Shrinika Neethi

 * This is the eulogy I wrote on 10th March, 2019,  for my maternal grandfather who passed away on 1st Feb, 2019. Thatha and Me, 1986 It’s my 34 th birthday today and until last year,I used to share it with a man who has affected me in a profound measure. He is my role model, inspiration, guru and grandfather, a GRAND MAN – K.R.T. Thatha. My ‘Ammamma veedu’ was just a stone’s throw away from my home. As a toddler, I was playing in the verandah with my kitchen set. Someone ran at the cue of the car horn, to open the front gate. As the Premier Padmini arrived at the portico, the conversations of the family members and bickering of domestic helpers dumbed down as an acknowledgment to his presence. My grandfather composedly gets out of his car, adjusts his veshti and proceeds towards the house. With an instant dash of excitement, he says, “ Eyyyyyyy……. Sinna kuttyyyyyyyy”, acknowledging my presence and participates in my pretend luncheon. *————-* My elder mama was the swaggiest of...

  The following is my article about the topic that I first published in my blog named 'thulasicommonknowledge' a couple of years ago. That blog is no longer functioning. You can find it's contents here in Hridayakamala blogspot. Skip to content There is a joke that has been making the rounds in the social media which goes,           “ Gone are the days when girls  used to cook like their mothers, now they drink like their fathers”. This has gotten mixed reactions from the people I see, some point out how culture and traditions are on the decline, some see this as a misogynist  attempt to assign gender roles, some just laugh it off.  But as an observer  who has lived in the days of technology free homes, I only see this as the plain truth. Let me clarify that I am not talking about the morality of a Woman, but only about how the Kitchens and the food prepared at home  are not revered as they used to be in the times of our grandm...