I am happy that I have completed two years at this job as Editor of the family Newsletter. I hope to hold this job for life. Incidentally Naunet completed five years in November as it was in November 1997, when I sent my first e-mail from Tinsukia to the group that the word was coined.

The first highlight of the 24th issue that you are reading is the bright new logo, which I am sure you must have noticed. Hopefully it represents the brightness that the Newsletter brings in your life. Once (upon a time) Vidya had written suggesting use of more images in the Newsletter. I have introduced a lot of images in this Newsletter, which also means that this month's Newsletter occupies 1 MB as against the normal 850 KB.

Sudarshan has written a motivational piece, Write What You Know in which he has highlighted Kimberly Ripley's advice to people to write about incidents in our lives. Prasad is masterly in the art of weaving an interesting article around a small incident. I have tried to emulate him with an article based on a recent incident. The article is titled 'When my mother sang...' I hope Sudarshan's article will persuade others also to start writing. All the other usual features made by me,viz., Crossword Clues, Cryptogram, Brain Exercisers (Don't miss the heading which uses a cute little Javascript) and Tamil section are there. In the section From the Net there are four items - Crab Race is a Javascript Game : Indians excel in English is hilarious: Can you find out is a puzzle with a twist and Passport Details is a link to a site from which you can get the passport details of many people in the world. From this month. I am giving you links to a few interesting sites that are worth visiting.

Sudarshan's Jokes, Quotes and Trivia Quiz are of course there. Nagareshu Kanchi is the title for Amritha's musings this month as she moves from Pollachi to Kanchipuram with her memorabilia. Prasad continues to enthral us with another article, An interview with myself this time, in which Prasad is pitted against Prasad in a clash of the Titans.

I was happy that Raghu and Sudarshan joined me, Prasad and Mukund in using the MESSAGE BOARD. Hope others will also use it.

Enjoy the Newsletter and post your impressions and suggestions on the Message Board. I have used another Javascript to ensure that your link to the Message Board is always available at the bottom of your screen.

The next issue is the Silver Jubilee Issue. Ideas (and articles) from everyone are welcome about what the special issue should contain.

The first feature, as usual, are the old photos.

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THESE
	This is a photo taken in the late 70s when my mother, mother-in-law, chithappa and chithi went on a pilgrimage for two months covering the whole of India (and Nepal). My father and father-in-law joined them from Delhi to Badrinath and back. (My chithi is not in this photo.)
The second photo was when we visited the Rail Museum in Delhi in 1980. Santhanam was posted in Delhi at that time. The small boy is Harish.

MY DIARY FOR NOVEMBER 2002

There is a nip in the air and the weather here is excellent. The early morning walk with some shuttle and cold water bath to follow are very invigorating for the body, while the brain is exercised by ET and Hindu Crosswords. We are fully and happily settled in Chennai. We may enjoy the weather better if the mosquitoes were absent.

The news of the month was Jaya akka's hospitalisation on 19th. She is under observation for over 10 days. She is much better and more cheerful now than when we saw her on 19th. We hope she'd be discharged soon.

The family was on a flat-buying spree in November. We (Harish and I ) paid advance for a flat in Arumbakkam in Chennai. Hema and Raghu are jointly buying one flat in the same place. Both the flats are 3-bed room with a plinth area of about 1200 sq. ft. Kannan (Narasimhan) has bought a flat in T.Nagar in November.

The first 10 days of November were very busy for me in Mumbai and Chennai. On 2nd, I left Mumbai by the afternoon train. Harish and Aarthi joined me at Pune and we reached Chennai in time for Deepavali. But the festival was a low-key affair due to my father-in-law's death. Hema had also come on a week's leave. All the five of us first went to Dakshin Chitra, an excellent place, which has re-created old houses of Tamil Nadu (agraharam, chettinad hiuse, weaver’s house etc,) and Kerala (Syrian christian house, Hindu house etc.). One house each of Karnataka and AP are also available. As soon as one enters, there is a CD show. It takes more than 2 hours to see the whole place. There are also activities like making pots, painting, basket-weaving etc., which can be done by the visitor. We only tried our hand at pottery. Two days later we went to Pondichery, Auroville and Vakra Kali Amman Koil. The visit was OK. But the East Coast Road is very good. It is good to think that in 3 years,when the PM's golden quadrilateral Project is completed, entire N-S and E-W roads will be as good. We also visited all relatives. Harish, Aarthi and Hema also went to Ritchie street, where computer and electronic goods are available. All old Tamil and Hindi songs are available in MP3 CDs at just Rs. 60/-. Aarthi and Harish also bought some video and audio CDs. We also played 'mail' every night till Harish, Aarthi and Hema left (All of them left on 10th at different times). We had heavy rains till 10th, after which it stopped. But Chennai has already got its annual quota of rain.

Otherwise the month was spent in visits to the hospital. We attended a wedding reception on 14th (my cousin's daughter) and another on 24th (son of my colleague in Kota in 1980).

Bill Gates' visit in November was a big media event here. I think he and Clinton will command greater media attention than even Bush.

The month was also spent in watching the seven one-day matches between India and WI. While the first three were marred by crowd behaviour, all the matches were good. The series does not bode well for India's chances in World Cup, as it is clear that we do not have the bowling to get any team out.

Raghu went to Thailand and Indonesia in November. Congrats to Vidya and Nitya who are busy giving concerts all over Sydney.

anbudan,


30th October2002