Mom’s sweet memories live on

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It’s now 10 years since she passed away, yet ‘Krishna Sweets’ Murali remembers his mother so vividly and fondly, as the time when she hand-fed him and his elder brother Krishnan during their childhood.

She had borne all the responsibilities of bringing up her two sons, with unlimited patience and abundant love while husband Mahadeva Iyer toiled at his business that he launched in a small way in Coimbatore way back in 1948.

“My mother was romba chamaththu (very sweet). Both my parents were illiterate but they taught us so much in life. They showed us how to live correctly, taught us good conduct”, said Murali.

“If I have any little good in me, that’s because of her. She always desired that all those around us must prosper, must be happy.

And whenever we, my brother and I, came up with any problem, my parents’ would be the same, ‘what next?’ They were eternal optimists and that was infectious”, he said.

“Even now, I feel energy flowing into me, particularly when I am ill or I am feeling low about something, though my mother passed away in 2002 at age 64.

You know, even God goes on leave but mom is the permanent energy giver”, said the ‘sweet’ entrepreneur, who believes in sharing his success with the less privileged through dozens of social and philanthropic initiatives.

Murali’s well-appointed office just across from Panagal Park is filled with Ganesha idols of all sizes. “Pillaiyar is the most understanding and accommodating deity. We can make him with gold or just cow dung. He would not mind. You can build a big temple for him or just install him at the autorickshaw stand.

He is so loving, undemanding and yet so energising, just like mother,” said Murali while preparing for his annual landmark function, ‘Salute to Mothers’, which is happening at the Music Academy Sunday evening.

The admission is free, but then, there is one hitch. You need to love your mom to be able to gain entry. But then, who doesn’t love, nay adore, his/her mother, so one could expect a flood of mom-worshippers at the academy.