Kerala - Alappuzha   

At 88, Gouri is her sprightly self

Dennis Marcus Mathew

Veteran politician celebrated her birthday on Tuesday

FOND MEMORIES: K.R. Gouri serving food to Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy on her birthday at her home on Tuesday.

ALAPPUZHA: The tough demands of more than five decades in public life have not withered her spirit. But on Tuesday, as she turned 88, K.R. Gouri said she was not happy that age was catching up.

Clad in a shining ‘kasavu’ sari, Kerala’s first Revenue Minister admitted a fear of not being able to serve the public as she used to all these decades.

“I want to live longer. I know you are happy when it’s my birthday, but it reminds me that I am getting old. And that hurts,” she said addressing the audience gathered at the Rotary Hall, near her residence, at Chathanadu here.

However, the fears seemed to vanish, as the regular flow of visitors, including Alappuzha MLA K.C. Venugopal, Pandalam MLA K.K. Shaju, DCC president A.A. Shukoor and Swami Prakashananda of the Sivagiri Mutt, kept her busy. When she cut the birthday cake and distributed it to everyone, Ms. Gouri was her sprightly self.

Returning home after the sumptuous lunch, she kept casting her glance at the gate.

One more visitor, someone who had never failed to wish her on this day for decades, was yet to turn up. At 5 p.m., the wait was over and she stepped out to receive Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy who drove all the way from Thiruvananthapuram to meet her. A few minutes for the cameramen, and then she led him to the dining hall. Bread, ‘Karimeen fry’ and the famous Ambalapuzha ‘pal payasam’, and it was back to the cameras.

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