He was a great storyteller. I had grown up going on long walks with him. I was always keen to listen to stories about his ancestors, his childhood, his friends and of the several places about which he had only read about but never visited. He explained everything with the minutest detail. Through his stories, I visited places such as the mountains in Nepal, underwater life, coral islands, and Fish Tail mountains in the Annapurana region.
Vypeen Island – my father’s last station
In 2014, my parents moved to our new home in a small town called Velliyathamparamb in Vypeen Island near Kochi. I also got a chance to work in Chennai and became a frequent visitor to our Kochi home on weekends. I could spend quality time with Achan learning new things like gardening, stories in Bhagavad Gita . Our walking and storytelling sessions resumed. I was a curious and excited weekend visitor looking forward to spending time with Achan.
Slowly we began making a list of the places to visit which included plans for exploring the Himalayas.
He managed to explore nearby places, attend Utsavs (festivals)etc & met all his friends whom he had never met after moving to Delhi 5 decades ago.
His storytelling sessions with vivid details made him very popular among his peers