This is so amazing that I have to link to this. Long long time ago - my father was blessed with 5 elder sisters. Each of them were slightly mad in their own right. Veritable Aunt Agatha(s) of my Bertie world. Obviously, my mother was extremely delighted to be wedded in such a family. This means I had a total of 5 Athimbers. 2 of whom - I never had an opportunity to meet as they passed away before I was born. Although my athai's visits and my interactions with them resembles that of that cow's interaction with the tornado in that Twister movie, I sort of had a soft corner for all of them. One athai in particular stood out. Reason being she was one of the most intelligent people I have had the opportunity to meet. My favorite
athai passed away a few years ago. No one could get past her easily. Certainly not my mom. Purely because she had the Jedi like ability to know exactly what you were thinking. And she was her Jedi skills to influence what my father thought as well.
Her husband is 95 years old, still alive and kicking. He is my favorite athimber. And guess what he has started writing a
blog. He was there when my father was born, when my father got married, when I was born, when I got married and he was in the US to see my daughter as well. He may be alive when her children are born. He is like an Old Seer that way. There are some people who have seen it all. He must be one of them. When he was 75 years old, when most people just chilled out with 'vethla paaku' and mega serials, his son passed away in a tragic accident. He had to get back into the ebbs and flows of the cruel world to 'karai sethufy' 3 kids (aged 16, 14, 5). From teaching Upanishads to physics (he was a professor in Madurai Kamaraj University) to Shakespeare, he was the go-to man in our family.