I am so happy to share a piece my Dad wrote in honor of his father’s—my thatha’s—101st birthday! My thatha, fondly known as VVR, was a chemistry professor, Hindu scholar, and family man all in one lifetime. Read below to see why he is revered by everyone who knew him well ❤️.
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On my beloved father V.V.Ramanujam’s birthday
A year ago, I shared a tribute to Dr. VVR in this forum on his 100th birth anniversary. My family and I were truly moved by the response of the Tambrahm community. Today, he will have been 101. Far from the year dimming his memory, it has only sharpened my appreciation for the gift that was my father.
One time, a few years before his departure for the heavens, he took ill and was admitted to the ICU. After heroic measures, the doctors pretty much shrugged and told us to prepare for the worst. After a long overnight vigil during which he almost left us, he came back and the doctor that examined him the next morning said, “I have no explanation for this miracle. This is nothing to do with medicine. His almighty must have a plan and a purpose for him!”
During this time, Sri. Ramanujar’s 1000th anniversary was a mere 3 years away and VVR was immersed in furiously completing his life’s passion—writing Emberumanar (Sri. Ramanujar’s) vaibhavam. We know this is why he was not allowed to depart. Though he could not complete his work before 2017, we were all ecstatic that VVR was able to celebrate the day in person. While he attained Ramanuja’s thiruvadigal before the publication of the book, we are blessed that the book was released this year. This work of devotion was a culmination of a lifetime of writing over 18 books in Vaishnava Philosophy.
There is nothing I can say here that I had not shared a year earlier. But as time flows, and I reflect, I am awed by his sheer grace. Hope you will indulge me as I share with his human side. Scholarly as he was, steeped in Visishtadhvaitam as he was, immersed in devotion as he was, he never compelled his children to master the tomes or to observe the orthodoxy that he respected so. If today, we have any wisdom at all, it is the blessing his proximity brought.
He has been variously called a Vaishnava simham or jewel, but I think of him as a flower that lends its fragrance to the string (naaru) that is me. It is somehow appropriate because many around him partook the nectar that is his wisdom like bees from a flower. Alas, not me. But his affection, I could not help but drown in. He loved his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren beyond measure. I can still see so fresh in my mind’s eye his gap-toothed smile and much later a toothless grin.
In his latter years, the younger generations would gather, filling the house with chaos, with television blaring, kids playing and older generation arguing the topic of the day and he would be quietly performing his nithyanu santanam or be engaged in his writing, without ever furrowing his brows or uttering one complaint. I would think he was just being tolerant, suppressing his irritation. Now I realize, he was completely in love with this celebration, this joy that is family life.
They say a worth of a man’s life is the tracks he makes. My father certainly left a mark with immense contribution of the highest caliber to Hindu literature. Thanks to Google and the kainkaryam of his disciples, his work will live online forever. But the true measure of a life is the pride his family takes in being a part of his legacy. His children, grandchildren, and great grands, scattered over the world, will to a soul would say they are so proud to be VVR’s descendant.
That is ultimately his gift from his beloved Lord. Pathasarathy.
I was born into a family that appreciated animals. My family is of the Brahmin caste, who in ancient times, were an educated class of Hindus that were renowned for their religious scholarship and respect for animals (hence, most Brahmins tend to practice vegetarianism).
Growing up, we didn’t have pets right away. Although, cats always found us…regardless of if we wanted them 😂!
UK circa ’97. A British kitty found an admirer in my sister with the bowl-cut.
As my sister and I got older, I never expressed my deep desire to have a pet because I really didn’t have such a desire…yet. My sister became the “animal lover” of the family, and by 5 years old, she was set on becoming a veterinarian.
To “prove” her love for animals, she would always request animal figurines as gifts for birthdays, holidays, good grades (lol), etc. Clifford the Big Red Dog was her favorite book series/show in kindergarten. She begged my parents for us to get a dog.
It seemed like she fit the animal lover role perfectly, so why did I need to do anything?
On one fateful October day, a furry child came to our driveway, and won my sister over like the picture taken in the UK above. She was a neighbor’s cat, but she chose us each and every day after her initial meeting with us. Tiger kept visiting us each evening, and my sister and I were in awe of such a beautiful tabby choosing to hang out with us over her owners, haha!
Those neighbors coincidentally were planning to move, and knew about Tiger’s whereabouts and visits to our house. Tiger, who we renamed Baby (because she was our baby!), chose us as her new family. Our hearts couldn’t be any more full.
Baby and I when I was in middle school. Excuse my unibrow—but what do you expect from a second gen desi pre-teen girl 😂 #HairyGenes
Baby was our fiesty, sweet companion for many years. She saw me from third grade all the way through my first years in graduate school. She could snap a bite, rip off mouse heads and gift us with the body 😮, or sit elegantly in her “puff” (or loaf as most cat aficionados call it) on all sorts of things—blankets, math homework, ironing tables, etc.
She was our angel.
In 2015, my parents left California for Oklahoma, and Baby, who was an outdoor cat and well-adapted to northern Californian flora and fauna, had a crisis for the entire road trip. My sister remembers with horror the visceral growls Baby made—the vomiting, the fear radiating from her glass eyes—and how it was a mortifying experience she hopes to never have to repeat with a cat ever again.
