Late by only Forty Two Years !

This evening, my parents are leaving to visit Bangalore (India and in Karnataka state)!

I'm happy. And why so happy? And what's special about this visit? Here's the story...

My dad worked in the Karnataka State Government as a Civil Engineer for a many number of years and also in a division of the army that had some connection with the Public Works Department and the Housing Board - it was called the Land Army!

So, for many many years he built dams and bridges his very significant work being that of saving the "Aikya Mantapa" in Koodala Sangama (Karnataka) near a small town called "Bagalkot".

We lived in this small town and enjoyed living a simple, quiet life for a few years.

He would commute in the early hours of dawn and come back very late in the night, covered in red dust! The soil in those regions is red soil. My mother would faithfully wait for him night after night and serve him a hot meal even at the wee hours of the morning at times.

Being a part of constructing the "TungaBhadra dam" across the river of "Thugabhadra" (and also the Moola Brindavana of the Madhwa saint Guru Raghavendra is located on banks of Tungabhadra at Mantralayam), the "Anagwadi dam" near Bagalkot,
the rescue by designing and constructing the Aikya Mantapa at Koodala Sangam (as there was risk of it being submerged), implementing pile foundations and exploring mud architecture for the hundreds of homes he has built across Karnataka, are some of the things he thinks are the highlights of his career as a civil engineer!

We are equally proud of him too!

With that background, I have to also mention that he used to travel to Bangalore every fortnight for various meetings and always by his car - to emphasize that no reservations were involved.He used to leave at about 4:00 PM in the afternoon from Gulbarga (another place we lived) and travel the night to Bangalore. He travelled from various places to Bangalore every 15 days, stayed in Bangalore for a month sometimes, knew the ins and out of the city. He would come back and tell us stories of what he did - like he loves going to the MTR Tiffin Room, staying at the West End Hotel, the movies he watched - like he had seen "ABBA The movie" on one of those trips.

He used to bring back gramophone records for us, dresses for me and sweets that I had never seen before.

This was done for many many years - and every single time my mother pleaded with him to take her along!

She so badly wanted to see the city of Bangalore. He never took her requests seriously enough. Even the driver used to ask him if he wanted to bring the family along, and my dad always gave him a deaf ear. When all he had to do was ask us/her to pack her bags and sit in the vehicle with him. It never happened. And now after about 42 years of their marriage, he has finally agreed to take her to Bangalore - that happens to be today! And this I also owe to my sister-at-heart! Not possible without her!

Now you see why I'm so excited :-)

To top it all and to make me a little guilty, even I had the opportunity to visit this city a few times. Went to Brigade road with friends, hung out in coffee shops and Archies Gallery in Jaya Nagar, stayed in Basaweshwar Nagar, visited people in Benson Town and did a million things - and believe me, I missed my mom during all those times!

So, today I called her and told her to go all those places, every one of them - sit on the steps of the Vidhana Soudha" (I have a picture from my school days sitting there) and take pictures for me! I'm waiting to see them :-)

I'm happy that she is finally doing what she has dreamt to do with my dad for 42 years! Never too late I guess...

She also has a dream of visiting the Udipi Krishna and Karwar, Mangalore areas.

One day I'll take her there too...