अ Preface

Family lore may be interesting to some and boring to others. I was listening to a caller on a radio show who was reacting to the speaker on the program commenting on the value of learning from the dead. One of the ways he said was when you visit the cemetery and recall the gravesites. So the caller remarked that his parents were cremated and he tries to perpetuate the memory of his parents by telling the stories about them to his children.

We all wish to know more about our families, long-past anecdotes, and wish to keep connected. At one timeI did not! उसके बारे में याद है! I remember the times when I would rather be in my room on the first floor of 248 RH Road (formerly c/185) reading a comic than come down and say hello to Rajamani Kuttipa who may be visiting on a Saturday afternoon। Fortunately, after a brief hello, parental conversation would move along and I could slip back upstairs। That was in 1966। In 2003, when I visit Chennai, I make time, to drive 20 miles in congested traffic to visit Rajamani Kuttippa …। To say hello!

Different folks have different recollections of the same event and that should be interesting. Some remember more than others. I guess another reason for putting things down on paper is that age differences allows some people to know erstwhile events better than others. Papu and Shanti, for instance, will be able to recall more of Anna from the time they spent holidaying in Royapettah than Bharadwaj who was four when Anna died. Or Jag will recall more of life in Secunderabad than I would . Putting things down gives everyone an opportunity to understand a time which seems hazy.

Family gatherings at weddings, deepavali, etc. are other times to exchange information on ‘Remember when …’ Such gatherings are few and far between as we disperse around the world. So it is time to digitize them.

Moreover, it is not just long past events. We would love to read about current events too, I'm sure. About a snake that turns up at Kaigal guest house when Umesh is staring at the ceiling, or Papu's recent trip to Singapore.

The technology of today makes this free exchange possible. It also allows dissenting opinion, by allowing others to append a footnote clarifying their memory of the incident which may be different from that of the writer. இங்கே தமிழ் உம் ஹிந்டிஇல்லும் எழுதலாம்! (One can write in Tamil and Hindi also here! And Prem can write in Kannada or Telugu also!)