By Girija Madhavan In diplomatic life, bonds of friendship overcome cultural barriers. For diplomats, getting to know the people of the country in which they are posted is a satisfying objective. In the Indian Embassy in Bonn, in the late 1980s, we met and made friends with Germans, appreciated their values and punctiliousness. Gisela Bonn…
By Girija Madhavan Settling into a new home was always a challenge to a Mysurean like myself, though I had lived in several foreign countries over the years. It was no different when I went to Bad Godesberg, Bonn, West Germany, when my husband, A. Madhavan, was posted as Ambassador to FRG (the Federal Republic…
By Girija Madhavan A new diplomatic posting, though eagerly awaited, brings with it some trepidation and qualms. So it was for me when, from Tokyo, Japan, my husband was posted to the Indian Embassy in Bonn in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1988. Though both Japan and Germany, along with Italy, were Axis Powers…
By Girija Madhavan Seeing a rainbow over Chamundi Hill recently, an old Burmese film song, “Dancing on the Rainbow,” came to mind awakening memories of “Burma” [now Myanmar], where I lived from 1959 to1961. My husband, A. Madhavan, was posted to the Indian Embassy in Rangoon. It was my first experience as an Indian Foreign…
By Girija Madhavan Houses have personalities. Repositories of the memories, life experiences, even dreams of those who lived in them, they acquire an aura of their own. The building next to my family home in Yadavagiri, Mysuru, was one such. From a wrought iron gate at road level, steep steps led up to a L-shaped…
By Girija Madhavan The flowering trees in Mysuru’s parks and gardens begin to bloom early in the year. The city planners of long ago, planted them so that each month, starting in early spring, would have some flowers to brighten the landscape. There was even a pattern of colour; first the deep pink of the…
By Girija Madhavan An old memory came back to me recently after seeing a vintage black and white clip on TV about women tennis players. In 1960 I was visiting my parents in Mysore after a year abroad in Burma [Myanmar] where my husband, A. Madhavan, was posted in the Indian Embassy. Our Ambassador’s residence…
By Girija Madhavan Images of the 1920s and early 1930s are reprints of the descriptions of my father, M. Venkatesh and mother Mukta, a memory bank for me. Venkatesh was an engineer in the Mysore State Railways. Mysore was a conservative society, each community adhering strictly to their customs but living together in amity. My…
By Girija Madhavan A few months into a new diplomatic post, normally of three years, I would settle into a comfort zone, at ease with the local language and customs. As time wore on, a familiar angst would appear, “Where next?” Our stay in Japan, where my husband, A. Madhavan, had been posted as Ambassador…
‘MS’ – The Muse of Music By Girija Madhavan The 103rd birth anniversary of M.S. Subbulakshmi [1916-2004] falls on 16th September 2019 and will be marked by lovers of music. She was known as ‘MS’ to her admirers and was special to me too. In 1942, I remember attending an ‘Upanayanam’ in Madras, [now Chennai]….
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