A lovely surprise! Mahendra "Speedy" Gonsalkorale
When I emailed batchmates regarding our Blog, I had a lovely surprise when Rajalakshmi Ganesvaran-née Chellappah emailed me with a beautiful poem written by her, which I am delighted to post.
To Pumpkin Plant
by Rajalakshmi Ganeswaran
I planted you as a seedling in the front
yard
Fed you with compost from the bin,
You soon took off,
crawling in all directions
Searching for the shining sun
Your lush green leaves mopped up
The carbon emitted by exhausts
helping to reduce global warming
Your golden yellow flowers attracted the
Perishing bees and butterflies
The bees hummed and butterflies
Danced on seeing the powdery pollen
They both got drunk on sucking
The sweetest honey
The plump fruits fed us during
The covid shutdown
Passers-by initially wondered
What this green cover was
Now, I realise you are a rewarding vine
The photos shows her as she appeared in the sig book with a current update.
I subsequently contacted her by email and learnt that after her internship in Jaffna, she worked in the Health Department for about fifteen years, followed by a few years in the UK. She then migrated to Australia in 1990 and worked as a GP for about twenty-five years.
Another "surprise" will follow soon, and this time after "Yankee" Bala emailed me with some beautiful examples of his woodwork. I am so pleased with the rekindled interest in the Blog.
Hello Rajalakshmi
ReplyDeleteWhat a pleasant surprise and so wonderful to see your photos, then and now. The poem is so lovely and so very appropriate for us in retirement seeing the vast changes all around us.
The photo brings back many memories of our faculty years attending lectures and pounding the long corridors of the GHC. I well recall you loved to wear yellow sarees and Revo Drahaman calling you the ‘yellow bird’ named after the song made famous by the Mills Brothers. It just seems like yesterday when You were with us in the ward classes presenting cases and being questioned by our stern teachers. How can we forget that Whispering pectoriloquy saga with Dr Ernie Pieris.
It is so very lovely to see you on the blog and thank you for sending us such a lovely poem. Do stay in touch with the Blog and the many faculty friends.
Hi Rajalakshmi ,
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely surprise to hear from you. And even more delightful is your meaningful and lovely poem about the pumpkin. You are a dark horse hiding your talents in creative writing!
I'm so sorry that we lost touch with eachother since graduation.Please do continue to write and keep in touch. . I've been asking Speedy to start publishing Then and Now photos of our batch mates. You have given it a kick start! I remember you so well with your perfectly circular Pottu.
With Love and best wishes
Suri
Hi Rajalakshmi
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your poem and lovely to hear from you.I remember you very well, we used to be in the same Sig group along with Navam,Siri Cassim ,Chittha, Johnny Chandrasiri and Collure.
Pleasantly surprised when I saw your post on the BLOG, I can still picture you very distinctly neatly dressed , looking fresh always and soft spoken.Agree with Reevo's Call.
I am so glad that Rajalakshmi sent me her poem which shows her creative talent which was unknown to us. I shall encourage her to send a few more. It is also good to see a new face in the blog.
ReplyDeleteHello Rajalakshmi. (We called you Lakshmi in Medical College, didn't we?) Thank you for sharing your beautiful poem. Your words touched on many concerns that worry us all. I remember you well and it is great to hear from you. I saw a photo of you with Indra and Ranee Anandasabapathy, that Indra showed me, taken not too long ago in Melbourne. He wanted me to guess who you were and I guessed correctly! I've also heard that you are an expert practitioner of yoga, from Rohini Ana. Are you still doing head stands?
ReplyDeletePlease continue to stay in touch on the blog. We'd love to see more of your poetry.
All the best, Srianee (Bunter)
Hello Rajalakshmi, I was delighted to see your poem in the blog. So simply and beautifully written. Thank you for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeleteHaving visited you recently and seen your lush garden of edible produce I can see how the poem originated.
John Milton said - “They also serve who only stand and wait “
You brought to our attention through your poetry that your humble Pumpkin plant didn’t just stand and wait , but served many purposes through your efforts.
In life we tend to take so much for granted.
As William Blake expressed, you can “see a world in a grain of sand “ if you open yourself to it .
Thank you for your beautiful poem. Look forward to more.
Rajalakshmi
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether you can remember me, I was Chirasri Mallawaratchi, now Jayaweera Bandara.
Your poem is lovely, you should continue to send more poems, we'd love to see more and more poems.
It will help to keep the Blog alive.
Wishing you all the best.
Chira
Hello Rajalakshmi
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful surprise to read your ode to your pumpkin plant. You are a good poet. I know you told me that you are a 'greenie' and you obviously have green fingers.
We reconnected when I moved in from my rural abode to a street next to where you and Ganesh used to live .
Love to read more of your poetry.
Virginia
Hi Virginia, Lovely to 'see you' again on the blog. I hope you are having some good luck with your book. I think the blog is experiencing a minor revival at the moment with Bala, Rajalakshmi and you joining in. It is a good way to keep in touch when most of us are reluctant to travel far. I hope that I will be able to make a trip down under before too long. Like you, I hope Rajalakshmi will send us more poetry to enjoy.
DeleteDo stay in touch.
Srianee
Virginia, what a lovely surprise! I have your book but I must confess that I haven't read it to the end yet as events overtook my poorly-laid plans and other activities took precedence, but I now have a fresh stimulus to read it. When I think of all the hard work necessary to move from concept to publication, I am filled with admiration for you. Keep writing and do keep in touch.
DeleteHello virginia, So lovely to see you’ve re- surfaced !
ReplyDeleteOf all people you’d be the least expected to drown !!
Welcome back - Do stay afloat ! -
Shall write soon .
Rohini, you crack me up!! Very witty!
DeleteSrianee, It is a lonely life when people dont “get” what you are talking about !! Thank you for appreciating !!
DeleteHi Srianee
ReplyDeleteI'm having small bites of interest in my book. Wheelers of NZ who distribute to Aus & NZ libraries and schools have it on their website but it is overpriced. Distributors take ages to respond, like 3 months and my accountant says I need to have $ 20 000 worth of book sales to have any success!! He's dreaming!
Have to keep plodding on!
Virginia
Hi Virginia and others. Few years ago I started writing my autobiography, mainly due to constant prodding by my former students. When I meet up with them during batch re-unions, I not only remember their names but the initials as well. Sometimes I recollect anecdotes regarding them as well.
ReplyDeleteDear Mahen,It is a pleasure to reconnect with our batch mates.I thank them for their comments.These comments reflect their love and friendship that started in the medical school..Lakshmi
ReplyDeleteThirunavukarasu Ganesvaran
Lakshmi , that was an amazing effort, a well written ode to the Pumpkin plant. Hidden talent that is late to surface.
ReplyDeleteRohini , thank you for the subtle sense of humour in your reference to Virginia.
This effort should keep Mahen in good spirits for sometime,, because understandably he must worry if his work with the blog is worth the effort and love put into it.