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MY REAL HOME You have toured my virtual home so far. Let me now describe you my real home. We live in a railway flat at Colaba in South Mumbai, one of the costliest localities in the world. We are on the twelfth floor with a wonderful view of sea on all the sides. Thanks to my last posting in Tinsukia, my house has a lot of cane furniture and tea bush tables. But I am a great believer in the theory that home is not made of bricks , iron , cement and furniture, but by the people living there. So let me introduce to you all those who live here. There are six residents at present, who make up this home. The first is myself.
My nephew, Srivatsan , is the fifth member in my real home. He was born on 6th October , 1972 and is under the zodiac sign of Libra. He graduated in B.E. from Annamalai University and has completed his Master of Management Studies from Mumbai University this year. He has specialised in marketing and is working with FCB-Ulka. He is a workaholic and likes to spend long hours at his office ( At least that is what we believe ). His hobby, when not at work, seems to be watching TV and talking on the phone. After my father's death in June 1998, my mother is staying with us . She reads a lot of Tamil books and magazines. Every night , we also play a game of dice called Thayakkattai ( literally meaning ' dice with the figure of one '). Sunita is our maid who lives in the outhouse attached to our house. She has an adorable son called Pranil, who visits us regularly. Gopal is my peon, lives in Kalyan ( 70 kms. away ), but spends more than 8 hours every day in my real home. Generally we have our dinner together and that is the time for exchanging news of the day. We do laugh and make fun of everyone. We also go out occasionally to films , restaurants, walks, shopping etc. and play a game of cards called 'mail', which can be played by five. Do visit my real home. I am sure you will find it as interesting or as boring as my virtual home.
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At home I try to be a good husband and a good father. I grew up in a totally democratic atmosphere and the same prevails at my home. 
The second and perhaps the most important member of this home is my wife Amritha. She holds our home together. An excellent home maker and cook , we sometimes tend to take her for granted. She shares most of my interests and is a voracious reader. She was also writing a column for a Tamil magazine, but gave it up when they curtailed two pages of her work to a small paragraph. Her closest friend, philosopher and guide ( after me , I hope ) is Mrs. Sabita Muralidharan, who lives on the 18th floor of this building. 
My son Harish is the third member of my home. Our custom is to give three names to a child. The three names we gave to Harish were Harish , Badrinarayanan and Chakravarthy. I seriously thought of naming him Chittaranjan, since my transfer orders to Chittaranjan and Harish's birth were at the same time. He was born on 12th September, 1975, under the zodiac sign of Virgo. He saw four schools in three towns before he joined the first standard in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kota. He is now in the final year of MCA ( Master of Computer Applications ) at Sinhagad Institute of Management , University of Pune. Right now he is having industrial training with Tata Consultancy Services in Mumbai. He is specialising in RDBMS. He is affectionate , but also quarrels with Aarthi occasionally. He spends all his free time in the bed or in front of the TV or computer. Though he talks Tamil well , he cannot read or write the language. 
My daughter Aarthi is the fourth member of our home. She was born on 12th August 1984 and her zodiac sign is Leo. Her names were Aarthi , Gayatri & Ramya. She is now in the tenth standard at St. Joseph's High School , Colaba. She is a very good student, proficient in studies and equally knowledgeable about music. When not reading or sleeping, she can be seen seeing or listening to music or talking on the phone or quarrelling with her brother. She is also a good writer. However, my wife and I are unhappy about her not talking in Tamil at all. 