4-2-19
Dear Doddamma,
Last week was a musical week. We attended two music concerts. The first one was a ‘bhaavageete’ (light music) concert. The singer was Nada Maninalkur. He sang poems written different poets. These poems had been set to tune. He spoke a few words before each song. Some of the themes were about the importance people give to physical beauty, unhealthy competition in schools or in work places, the innocent questions asked by children. He said how life has changed today. Earlier people had time to talk to each other, how that changed when the telephone became a part of life and then with WhatsApp text messages and emoticons have become the means of communication. When he was singing the picture that came to mind was of a singer walking from village to village singing his songs.
The next concert was a Hindustani classical music one. The singer was young singer called Gurudutt. He is a student of the famous Pandit Ajay Chakrabarty. He sang for two hours and time just flew. Doddamma, I was remembering Doddappa, my father’s elder brother. When he was in his 80s he started listening to Hindustani classical music and used to be immersed in the music. I think it is very important for us to develop new interests as we grow older.
I made bread twice. Recently I came to know that bread could be made without the dough being kneaded. I searched in the internet and got the recipe. These breads are also called rustic breads. We liked the taste very much. Last year I had preserved jackfruit arils in salt and water. Yesterday morning I put them in clear water and changed the water twice to remove the salt from the arils. Later in the evening I ground them in the mixer with soaked rice. Today morning I made ‘rotti’ using banana leaf. We like it very much.
On the 31st morning my husband went to Maikuri to be with his father and brother. There is an areca garden with cocoa and betelnut trees. Whenever he is there he likes to go to the garden (we call the garden thota in Kannada) to pluck cocoa and pick the fallen areca nuts.
Today afternoon I went to Asare. Yesterday members of Asare had taken part in a kite festival organized by the Volunteer service organization of the university in the grounds on the way to Endpoint. Many people take part. The money collected is used for charity. They all enjoyed themselves.
Our grandchildren are fine. We talk to Gayatri and Kavya almost everyday through WhatsApp video call. We talk to Advaith about two or three times a week.
With lots of love,
Lakshmi.
(My letters to my Doddamma, my father’s elder brother’s wife, have made letter writing a part of my life again. Both of us enjoy the letters. Doddamma literally means elder mother. She is my favourite relative. She is 88. She cannot go out and is not able to hear well. So, I started writing to her in November 2017. Earlier I used to send a mail to her daughter-in-law, she used to read it to her. My cousin’s wife told me Doddamma enjoys the feel of letters and re-reads them often. I edit the letters and post them in Slice of Life hosted by Two Teachers. I enjoy SOL. We, bloggers live in different parts of the world. Our lives are so different but there is sameness which is fascinating. The different posts and photos bring the world to my home. Thank you dear friends. 😊 )
Bhavageete – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhavageete
Bhaavageete or Bhavageeth (literally ’emotion poetry’) is a form of poetry and light music in India. Most of the poetry sung in this genre pertain to subjects like love, nature and philosophy, and the genre itself is not much different from Ghazals, though ghazals are bound to a peculiar metre.
Ajoy Chakrabarty – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajoy_Chakrabarty
No-knead bread – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-knead_bread
Mukhamani 
Comments are welcome :)