We took Baby from the only home she’d ever known because we thought we were doing the right thing not to abandon her, but maybe we should have left her to roam free in the land she knew like the back of her paw. She did alright in Oklahoma for the first year and a half, but then developed a lung infection that only got worse with time…
Baby passed away in July 2017, and it was the first time I heard my Dad cry since his mother passed away 15 years earlier. My heart hurt over the phone when he made the phone call. Baby wasn’t “his” in the beginning, but as she grew older and as my sister and I moved on to college, she found a companion in my Dad, and he in her ❤.
I don’t care what anyone says, animals have an alluring power over us, and touch our souls in places that are hard to reach.
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Despite touting daily facts about animals, binge-watching Meerkat Manor, and consuming countless books about cat and dog care, I began to see changes in my sister when she reached the end of middle school. One day, she looked at her giant bucket of animal figurines and said, “I think I’m going to donate these.”
I was in shock…my baby sister? Self-proclaimed animal lover…was giving up on, animals? She assured us all nothing was changing, but as she finished high school and entered college, her heart wasn’t set on veterinary medicine anymore. Her reasons were non-animal related from what she expressed to us, but it saddened me to see this change in her.
And surprisingly, as she drifted away from her overflowing fascination with animals, mine started to grow…
I think my desire to be near animals grew in the later years of my PhD training. The long days and nights feeling alone must have gotten to me after the adrenaline of work began to fade away as I got closer to graduation. I used to share with my Dad that only animals could make me smile at that point. Scrolling through Instagram, I would end up sharing the cutest videos of cats playing patty-cake or dogs cuddling with their owners. He suggested that I should seek out an animal shelter to volunteer at in my free time. Perhaps that would help me de-stress and relax, as well have a good excuse to hang out with fur babies since I didn’t have any of my own!
I started volunteering at a shelter in Huntington Beach in the fall of 2019. I came in thinking I was a cat/small dog person, and while I felt comfortable around large dogs, I didn’t think I was qualified enough to work with them compared to other volunteers.
Plus, many of the volunteers that came on weekends were set on walking the larger dogs, leaving the smaller guys neglected. I didn’t mind spending time with them…I enjoyed the company of stout chihuahuas, stubborn terriers, and mop look-alike poodle mixes. My favorites were the ones that yearned to run, and were ready to get into step with me once I picked up the pace.
I was all smiles with Happy, a fluffy Samoyed with quite a BORK!
And whenever a dog was relaxed enough to roll around on the grass and expose it’s belly, my heart rejoiced. I always obliged to give a darling doggeh a belly rub!
Wilbur is literally a tiger dog! I only walked him once but he got comfortable quick, hence the exposed belly <3 !
I realized that I actually am a big dog person after seeing that, while some of the small dogs I worked with liked to run, the bigger dogs needed it and appreciated it a ton! In the following months, I developed a penchant for shiba inus, cattle dogs, and of course huskies!
Koda was a bundle of joy.
Quincy was the smallest husky I’ve ever seen. And he had the biggest paws!
But the dog I bonded with the most was a husky named Jax.
My baby at the shelter, Jax.
All he needed was someone to run with him, understand that he needed to release his pent-up anxiety, and that he would not be a prisoner forever. I’m glad that I was able to run with him during my shifts at the shelter…he needed it for his sanity.
My silly boy Jax
I’m frustrated that the Game of Thrones hype around wolf-like dogs (huskies) spurred on the adoption of so many dogs of this active lifestyle breed, and that people who naively took on the responsibilities of handling this type of dog gave up so easily. Huskies are loving, loyal, beautiful dogs, but they need mental stimulation, daily exercise, and humans that understand that. Jax was known as “uncontrollable” and “too hyper” at the shelter by the workers and volunteers, and I’m honored that I was able to excavate Jax’s true personality…even if it cost me arm scratches, sore glutes from sprints around the park, and mud-soaked sweatpants!
Anything for the one you love, I guess?
When I’m in a comfortable position with my career and truly have a place of my own, I’d love to have pets to cherish and adore! It would be a dream to have a sanctuary of some sort, where I can let cats, dogs, pigs, cows, racoons, capybaras, possums, pangolins, ducks, chickens, and so many more creatures that have captured my heart run free.
This guy was at the shelter too! Such a cutie pie.
My friends laugh when I share this daydream of mine with them, but only animals have the power to make me smile my brightest. It’s impossible not to love creatures so loving and innocent…
And to think that the actions of humanity can impact the lives of other species in a positive or negative way? It’s scary that we have so much influence over the lives of creatures that don’t have a voice.
To me, I think we need to take this responsibility seriously, whether one “likes” animals or not.
Are you an animal lover?
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Since we are on the topic of animal love, I thought it’d be a good time to mention the recent work of a fellow SGD, Adi from Edison, NJ! I came across CheeseDosa, his short story collection after reading about his own experience with a heartwarming doggo in his post, My Shelter. I loved this story of a courageous dog melting hearts, so I reached out. We got to talking, and he mentioned his project CheeseDosa: a book of short stories he is making by hand and selling on Kickstarter. He’s also making it possible for 33% of the sale revenue (not just profits) to go towards the Orange County Humane Society (where I met Jax and all my beautiful dog friends) if you back the project using the link above.
I’m all for supporting voices of color, especially those that share my background and experiences, and getting those voices out into the world. I highly recommend checking out his project and blog via the links above!
