The Proposal (Gaanapriyan Tales- Part 1)

Ahem ahem ahem... :P
For the first time, since I started blogging (though, I just started it yesterday), I am worried about the fact that my parents do have access to this blog. :P  ;)

People, I guess, can actually sniff it out when a girl is of marriageable age! And where a few of my classmates have already walked down the aisle, and a few are getting ready to do the same, whenever we friends gather around, MARRIAGE definitely becomes one of the most popular topics. :) And of course, when you go to Kerala, if u have completed schooling, people have marriage as a topic to drag you into! :-|

The first thing that another friend of mine asked me when she met me in Delhi after the Gandhi Bhawan internship was "Tell me about the marriage proposals!!!" :D  ..

:-\ :-\

Well, there weren't many. But there definitely was one INTERESTING proposal to speak of.

Gaanapriyan, as I have already mentioned in the previous article, is a man aged about 60. Was a journalist by profession. A writer too. Has written a book named Chinthaarama in Malayalam, which I tried to read, but could not due to the heavy weight of Malayalam words used therein. :-|

Anyways, I got intrigued with this character when I got to know that he was not completely sane. And since the day of my knowledge about that, I had tried to spend as much time as possible with him. We used to discuss a lot on intellectual stuff. :P And general issues too.

He was the one who gave me the nickname *Devu*. :) And I am thankful to him for that!

One day, I was singing a lullaby for Nansu (the then youngest inmate of Gandhi Bhawan who was just 7 months old at that time). After I completed singing, he said that he loves a song in particular. And he started to sing :(  the following one: Aayiram kannumaayi kaathirunnu ninne njan
       Ennil ninnum parannakannoru *painkili* malar thenkili...
Means- *oh little bird, who flew away from me, I was waiting for u with a thousand eyes...*

Gaanapriyan Sir said, " I was waiting with a thousand eyes. :) For you..." That made me so happy. Such a nice gesture from an Uncle. :)
Now I know from where he got the inspiration for suggesting the name Painkili  :-| :-( . And one more important point to note here is that, even though his name is Gaanapriyan (which means one who loves songs), he has no relation anywhere with songs! He is Pathetic when it comes to music :-| .

Hmmm... So, when Nansu went to sleep I took her back to where she belongs and came back for lunch. There Gaanapriyan Sir met me and said- "Your Sister-in-Laws would love you."
 I was like- :-o "Who???  My who?? I don't have any... I mean, I am not even seeing anyone! :-o, Who are you talking about???"
Gaanapriyan Sir- "ME :-)"
BAM!
Me- "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!! Are you kidding?!!!  Eeshwara!  Hahhahahah!!! Ohkay! Now, take back all those words! NOW! Or else I will complain to Vijayalakshmi Chechi ( My roommate)."

And I ran towards the kitchen in search of Vijayalakshmi Chechi, to share with her the 'proposal'! I was in splits! Vijayalakshmi Chechi also started laughing and was amused by this. She couldn't believe that Gaanapriyan Sir could actually say something like that to me. Even I couldn't. Although I was laughing, there was one person all tensed and worried- Gaanapriyan Sir :P . He, I guess, did not expect such an insane reaction from me. ;) . And he did waste half of the lunch served to him ( which is a big thing, because he is a complete foody! In fact, a combination of deadliest foodies, he is.)

The next day, people did notice that I was not talking to him. And one of the office people (Sarojini chechi) asked the reason. And I looked at him, and said that he very well knows what the reason is. And he said, " Yes.. I know. And I take back my words." To which I politely replied, " If you take them back, we can again be on talking terms. :) "

And we were...


To be contd...

P.S. :- I really liked the proposal! ;) Though, I wish it had been a younger, saner guy in his place. The very gesture was so unique. The way he proposed...  It was so different, unique and not at all clichéd. And the fact that he was much decent than other so-called sane guys even when it comes to looking at a girl, is what made me talk to him even after the proposal :-)

I got a name!

