Wedding Anniversary

Bangalore
February 10th, 1991

Dear Vikas,

Soon, on 23rd of this month, it will be twenty five years since your dad and mom married. Many people consider this as a great achievement and spend a lot of money for celebrating the event. But as you know, both Amma and I feel that the work we have done together itself is a celebration of our marriage, and consider our finished projects as our achievement. We also consider raising a son like you as our achievement. Do you know that there are people who respect us just because you are our son? I am sure that there are a lot of folks who are jealous of our tiny, tidy family.

I believe that I must have performed incredible charitable work (punya) in my previous births to have a wife like Jyotsna. She never stopped growing intellectually since our marriage, and has been instrumental  in development of my hobbies and outlook. While I consider obtaining the doctorate was my own achievement, the fruits of my fame as a writer and a photographer entirely belong to your mother.

Every human needs a catalyst or a mentor to recognize and unleash the creativity embedded in him, and I have been lucky to have Amma by my side. In the last twenty-five years, every published work of mine has been reviewed and copy-edited by her, in addition to preparing press copies. Had Jyotsna been not supportive or interested in my work, I would have never pursued them to the extent that I did.  

For a top executive at the All India Radio to identify herself as a wife of a mere photographer is no small thing in our society, but she has understood and supported my Scientific Photography business for the last twenty years. Can you imagine my life if I had married someone whose measure of success was the paycheck of her husband ?!

This letter is my first step towards celebrating the quarter century of our wedding. We are not going to throw a party or accept extravagant gifts. We still have some leftover invitations of wedding, and I want to send them to those whom we could not invite twenty five years ago, and apologize! Won't it be very funny to to send it to a youngster like you as a memento/collectible?!

I want to make a collage of important events in our life during the last twenty five years, and send it to our friends.  Amma's doctorate, her Literary Academy award, your college degree, your calling card as the Senior Manager, the cover pages of my ten books are some of the items that will be featured. I think it will take some time for me to put it together. Meanwhile I have to write a feature on "Queen Roopamati's Mandu" for the Taranga weekly, and Amma has committed to contribute a humorous essay for the April-Fool's special issue of Sudha. She also has to write a semi-scholarly article for the felicitation volume honoring M.K. Indira. Our hands are full for now.

Yours affectionately,
Bappa