127/100
‪#‎100sareepact‬

A rather unique tie and dye in the softest of silks . The last one from the time Anju took me shopping in Bangalore and I busted my bank types!!! Wearing it first time today and it was worth the busting I think!
One wouldn’t think This orange would go with That pink but they are getting along like a house on fire . Even the stoic and stern looking Concierge melts and takes the camera from the bell boy and says , Madam let me take a good picture and clicks the second ones smile emoticon !!!
I really think our pact photographers are the best ! And it’s these wonderful and kind people who don’t even know us but know and respect our madness who are the real heroes of the pact!!!
So it’s the 80th Birthday Lunch of Chris and Adriana’s Grandad and these two young sweet souls who have adopted me here in Colombo have invited me to the family gathering .
What do I say about these two kids who had never met me but just because I am their friend Ravi’s ( who was Best Man at their wedding five years ago ) Amma , they decided I was their responsibility !!! From almost all dinners and that lovely holiday trip to Galle to calls every so often to ensure I am at the right hospital and office for my various meetings to booking my taxis to hold your breath ! taking me clubbing last night and making me dance the night away . Must have been the only Grandma there . But I confess I loved it all !
As for the sprightly eighty year old birthday boy we can learn a lesson or two from him ! That gleam in his bright eyes as he charmed me with his stories of his youth ( tempered by sweet yet stern Grandma who made sure all the tales were taken with just that bit of salt to offset the pepper )
His green shirt in which he looked so dapper was for his country he said , the Emerald Isle . The country which has made him who he is . Of how when he was 18 he was on his own and began working as an Investigative Officer on the look out for the veracity of potential Indian and Pakistani immigrants . How he owes it all to his sister who after his mother died when he was just eight years old and the said sister smiling lovingly at him as I listen to the tribute . The sister who became his mother , friend and mentor .
How he moonlighted as a dance teacher and loved every bit of it and how he met his future wife in dancing class . No Romance my dear he says , no falling in love . She just handcuffed me and took me away !!!
Then when I demurred at the second drink offered he says , You are lucky my dear . Come on , drink up and let me pour you another one . In my time the poor women had it tough . But then they did find ways out you know ? Ah , if one had just picked up their pretty and innocent tea cups and done some investigation their cover would have been blown ! Some rather strong stuff it was in those tea cups !!!
How I love the people I have spent the last five days with smile emoticon
On my way to the Lunch I dropped in to see someone I had never met before but of whom I knew a lot and whose book my brother had sent me in 2010 when it was released .
Go Slowly Lovely Moon . By Vinita Piyaratna.
Vinita and Sarath were my brother’s classmates in Delhi University .
He was the Ravan from Lanka who carried away the Sita from Delhi as a friend said in the preface to her book .
In 2007 he was treated for and cured of a particular kind of malignancy . In 2009 she was diagnosed with a motor neurone disease (read Stephen Hawkins). She dictated her book even as she was losing it all. She writes of all the joys in her life and her gratitude for all that she has . Read the book . Please . You can find it on Amazon .