My Son

MY SON Somewhere in the beginning of April 2006 we decided that we will have a Son... From April 2006: I am Ronald Raajesh, aged 27yr 2 months as on Apr 2006, happily married to my wife Aarthi, who was to complete 27 years on 15 th April 2006. At that time I was posted in Vizag as Territory Manager in TVS Motor Company, and Aarthi had recently resigned from ICICI. Aarthi had just recovered from a troublesome experience – an abortion in Feb’06. We had conceived a child though we were on pills. On consultation with doctors they had informed us that the child might have been conceived because of irregularity in usage of pills, and Aarthi had been taking the tablet for 3 months after the child had formed, with regular period happening. We were given a choice to either continue to delivery or abort the fetus, but no guarantee that the child will be without any deformities. Hence with a heavy heart we had to decide for abortion. But after this bad experience we decided that we would have our son (somehow both of us had a strong conviction that it will be a son) in a planned manner. In fact I remember us having a four hour discussion, sitting with my laptop, on this subject in April though I have forgotten the exact date. We decided that the child should be born anywhere in July-September 2007, as we felt that it would be the most ideal time with the season being immediately after summer and just before the rainy season. We drew up a Cash flow plan as to see what are the expenses that would be incurred in the next 2 years and whether we will be able to support our son as best as possible. We came to understand the few difficulties that faced us. First, we were posted in Vizag. Vizag is one of the most beautiful cities I had seen and it still remains as one of my favorite city with lot of memories because it was the city to which I was posted immediately after marriage with a promotion. For 2 year before my marriage I had been handling Vijayawada territory in TVS as Sales Officer. On the very next day of my marriage I received the information that I was promoted as Territory Manager with a grade promotion and pay increase and moving to the Second largest market in Andhra, first being Hyderabad. Being

slightly superstitious, our family was thrilled that Aarthi had brought in the luck in my life, something which I have been strongly believing from the day I saw her. Vizag is known for its pleasant climate and its scenic beauty. Lying on the coast line Vizag should be proud of its beautiful beaches like RK beach and Yerrada (our favorite). We had seen Vizag’s complete splendor when we visited the Borra Caves –a fascinating natural formation and Arrakku Valley – a fascinating Green Valley. People are very cordial and jovial than the people in other parts of Andhra and I had formed some long lasting friends who are my well wishers even today. We had taken up one of the most luxurious apartment, MVV Gardens, on the beach front with a clear view of the beach from our long balcony. And unlike Vijayawada territory all the dealer and sub dealer locations were closely knitted. So after any tour to other districts I was able to return back to home on the same day. Also the city is one of the safest places to live. Any time we felt, we used to take my two-wheeler and drive on the beach rode and enjoy the scenic beauty and soothing breeze of the Vizag beach, sometimes as late as 1 o’clock in the night. But the only problem that we had was the location of Vizag. Vizag is located near to the borders of Andhra and Orissa, which was a long distance of 22 hours journey from Karur, the place where my parents were staying and 20 hours from Trichy, where Aarthi’s parents and my relatives are based. We were a newly wed couple and it is customary, in our place, for relatives to visit the home of the newly wed. But of the one year that we stayed there our relatives and friends were finding it difficult to visit us primarily because of the distance. Even our parents from both sides of the family have visited us only twice in one year. Hence we thought that during the time of delivery our relatives will not be able to visit us immediately, the pain of which we had felt during the abortion. The second problem was the money factor. Though we were earning a decent pay pack, I had asked Aarthi to quit her job after Feb, to take care of her health. I also did not have any intention of sending her to a job for quite some time. Our Cash Flow Planner indicated that though the cash flow was sufficient there was little room for contingencies. Also I was not sure of an immediate promotion in TVS because I had been promoted continuously for the past 2 years, and sales in Vizag was increasing in spurts in tandem with the general industry, unlike Vijayawada where I was able to push a steady growth. And if promoted, I was not sure of getting posted in Tamilnadu. As a matter of fact, 3 years in Two-Wheeler Sales had become a bit too much boring for me and I had been requesting my management to shift me to IT department where my Systems skills can also be utilized.

