BEHIND THAT GENTLEST VENEER
"It’s not the mountain we conquer, it’s ourselves.” Edmund Hillary O n May 27, this year, my cousin Oscar and his wife Mavis completed twenty-five years of their marriage. They had plans to celebrate the event in a grand way. But, due to lockdown, they had to forego all the band-baaja . A couple of days before the big day, Danika, their college-going daughter, sent to me a friend-request on FB. As soon as I accepted it, I saw this message in the inbox: “Hello Gerry Uncle, my dad and mom will be completing twenty-five years of their marriage on 27th May. I and Dane (her brother) will be compiling a video of our parents' close friends and relatives sharing their fondest memories about dad and mom. Can you, too, share yours? We want to give them a surprise… Please keep it as a secret.” Well, Oscar is my dad’s younger sister’s son. I had a lot to say about this fine gentleman and his gracious wife. So, I decided to do it through the way best known to me –...