Birthday Boy!

My 59th birthday was celebrated on 20th March with our friends from Dubai. My friend Sivasankaran had come with his wife & in-laws to grace the occasion on that day. It coincided with Prophet Mohammed's birthday, so it was a holiday for all of us in Gulf.

I had bought a kurta pajama a year before when I went to Pune to meet Vivek, which I wore on that occasion. That's what you see beside. That Pajama was too lengthy, which I was not used to, this is the new fashion it looks.

The lunch was designed bearing in mind all are interested in light food, hence the menu was Aval Payasam, Dhahi vada, Brinjal Pitle, cabbage curry, rasam, appalam ( fried), grated carrot etc.

After prostrating before the elders seeking their blessings on the eve of birthday lunch was commenced in a typical tamilian fashion, ' Gents first'. Sivasankaran was enthralled by Dahi vada, gobbled a few vadas.

You can see the lunch in full swing.


The appalam was eaten with payasam after soaking it fully which gives a fine taste. Dahi vada was heavy too, but ok once in a way!
Rasam was excellent, every body appreciated it, so lunch was grand.

We had a Satsang too on that day. My friend had brought a VCD of ' Vishaka Hari ' , a very young lady, belonging to the clan of Sri.Krishna Premi performimg a descriptive , musical kathakalakshapam on ' Sita Kalyanam ', which lasted about 3 hours. It was so nice we all missed our aftrenoon siesta especially on a hoilday afternoon after such a sumptuous lunch. She quoted from different epics, including Tulasi ramayanam, Kamba Ramayanam, Songs of different poets, but her main forte was Thyagarval, whose compositions she sang giving the meaning & the nuances of his composition. It was the most interesting event of the day, which we all enjoyed very much.

In the evening, we went to a park nearby & spent sometime walking around, returned home at 9 Pm. We ordered some food from outside & ate that with home made Thayir sadam, which a Tambrahm can never miss especially if brought up from south.

Our friends left for Dubai at 10PM for a long 90 min journey back home.


So it was a nice time we had on that day on the eve of my 59th birthday!