Manimma: .. and a letter from Perippa

Talked to Perippa two days ago on the occasion of Manimma's first anniversary. He seemed just slightly emotional. I wrote to him several years ago thanking him for what he and Manimma had done (and were continuing to do !) for all of us, and he accused me in his reply of the same thing (being emotional, that is).

His letter to me is attached below. The line "If you or anyone else feels that I have made some contributions to the family, it was all entirely due to the ... and the unstinted help and cooperation we got from Sarada" is an echo of what I said on Taatha & Paati's blog about how they both exemplified the "Behind every great man, there is a great woman" and vice versa.

Ambi Anna tells me (I talked to him an hour ago) that Perippa is back to normal now, even though he is sure to miss Baby Athai and Raja Anna when they leave :-(. I hope he feels better soon. For all he has done for the family, he deserves all the happiness possible. I have very fond memories of the பாராயணம்/பூஜை that he did every day (complete with நைவேத்யம் and ஆர்த்தி), how he would take us to music class (first with Salem Shri Chellam Iyengar and later with Shri V.R. Krishnan), take us to the book fair every year (where he bought tons of books for us), the trips to Music Academy and other places, and how he has always taught through example.

Concluding this post with some good memories from our trip to India in 2009