Gandhi Bhawan tales- part 2. :P

So, I was in God's own country for a period of one month. And trust me, the NGO life was not easy when it came to  my *name*.  :( 

My name is Abha. Pronounced as Aabha. Its a sanskrit word having a lot meanings like sharpness ( sharp I am, of course!  My parents always complain about the sharpness of my tongue ;) ), beauty or charm (that's a beautiful meaning I say :P ), shine, etc. *Abha* definitely is a word that's in malayalam dictionary too. Unfortunately at various parts of Kerala, people mis-pronounce *bha* as *fa* or *pha*. :-| And, Gandhi Bhawan has people, I guess, the majority of whom belong to those *fa* and *pha* parts of Kerala!! x-(


Mis-pronouncing my name is one of the things I can hardly tolerate. And in Gandhi Bhawan I was put through this tough task of hearing my name mis-pronounced every now and then. :(


And, finally a day came, when I bowed my head in surrender and asked my roommate, Vijayalakshmi Chechi to change my name for the time being. After the first week of my stay, began the strenuous task of finding a nice name for me. By the way, the task was for others. My only job was to reject most of the names, which I of course didn't like for one or the other reason. 

Someone suggested the name *Abhirami*...  Hmmm...  Naah! I did not like that! *Anuradha*. I have a friend named Anuradha. *Anusree*- Oh please! NO! *Lakshmi.*-- I again have a friend named lakshmi. *Saraswati* :|. I just need the name for 20 days!Gimme something short. *Gayatri* - That's the name of my dance teacher's daughter's daughter. 


It was such a weird time. In the mission to find a name for self that too for 20 days!


And there entered Ganapriyan Sir in the scene. He is an intellectual guy. A former journalist and writer. But in the course of time, he lost his mental balance. Can't call him insane though, but of course, he wasn't sane. We used to spend a lot of time together discussing general issues. And I asked this intellectual persona to suggest a name for me. And he asked me to give him some time to think about it. 


The next day, Ganapriyan Sir came upto me in the office and suggested *PAINKILI* (means 'a little bird') :-|. The thought that crossed my mind was, why couldn't he kill me with a single punch???! Out of all names in the world, he could suggest Painkili??!! Even Unniyarcha would have been better!
 But luckily, when he saw the expression of my face, he immediately changed his mind, and came up with the name *Devu*.


Devu...


My name, Abha, is very short. So, practically I never had a nickname. As I never had one, I always desired for one. And when I heard Devu, I was silent for a few moments. And then I smiled as an approval. :) :) :)


And Vijayalakshmi Chechi, also loved it.


Since then, I have been Devu at Gandhi Bhawan. Many though continued to call me Abha. Those who called me Aafa, or Aapha, I corrected them by asking them to call me Devu.  So, I became Devutti, Devu, Devu chechi, Devu akka etc to the inmates of Gandhi Bhawan.


Today, I prefer being called Devu. :) I tell the people, close to me, to call me Devu.


The last day, when I was getting ready to evacuate the room, Vijayalakshmi Chechi, my roommate, looked at me with a smile, she just said one thing, "My advice to you would be, never get married. Even if u get married, never have kids. And, if ever you do give birth, and if that happens to be a girl,do name her Devu, ok?" :)


Okay...  :)

Gandhi Bhawan moments

Well... Gandhi Bhawan is one strong reason behind the creation of this blog.

 I happened to spend 30 good days of my life in an NGO named Gandhi Bhawan situated at Pathanaapuram, Kollam, Kerala. http://www.gandhibhavan.org/ - this is the link to the amazing NGO, I had the fortune of being a part of from 15th June 2010 till 15th July 2010.

An NGO which hardly covers 1.5 Acres of land is abode to nearly 500 people including old-aged, physically challenged, mentally challenged, children etc, situated at the banks of river Kallada.

To me, Gandhi Bhawan was no less than a home. In fact, it was more than that. To be frank, after spending time with more than 485 people, when I came back home, I felt devastated!!! And why wouldn't I??? After all, as they say, *the more, the better* :P . 500 can anytime beat 5! I had so many mothers and grandmas to look after me, so many fathers and grandpas to take care of me, so many siblings to play and fight and so many friends to share my moments with... 

I am grateful for the moments spent there. Where and when I was loved like a daughter, grand daughter, sister, friend and even sometimes like a mother.

Characters ranging from Bhargaviyamma Teacher to Naanu Pillai Appappooppa* and Nansu to Valsu, Ganapriyan Sir, Vijayalakshmi Chechi etc...  I feel so rich! 

 I am just planning to share my fortune with the ones who feel like reading this. :)