Remembering Ramesh

A week ago, I turned forty five (thanks for all the wishes) and with Malini's birthday coming up pretty soon, my thoughts turned to the kids' birthdays. Ragini's birthday (April 4th) got me reflecting as it was on this day two years ago that our cousin Ramesh passed away. It seems as unreal to me today as it was the day I heard the news - it was only in Christmas 2004 that the two of us, with our families ran into one another at Chennai airport - they were headed back to Australia and we to San Francisco - little did I know that would be my last time seeing him and talking to him. I remember stories that my mom and Echhu periamma, narrated even recently at Harish's wedding, about how Ramesh, myself and Leela having been born just months apart were all cradle babies together at Aparajita - that if one of us woke up crying for food we'd wake up the other two and the mom's would take turns (or beg one another I guess) to placate and feed/change us.

Just two weeks ago when I was in Chennai I ran across the photo album from my 1972 upanayanam. How young (and dare I say cute) all of us looked - it was hard for me to see Ramesh in those photos and hold back my tears. One of the earliest memories I have of Ramesh, is the two of us trying to learn to ride bicycles (which we'd rent) in the Minerva College campus on Halls road. Ravi was supposedly helping us, holding the bikes while we tried to maintain our balance - Ramesh picked it up a lot quicker than me (and could easily reach the pedals, which were still a challenge for me). Swapping stories, many of which were probably tales we had gullibly believed, during the Indo-Pak war is another distinct memory from 1971. Of course playing cricket all the time, some gilli-danda, hide-and-seek and a lot of kite flying kept us busy. In 1974, I think, is when we began going to the same school, DAV on Lloyds Road. However not being in the same class, meant we did not get as much time together but on weekends we continued to meet up and play. Once I left for Banaras in 1979 we saw each other much less frequently and then Ramesh himself moved to Mumbai, Papua New Guinea and eventually Australia.

I know that Raja and Uma probably spent amongst the most time with Ramesh as cousins growing up. I'd love to hear your memories of Ramesh, and if you can share photos of Ramesh that you may have on this blog. I am sure there is some good memories and legacy out there that can make all our lives richer by sharing.