A Sad Demise

________________________

________________________

.

Mumbai , gifted me a hotel, Hotel Victory. Why this hotel is important? Because it catered to our taste> the Kerala dishes. Hotel was run by a family from Pathanamthitta, Kerala. But the were residents of Mumbai for past 20-25years.

________________________

The discovery.

________________________

It all started with a reference of our friend. Then I and my roomie started hunt. Since we were new to that place , we got baffled so many times. Atlast we discovered it. We found the hotel owner communicating in Hindi. So we thought , it might be run by a North Indian. . There we opted for the "Chicken Biriyaani" to feel the taste. After finishing it off, we left without any chit chat.

.

________________________

Second visit

________________________

Then again we visited the hotel with more friends. This time we came into contact to the Hindi speaking Malayalee, Mr Babu Thomas. He became friendly, as we went deeper into the history of hotel and him. This time the conversation was totally in Malayalam. Special Fish curry and Chicken prepared in Kerala style were readied. It was prepared by Mr Babu itself. The perfect sync of spices and masala were done.

.

________________________

Onam

________________________

We had our Onam celebrations here at Mumbai. So Onam,which is the Festival of Kerala was having a special meal called "Onam Sadhya"** [Onam dish] followed by Payasams. Since we were lacking Experience and were not in a mode to put that much effort, we went to Hotel Victory. We went in a bunch, with almost all wearing traditional dress "Mundu". We had our Onam Sadhya there.

.

________________________

Daily

________________________

Gradually we become hardcore lovers of Hotel Victorys dishes.So after coming from office, we three get down there at Hotel . This was followed through out the week and month. After bringing in my bike from Bangalore, the frequency of visit increased in weekends. With the Sunday being a special day at Victory, filled with delicious Kerala disjes and snacks.We were also given due consideration and had a good rappo with Mr Babu.We had chit chats till late night. Also one of the staff was from Kerala. We saw Mr Babu working as a Manager, a worker , table cleaner, cook. He had a great desire to work and was ready to help others in time.

.

________________________

The demise.

________________________

Mr Babu shared so many incidents of his life. Both bad and good. He left his job and kick started his first venture. Since the hotel has to be run , he worked relentlessly . He used to remain in the kitchen almost 24/7. He cared every worker and they were like a family. Later by around 19th December 2007 he fell ill and was admitted in a hospital. Since Christmas upcoming, they invited us to celebrate it with them. Even the child of his, mentioned of bursting crackers on Xmas and New Year. Mr Babu was given ventilator support. I visited him 2 times. Initially, when i made a visit, he was sleeping.

On december 25th, Christmas day, the face of hospitalised Babu came to my mind throughout, between the Xmas service. And I and my friends prayed for him. Then again I visited him on december 26th, he was happy and started smiling at me . He also talked a bit. I found his health as improved. Also the doctors and his wife expressed the same. We all thought he will be coming back to work soon.

On december 27th, I was on my way to room, after office hours. My friend/rommie called up and said "There is a bad news , Mr Babu passed away " .It was really shocking since we least expected this. On reaching home, I along with my friends went to his home. The situation over there were as such , we were unable to face his wife and his child, whom we used to interact daily. Even if the contact with Mr Babu was short, he find a place inside our heart. One of my room mate was on adoration prayer , so as to recover fast.Till now he is not informed, since he is out of coverage area. We contacted the center, but their response was lukewarm. But amid all our efforts, Mr Babu joined the heaven.

________________________

________________________

**Onam Sadhya will be served in Banana Leaf with Kerala rice and a wide variety of curries, salads, pappads, snacks .After finishing the dish you will be served a variety of "Paayasam" [ sweet]. So this dish preparation is usually carried out by experienced hands.More over a great effort and time should be spend for the N number of curries , so as to make it Grand.

Xmas'07 at Mumbai

December 25th 20O7

Xmas of 06 was spent at Bangalore. We were busy with project at NCST. So little do I enjoyed. I attended the Xmas nights Holy service. That was the only thing happened. One more interesting part was I bought cake to all my fellow NCSTians, they also came up with cake. I was really surprised. As I previously mentioned, I only spent Xmas , I havent celebrated . Since I had to help my team, which was in real danger and my colleague , who was really tensed.

.

.

Xmas of 07 was celebrated at Mother of Victory Church, Tikujiniwadi, Thane, Mumbai.This church is a well known pilgrim centre.Celebrations started with the Xmas Carol programs. These progams include, visiting each and every home which is registered to Church , then dancing and singing along with the Santa Claus. We had around 7days of Carol programs. And we used to cover 24 houses a day.

.

Major differences I have noticed between here and home town are . We were travelling in a Mini bus. We were having all the army im that. Usuage of a transport vehicle was done so as to cover a minimum of 20houses/ day. Since the city was vast and all registered families were scattered all over the city. At our home town we covered all houses by walk,since each houses where located near by.

Second thing was Santa, not only danced, but also made people dance with him. This is a big task, as people shy away from doing that. Here the group entered into houses/ flats. where at home town we used to remain at door steps or car porch. This entery into houses I believe is due to space restriction.

Third thing was we all had hours of joy and dance at our last stop. We had the traditional Kerala food at our last hop. Which we never had at home town,since we completed our visit to all the homes,one day before Xmas.

Forth thing was , here the group was mainly lead by elder people. There were a bigger cordination and maturity in the way things were organised. At our hometown , we youngsters holded the thread.

.

.

The Xmas service at church started by 10.30pm. The service included an animated sequence of the Genisis. Both the video and wordings were in perfect sync. The scene which symbolised the birth of Jesus Christ was perfectly engineered, with the upper part of the Crib lifting up.Both parts were joined as a Globe Jesus christ was concealed inside that. Church also conducted a competition of Xmas cribs. It was held among nine sectors , divided according to the location. These nine sectors comes under our chuch, spread across vast area. They were given stalls to install their creativity. All were worth viewing. Service ended by 1.30am on 25th December.

.

We had a nice sleep.Then messages and calls started ringing my mobile phone. There were calls from my closest circles, whom I least expected. We had cake and wine. We cooked Chicken in bulk and had a big food festival. Our neighbours, who stays upstair , made special meals and fish and some home town special snacks and were given to us. We had a nice time.

.

Enjoy Madi