Life, My Favourite Teacher!! - 1

We are a family of four and they were my first world. When it extends to the first circle, we were 18 of us. Very closely knit, my family. The closeness does have a significance because not all families are like ours, today, and we do have a reason to be proud. This also calls for my introduction to every member constituting it. My name is  Maitreyi.

My father Mr.Srivatsan, son of Mr.Soundarajan and late Mrs.Kalyani Soundrajan, (a.k.a my beloved paternal thaathaa and paati) was more than a perfect father. He is Joint Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai . My paati passed away when I was 7 years old  but Thaathaa was always there to fill the space for us. I have sometimes wondered how our father was such a perfect father. I realised soon that he had seen someone of the sort all his life.  Thaatha always led by example.

My father’s elder sister, Janavi athai, was another inspiration for anyone who wishes to be a bold woman, yet retaining the virtues of womanhood. She was married to one Mr.Narayanan, a man who spits intelligence. He was a professor at IIT Madras, teaching complicated things about aerospace technology which I would never understand. My Athai was a professor too. She taught Psychology at Madras Christian College. They had 2 children. The elder one was a boy, Aditya, a Chartered Accountant, started a year back at Ernerst and Young and his sister Mithra, doing her 3^rd year engineering at IIT Kharagpur. It would be a mistake not to mention that Aditya anna was my inspiration in my decision to pursue C.A. He was an All India Rank holder.

My mother, Soundarya Srivatsan, daughter of Mr.Narasimhan and Mrs.Mythili Narasimhan, is our family doctor, not by profession, but she cures all our problems at home. She has a literature background and knows 6 different languages ( Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, French, German and Arabic) excluding English, well enough to be a poet in each. She owns a website where she translates journals and patents online.

She was born and brought up in Delhi, where my grandparents live. This geographical distance never quite gave me an opportunity to be very close to my maternal grandparents, though I visit them during vacation. They are so used to the place and Appapa’s ( grand-father) business never let him come down too often. Now that Kannan mama ( my mother's brother, B.com, MBA, FMS Delhi) has taken over, my grandparents have been visiting us once every three months. Ramya Athai, Kannan mama’s love (wife) is a doctor. They were in a relationship for 6 years before they got married. Appapa did not oppose because they are family friends and most importantly, they are Iyengars. Appapa is a fanatic when it came to Vaishanavism. He always felt it was a sin to give up on birth right. He had unswerving devotion to his culture inspite of living long years in a city like Delhi. It is one of the things that added to his pride besides his children and business, and now of-course his grand-children.

Prasana, the 10 year old, youngest member of our family, kannan mama’s son is the cutest kid I have ever seen in this world. He is in his class 5, studying in Delhi Public School and his attitude is so adorable. Whenever we have a family re-union in any place other than Delhi, he hates it, primarily because there is no one of his age in our family, but he gets all the attention in the world.

Jayanthi Perima (my mother’s elder sister) is a Computer Science graduate but chose to be a home-maker. May be Perippa (Mr.Ragunath, Vice President, Intel, Banglore) thought he is making enough money for the four of them. Perima preferred to live for her daughters, Shravanthi and Samskrithi. Shravanthi is the elder, finished her masters in Electrical Engineering and now works for Siemens, Georgia. They are looking out for an alliance to get her married. She is the prettiest among my cousins and looks a lot like Ragu perippa. Sams is doing her final year Journalism in Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media, Banglore. Though Shravs has taken up perippa completely in her looks and mannerism, Samskrithi is his pet. She is a spoilt brat. Shravs is a million times more responsible and well mannered. Sams is always on the border of impertinence which perima keeps a check on.

Sam gets on Akhil’s nerves often for her attitude exhibition. Akhil... my elder brother. I call him Manu. I would have never known what ‘A’ , no, ‘The Guy’ is if not for Manu. Polite, fun-loving, intelligent yet respectful. He is so dedicated in whatever he does. Spends so much time with the family and gives them all the love and attention each one wants, without compromising on his duties. As for me, it is my privilege – I am the only one with the rights to irritate him. My mother always blames me blindly when it comes to a fight between us saying,
 " How can you even think of fighting with someone like my son ;) ".
But she was right.  I am his only sweet-heart who makes him lose his patience. He is my idol. Not a single minute has passed without my hero-worshipping Manu. In my mind , ofcourse. 

He is that sweet son every mother would wish to have, that heir-apparent every father would be proud of, that big brother a sister would never want to miss and that holy husband a girl would yearn for. He is everything to me. His presence has taught me everything I have ever learnt and his temporary absence will teach me something more. Something that is going to be too hard for me. Something I need to learn. Something very obvious.