Vijayakrishnan's Haven

It was really lucky that we did not miss the Ragadeepam 2011 show in Melbourne.  We knew about the show, but the tickets were too pricey and we decided not to go for the show inspite of singing legends Vani Jayaram and Chinmayi performing.  Along with them Vijay Yesudoss and Haricharan also performed.  We were able to get some tickets at a cheaper price in the last minute and we decided to go for the show.  We had to travel for nearly an hour and half to watch the show.  Definitely, it was worth the travel and really worth the money spent.

Valluvar Arts Centre, Melbourne celebrated the 65th Indian Independence Day here in Victoria on 21st August 2011.  Samyuktha's tamil teacher actively engages all her students in these kind of activities.  She enquired with us and prompted Samyuktha's name as well as couple of her friends name as well for the celebrations.  Each kid had to dress up as a Indian freedom fighter and talk about it on the stage.  We wanted Samyuktha's character to be unique and decided that Samyuktha has to dress up as Aruna Asaf Ali.

Are there words to describe the joy and happiness when old friends meet..that too after nearly 25 years..Though I have been in touch with few of them, but to  meet nearly 1/3 of our class strength at a time with all of our teachers was something fantastic.

I had booked my flights to go to India for this reunion and ever since I was counting days.  I left Melbourne on 13/4/2011 early in the morning and reached Madras/Chennai around 9.30 PM that night.  I went around Madras doing some shopping the following two days.

Having a family portrait done is always a fun thing.  Recently, (around 6 months ago, :-) ), we had our family portrait done here in Melbourne. The photographers were thorough professionals (they better be) and put us at ease immediately.  Approximately 30 shots (some were candid as well) with various combinations were taken(Digital camera you see :-) ).  Few pictures were taken just with the kids alone.

Just those two words should bring in a smile to anybody who reads it.(It does to me, atleast :-) )  It is always a wonderful feeling to be re-united with friends whenever I visit India (once in two years or so).  I always look forward to the trip to India to catch up with the very best of my friends (not only relatives :-) ).  Imagine my happiness when I book a flight to just meet my friends as part of a reunion, especially Silver Jubilee Reunion of my year 10 classmates.  Yes,  most of us are going to meet together after 25 years.  We have organised a function to felicitate the teachers as well as setting up a Scholarship fund. I will write a detailed post after the function with lots of photos.