4th octogenarian meet

The 4th octogenarian meet took place on Nov 1st.Since it wa s Diwali month we decided to talk about diwali in the 30s and 40s.So here goes a description of the meet....

Late noon 3pm saw a very fashionable,mysore silk clad 86 year old lady walk in very pleasantly.Mrs Veda Ramaswami from CITcolony walked in looking cool and collected.

Well, we waited till 4pm when the very punctual octogenarians walked in one by one.
Ms Kanakam a railway retiree came looking for a n evening spent for herself with new made friends.
Mrs Uma and Mr Srinivasan --a couple very young at heart came bringing plenty of old memories to share alongwith a very beautiful ollddd photograph ,of Mrs Uma in her teens in the 30s.(Note Mr Srinivasan is only 90 years young.) Mrs Uma remembered her 'thyaga boomi pavadai for diwali once and she did not forget to mention that sweets were made at home then and not ordered ......
They had a tale to tell of life then.....during Evacuation their house owner paid them money to stay in his house and Mr Srinivasan humorously recalled that they actually found a treasure buried in their house//.
Mrs Uma also remembered that books in those days had a fragrance for themselves which was absent nowadays.
Mr Srinivasan of Aalwarpet recalled how a basketfull of crackers were available for as less as 5 rs,and also since everyhting was seen with the freedom movement as a backdrop, kadhar garments were the order of the day for diwali too, and a kadhar shirt cost rs 5 and a veshti rs 4.

Mr Soundararajan who served the Ministry of Defence spoke of his thalai diwali in Simla.He fondly remembered the lunch served aboard the Frontier Mail---a 5 course meal and particularly that a new plate and dishes was offered for every course..and all this cost Rs 3.75 .
Mrs Kanakam spent her childhood in Andhra and said she always gave more to the poor every Diwali which made her very happy and also said according to her ,the true spirit of a festival was in sharing and finding joy in giving.

Mrs Veda said she remembered diwali as a big joyous festival , living in a big joint family they woke up at 3 am and since it would be rainy season the children would all try to warm the crackers on the 'venneer thavali''

It was on the whole a very relaxing eveningwith no fixed agenda or time schedule to followand as Mr Srinivasan(senior)rightly put it no protocol to be followed and elders were allowed to talk......
the evening came to an end with paal kozhakkatai,thavalai vadai, diwali marundu and filter coffee.

Have we come to a stage when we dont allow our elders to talk freely?
seniors!!!!!we loved to hear you talk and were waiting for more.................
vasoo