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Glen Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy was the theme song of B Hostel. Anil K Satyan introduced me to the song. Kent Classics Collection. I remember the cassette case with cigarette pack branding. I remember Binu singing the song in B224. I remember weekend trips with the song on loop.
Glenn Campbell passed away last year. Only then did I know about his struggle with dementia, his farewell tour, and movie based on it, I’ll Be Me. The movie is heart-wrenching – the gradual loss of memory, identity, dignity and life – and at times, exploitative. But his half-slurred last studio song hits you in the guts – ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’.
Addressed to his wife, the song starts with “I’m still here, but I’m gone” and ends with…
“I’m never gonna know what you go through
All the things I say or do
All the hurt and all the pain
One thing selfishly remains
I’m not gonna miss you”
My father passed away last year, after a six-year battle with dementia.
I didn’t cry when my wife broke the news to me. I had done my crying six years ago when a wrong medication had reduced Pappa to a vegetable. I was actually relieved – finally, Pappa is free.
On the ambulance ride to Kochi for the funeral, trying to stay awake, trying to ensure the driver stayed awake, I had my songs on shuffle…and somewhere near Salem, when a sudden cloudburst reduced visibility to a few metres, ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’ started playing.
And everything that I had tried to forget surged back and I dissolved into the rain.
My son’s summer hols start this Friday. Madhya venal avadiyaayi…now that is a famous ‘70s song. Come end-March, all kids of my generation would be humming that tune, but never me…
One summer, many many years ago, while running around in our backyard, I tripped on something, fell face first on a concrete slab, lost four of my front teeth and conked. After the mad rush to the hospital, extraction, stitches, etc., while I was lay groggy, my mouth full of sugar, the radio blithely started up… Madhya venal avadiyaayi. From that day on whenever I hear the song, I taste blood and sugar in my mouth.
OK, now about the pics. My mom’s brother, Koshy John, a national award-winning photographer (more about him later), used to live with us and we kids were his fav subjects. (The pics appeared in Kudumba Deepam, May 1974)
After two years in exile we are back in Ammankovil Road. Do drop in…
Yohan, Annie’s brother’s kid, born on 25 June 2008.
Here’s wishing us a very happy 10th anniversary…
My son Rohan turns nine today.
Take a look at the birthday snaps below to see how BAR has changed over nine years…
First Birthday. Besant Nagar. Ro had just started walking.
2. Thiruvanmiyur
3. Mylapore
4. Nellickal. We celebrated Alichitta’s and Ro’s birthday together.
5. The year Santhachitta passed away. No bash.
6. I had to rush to Coimbatore on Ro’s birthday in 2004
7. Mylapore. Spongebob theme!
8. Pizza Hut
News item about my sis’s kid, from Malayala Manorama, 9 July 2007
My wife wasn’t very happy that her in-laws were on the blog and she wasn’t, so here goes…
Babu Kuriakose 