Indu’s Quest for Red Roses

Dr Indu Balagopal has left an indelible mark on us in the many years that she was an integral part of the BMRF executive committee. Now, for reasons of age she has chosen to retire much to the disappointment of the BMRF sub-committee. She was charismatic, quick-witted, had a way with words and a fine aesthetic sense. She was a reputed paediatrician and spent several years working for the Mumbai Mobile Creches, Mumbai. Retirement brought her to Chennai and to Bala Mandir where with her expertise in parenting and child development, she made immense contributions to the work of Bala Mandir. She, with her sister, the late Dr Anandalakshsmy were stalwarts and an awesome team with a formidable fund of knowledge, and BMRF was proud to showcase them in the international arena too.

Smt. S. Manjubhashini Memorial Seminar is being conducted every year to commemorate the memory of the  Founder of Bala Mandir, Smt. Manjubhashini. Over the past two decades, since 1998, eminent personalities have participated in the seminar, sharing their expertise, giving lectures and presentations on various topics like Enriching the Life of the Institutionalised Child, Parenting for Early Childhood, Primary and Adolescent age groups of children; Inclusion, Child Rights and Value Education. The seminars have included group and panel discussions, experiential sharing, presentations by children, open forum discussions, including virtual programmes during the pandemic. Experts in various fields have participated in the seminars.

It was in one such seminar held in 2012 on the topic ‘Enakkum Urimai Undu – Children’s Rights and Responsibilities’, in the now non-existent German Hall, that Indu’s fine aesthetic sense came into play. She had visualised that all the tables that were being set up in the pit area of the hall would be decorated with white table cloths and bowls of Red roses as centre-pieces! I was to be her assistant in this task and we worked out the logistics and finances and discovered that the fresh red roses would put a strain on our budget. So with much reluctance we decided to settle for artificial red roses which could also be reused at a later point in time. Pondy Bazaar being in close proximity, off we went to procure all the necessary items needed to do up the hall and the tables.

Pondy Bazaar as we all know, before the pedestrian plaza came up, was chaotic beyond measure, with hordes of people, unruly traffic and congested pavement shops. My driving skills being put to the test, I pulled up into a narrow parking spot and Indu and I went off in search of the perfect rose. It was no easy task! For Indu, the perfectionist she was, neither colour, material or shape were quite right. Finally the elusive rose was found with a nice shade of red, a material that was closest to the real one and of the right price! But all this effort paid off and when the big day dawned, the tables looked elegant with snow white table cloths and bright red roses. Indu received a great deal of appreciation for her tasteful decorations, before the deliberations of the seminar began!