AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 6 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 138 of 332 ago, I was surprised to find Sampath there giving his daughter away in Kanyadhan. This flashed in my mind and Sampath was contacted. Without formalities, I gave him a diktat and he rose to the occasion. We reached the club at about dusk and everything was in order, tickets- boo as they say in the army. Savitri went off to visit one of her friends. The rest of us sat and enjoyed the much talked about scenery, some with elixir in hand and one without. Agaram Kandadai Sampath was the man of the hour. Next morning we left after tea and wanted to have the famous breakfast in one of the local eateries. Udupi Mangal Vihar in Pune to Woodlands elsewhere to Udupi restaurants all over owe their allegiance to Mangalore and around. Masala Dosa had its origin here. But we had to take a little detour in our travel. The main national highway from Mangalore via Hassan was closed to traffic because the ghat section on the Western Ghats were under major repairs. We decided to drive through Coorg. With my limited treasure of adjectives, the reader may find they are being repeated. Road to Coorg through the Western Ghats is one such that my adjectives run out. It is beautiful. We were invited for lunch by Brigadier Freddy Muthanna, to stop there enroute. I was his Regimental Medical Officer (RMO) when he commanded 4 Guards when we were in Sikkim in 1975 and we have constantly kept in touch. Tommy initially was hesitant about this. But after Savitri was taken on a tour of the estate and after the fabulous lunch, I had to pull Tommy out because I wanted to reach Bangalore before dark. Each of us were given honey, pepper and cardamom and we in return gave him a G batch beer mug and a bottle of Bhairoba brew. In this unexpected stop over, the man of the hour was Brig Freddy Muthanna. We hit the road after lunch and drove to Bangalore, bypassingMysore. Savitri went away to her parents’ place. Tommy stayed with us at our daughter Priyanka’s place. Tommy left next morning and flew to Delhi from Bangalore. Should we say the couple of the hour were Savitri and Tommy but for whom we might not have done the trip? Navneeth and I drove alternatively. Two days later, both of us returned to Madras in an empty car,