Kuttikalde Papa, veettukarude Manu..our Manoj..

 Mar 30 ,2025 Sunday :

Sree woke upto Mahesh's call..it must have been around 6-6:15 am and i was just about to get up too. The call which started on a casual note soon changed tone and didnt feel right. I thought it was probably one of Sree's projectmate Mahesh informing about family member's health issues/death/unexpected travel etc and asking for leave. Sree got up from bed and as soon as the call disconnected told me , Manoj marichu ! i was like 'which Manoj' ? and what followed was silence and shock ! Our friend Manoj collapsed at the Costco (retail giant in Bay Area) passed away in California. This was not even in my the farthest thoughts, so took time to accept. 

Sree spent the next few hours informing his seniors at Infosys, to extend all HR help etc. We wondered what could have happened all of a sudden and how to help Rajitha. Thanks to some of our friends who stay near her place, Jayasree, Sajitha, Smitha, Beaula who rushed to her with their husbands to support her. I didnot have the courage to call Rajitha. What passed my mind was how can this happen, we had just met and even went on a night drive, when Manoj and Rajitha were here to sell the villa. We were close friends, and this was unimaginable. 

The first time we heard about Manoj was from Mahesh and Jayasree. They were friends from 'Infosys Tvm' days and if i am not wrong they were getting ready for his birthday party at Red Chillies (i think that was the mallu restaurant in Milpitas). Mahesh went on to tell he was an excellent chess player etc. He was working with Mahesh at apple and Sree was to meet him soon. Sree,Manoj,Mahesh were all part of GBI group at Infosys, so they got to work together a lot and somehow our family friendship also bloomed. 

It was around two years back i got a chance to attend his little adopted sister Paru's marriage. Manjoj and Rajitha invited personally, and since both of us couldnt go, i decided to go solo. It was my first time to Kollam everyone made me feel at home. I knew uncle and aunty from Bangalore days(Manoj and Rajitha had relocated back to India but Rajitha and Meera went back to US after an year or so). Everyone in the house treated me so well like one of their own clan that i enjoyed the festivities more than one in my own family. It was a lavish affair, not to my surprise considering Manoj's nature and his love for Paru. 

All these memories came gushing while i was still sinking into the news heard few hours back. How can this happen ? Lucky Manoj, he lived his life and left with no pain but what about their lost Papa for the girls ? What about Rajitha's Manj ? i cannot imagine her as a widow and she doesnt deserve to be one so soon. She had lost her father only about an year back and surely, wasnot ready to take this.

Manoj and Rajitha had lived in UK and US many years more than us before we met them i Sunnyvale. I have personally looked up at Meera, their older daughter as a prodigy, who could play the cello, create wonderful pieces of art, learn new languages and what not ! The younger one was small and naive. Later, Lily came to their lives and while Rajitha was not a dog person, she soon became one too, feeding Lily, pampering Lily and what not. I feared Lily and didnot want to go to their place but soon realised Lily had the intelligence to not come close to me during our visits to their place.

While i didnot personally approve many of Manoj's traits, his behaviour to Rajitha, his 'extra' spendthrift nature, his nose poking into 'public' matters which don't really need debate and his junk eating habits, he was a man of 'hospitality'. A visit to his house was always filled with delicacies in munch on. I think we tasted Boba because he and kids lured us.'Shawarma' was another of their weakness . I have heard from Sree about his diligent work at Apple. Getting a high paying job at Cloudera in India after relocation wouldnt have been possible without work proficiency and i envied him for that.

Rajitha was a strong support to me especially during the toughest days ,back in 2019 while going through panic attacks/seizures. Due to 'fear' of sitting alone at hone and unable to go to office due to continous nausea/dizziness, Rajitha's place was my resort during pre covid times. I couldnt have survived those days without her support , infact no one knows what it was like. I looked fit, yet was undergoing mental crackdown.

Many a time , i have listened to her pain in their 'married relationship' which was a mutual love (and arranged by families) and i often wondered why couples can't keep the corum balanced and peaceful when health and wealth is already good. Rajitha was technically competent and had a high paying job, a loving family and i couldnt find a reason for the agitation that existed between them. Manoj though soft spoken was often very rude, finding faults inspite of her Rajitha being traditional and totally family oriented.

I must have been the happiest when Manoj and family decided to move back to India soon after we did and brought property in RBD. They participated with all of us in 'dhoom dham' onam celebrations but later on for Meera, Rajitha decided to move back. Manoj and Kunji stayed back in the villa. Kunji went to school here for an year and Manoj's parents came to Bangalore and stayed on. All of them made us feel at home in all our visits.

More than 10 years of friendship, trips, casual gettos while in India and USe, and the recent Kollam trip for Paru's marriage cannot be forgotten. Manoj was a dad who would go any extent to makes wishes true through the children. He probably believed in life without restraints (for him atleast)

How Rajitha handled everything to bring back Manoj's body home is no small feat. i couldn't muster the courage to talk to her, i felt like a coward. Not able to do anything sitting here My heart aches in the loss, while many a time it drifts in shopping, movies and laughters.Manoj and family is not the past, they are very much part of us, and will be. Fate didnt have to be so cruel !!