Mangalore: Two Tiny Uthups Wait for Usha Aunty...
by S Nandagopal
Former Senior Correspondent of The Times of India, Mangalore
Mangalore, May 12 : As the phone rang on Monday morning, a pleasant surprise awaited Gita Kishore, a banker residing at Mannagudda in the city. Gita jumped with joy as she heard the husky voice of none other than renowned singer Usha Uthup apologisingly saying ``I am extremely sorry madam. I really missed something special last night''.
In fact, Usha was referring to her scheduled visit to a Chinese food joint at Mannagudda, which she skipped, leaving two little twins dissappointed. Reena and Rhea, awaited Usha Aunty's arrival to welcome her in a unique manner on the Mothers' Day. Draped in a pink saree, grand-ma spectacles, loads of bangles, a wrist watch on the right side and a big round Bindi, resembling Usha from head to toe, waited in vien for over three hours.
Usha who was in the city for a public programme, was supposed to have her dinner with the organisers at this Chinese Joint, but skipped her visit as it was too late in the night.
Though Gita pacified the kids saying that Usha aunty was too tired, the dissappointment was palpable, as they went to bed.
The dissapointment turned to excitement the next morning when Usha herself called up Gita to say that she was not aware that such a pleasant surprise awaited her at the dinner. Recalling the telephonic conversation, Gita told that she was humbled when Usha asked to send the photographs of the kids as she was eagerly waiting to see Reena and Rhea.
The tiny tots were excited too as they pestered their parents to go to the airport to see her off. But it was too late by then.
In fact, the two had also designed a greeting card to be given to Usha on the occasion of Mother's Day, symbolic of Usha being a motherly figure to millions of budding artists through out the country. Now, they are preparing to send the card with their pictures to Usha aunty's address.
It was just a small communication gap, says Gita. However, she adds that the owner of the restaurant, Eugene Lee was courteous to tell the episode to programme organiser Louis Pinto about the kids waiting for Usha. Getting to know of the incident, Usha was prompt to call up her ardent fans. The loss and dissappointment of the previous night was well made up.
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