessness which we might have discussed hundreds of times earlier. We missed Anup, Dev and Indru but Prakash who shot our wedding photos in color ( color photos were a rarity and luxury those days, but Prakash was a sailor who used to go around the globe several times and for him it was not a big deal!) was with us. When I told Prakash I preserved those photos, everyone screamed at me why I didn't bring them . I know, I should have done it but I simply forgot. I promised Prakash I'd show it to him sometime later.

What followed was a delicious dinner and the crowd dispersed after that. Krishna was very reluctant to part with 'Danny uncle' but Danny assured him that he'd again visit him next day!

Suma and I were simply overwhelmed by the love and affection bestowed upon us by our friends and of course, Nisha, Lakshmi and Parvathy. We certainly missed Vinod who was away in Nairobi on official duty.

So it was a memorable day in our life as important as 12th sept 1973, because of the participation of my friends who were with me on that day at Palakkad!

Murali