Considering these factors, we decided that I should move to a better job in Chennai, where there would be high scopes for career improvement and medical facilities are abundant and we would be at a strategic location which would facilitate easy access to our relatives and friends. Aarthi applied for me in ICICI’s web site, I was called for an interview and was selected as Sales Manager for Medical Equipment Loans in Chennai, with a better pay, better grade and higher responsibility in a new field of work - Finance. In May 2006 I resigned TVS and in June 2006 we move to Chennai… Preparing for my Son: Shifting Chennai was no easy task. When I had taken up the posting in Vijayawada I moved in with 2 bags and 1 suitcase. When I moved to Vizag I moved luggage in half of a mini van. But when shifting to Chennai, I had accumulated so much goods that I had to hire a full van. With the help of our service staff and a hired packers and movers I was able to shift things to Chennai. But the main issue lay in Chennai where we had to urgently find a rental apartment for moving in. Finding an apartment in Chennai is no mean task, the labor of which will be only known by persons who have tried. The city is infested with broker of all sorts who keep showing useless places which would neither fit our requirement nor fit our budget. They are the main reason for the rental amounts to sky rocket to crazy amounts. At least we were lucky that my father in law’s apartment was vacant at that time and we moved in swiftly. After staying in a vast apartment in Vizag this apartment was relatively tiny and we had dumped our entire luggage in one bedroom and were using the hall for sleeping. Only Aarthi felt the major brunt of it. As I had joined ICICI recently I had to spend majority of the day in office going through the learning curve. I had to really slog for accumulating as much knowledge as possible because this field was new to me. In fact it was a u-turn in my career – from product sales to finance; from two wheeler sales to medical equipment loans. I was surprised to know that there exists an industry for Medical Equipments and far more surprising was the fact that ICICI has a dedicated loans division for funding customer to purchase medical equipments like X-Ray, CT, MRI, etc.. In the initial phase I was putting in literally 12 hours of work with 2 hours added to travel to and from office. And I was spending only 10 hours with my wife. Aarthi had lot of issues to handle and she was handling it all with a smile. First the water was no good and brackish, the kitchen was too small for cooking and the apartment was too small for moving around. Above all, after staying in a pleasant climate in Vizag the Chennai heat was bearing down upon her and she had to spend the entire day in the heat. In fact since we were not able to sleep in

the sweat we were going to late night movies every alternate day to at least be in air conditioning till 1 in the night. We had hoped that we would be able to find a new house in a week or so. But when the search stretched to two months it became unbearable for her. I immediately got an electrician to unpack our air conditioner and install it in the flat, which at least brought her some relief. Transport was an issue as we were using a company owned two-wheeler and had not thought about purchasing one. But thanks to Nirmala, our dear friend, that problem was solved. Nirmala is one of our best friends whom we first met in Vizag. When I was posted in Andhra I did not know Telugu, but the three years spent in coastal Andhra, known for pure Telugu, I had even started to read and write small words. At the same time, being Tamilians, any where we heard a voice speaking Tamil, we used to feel happy to hear it. Sashidhar was one of the dealers whom I was managing. He is a promising entrepreneur having two TVS dealerships. He also became my good friend primarily because of his good nature and also he was very fluent in Tamil. It was in his dealership in Vizag, that I met Nirmala. Nirmala is a Tamilian, and of very cordial nature. She treats every one as her brother and is a real sales woman with the never quit attitude. Aarthi became her close friend very soon. After coming to Chennai, we went to Nirmala’s sister wedding in the month of July and on coming to know that we were finding it difficult to travel, she immediately asked us to take her Scooty Pep which was not being used by any one after she had moved to Vizag. The Scooty became very handy in searching for a house. Very soon I took a loan from ICICI and purchased a white Matiz on July 7th and started driving though I had seldom driven a four wheeler before. The idea of purchasing a four wheeler can be attributed majorly to Aarthi, who rationalized that a four wheeler is essential even before our kid is born, as it would be difficult to carry him around in a two-wheeler or bus. We decided to take a house any where close to Santhome, where my office is located. The search for the house was becoming too tiresome but also too urgent as the month of Aadi (inauspicious Tamil month for starting new work) was nearing. We had tried 32 different houses and not satisfied. In that desperation we were in the verge of taking up two flats with a rental of 10 k per month but finally decided against it and thought of giving up the search and shift after Aadi. On August 15, 2006, being a holiday we thought of giving it one more last go and went on our final hunt. Luckily we met a broker who in turn introduced to another broker who in turn checked with a maid servant in an apartment and showed us an apartment in Besant Nagar which was not only good but also fitted our HRA. We decided immediately and met the house owner Mrs. Lalitha Ganesh who had come on a visit to Chennai from Coimbatore and paid the

advance and had the milk warming ceremony on the very next day. Finally on August 20th we shifted our luggage also and moved into our new home. After settling down, we reiterated the entire plan and checked on the dates. We decided that for having a child in July-Sep of next year Aarthi had to conceive in the month of October. At that time my brother, who was in love with his college mate, was requesting my mother for marrying that girl. Finally after a lot of hassles my mother and father agreed. It was initially proposed to have their marriage in January 2007 in the month of Thai (an auspicious Tamil month). We once again drew up a Cash Plan and decided that our cash flow would become steady only by Jan 07. Hence contributing to his marriage also will not hinder our plan. But when after checking horoscopes, it was decided to have my brother’s marriage in November 1st 2006 that we had to think and rethink. In fact in these discussions happened till October 10th and then after a lot of discussions between Aarthi and me, we decided to go ahead and have our son. We went to Karur on 26th October for my brother’s marriage. On the way we went to Felix’s marriage with Sharmila. Felix and Karunakaran are two of my closest friends since my engineering college days. This friendship has lasted over a decade. In fact, I am more attached to them since they were the persons who helped me in proposing to Aarthi. In 2006, Felix was working as a Software Engineer in Hyderabad and Karunakaran was in Thermax, Pune. Karuna was married a month prior to our marriage and he has a daughter. Felix was getting married a week prior to my brother’s marriage. Being close friends we went to his marriage and came back with a blissful mood for my brother’s wedding preparations. Aarthi had her regular period in 16th Oct and we took the first step towards creating our son on 30th October 2006 in my parental home in Karur…. A Star in the Making: November 17th Aarthi felt that she has conceived.