Our wonderful neighbors next door

‘Good Morning Uncle’!! a clear vibrant voice interrupts my serious early morning conversation with my succulent cactus family.
And it has that wonderful nasal twang that I instantly recognize.
 I look up and wave to this slender long-legged girl with sharp features and a fully loaded backpack, as she rushes to catch the early morning school bus.
Do not get  mistaken. She is not going to school to study.
No way!
She is going to a very reputed International school to teach English Literature and Shakespeare to the senior students!

Surprised?? 
and what if I told you that her young husband does more than a five mile jog early mornings @ 5.30AM each day.

Life for this young couple  is tough. Wake up at dawn, get ready, pack food and rush to work. Come back dog tired, eat food and crash! And that happens every work day – some days it can get worse too.

What about  Mom and Dad?

One of the coolest folks here in Sobha Palladian. Mom is vivacious, full of pep and vigor, and Dad is rock steady, cool as cucumber as the saying goes. Perfect example of calm, patience and maturity. He walks with a measured pace with headphones on his ears seriously listening to Ghazals and old Rafi songs.

While Dad retired after a hectic career chasing circulation figures and market shares for Deccan Herald and Prajavani, Mom still packs in a full day of action with  badminton, book club, brisk walks -  over and above a packed schedule each day with batches of senior students lined up to take special coaching in Accountancy after school.

And if you are a book lover, and you walk into their house, you have reached a Treasure Trove! A literary heaven!!

Walls lined with stacks of books of all genres – fiction, bio, travel, Tamil classics and many many more. All in mint condition and arranged neatly one on top of the other. Hundreds of them.
Unlike the conventional way of arranging the book standing up on the edge, these are vertically stacked. So, no book gets bent or curved or slides down and you do not need those heavy elephant shaped book retaining ends either.

And as you stand in front of the book shelf, mesmerized by this wonderful collection, a surprise walk in quietly. 
She is a freshly shampooed Persian cat with all her regal looks and that scant disregard for humans.
Surprised again? 
Then wait until you see another freshly shampooed Persian sauntering in. This one has dark grey fluffy hair, soft and silky. And they both occupy the two most comfortable sofa chairs.

And if you can understand their feline language, this is what you will hear them say – ‘Humans, those benches are good enough for you folks’!

Well, you just got introduced to our neighbours @ 2004 – Srini, Gayatri, Archana & Koushick!

And Honey and Dusty !

Krish..