Christmas Angel

Christmas Eve 2014

Christmas Day 1979

December 25, 2014 was our last Christmas with our beloved Chantoda/Susee Mable—loving mother to Anil and Suha and beloved wife to P.D. Anandaraju. And it was a glorious one. Despite Mum's illness, we had a happy day filled with love, laughter, music and joy. I did my best to cook the Indian feast she always prepared for us every holiday season. It was my turn to step up and luckily, she had taught me everything I needed to know well in advance. In fact, she'd been preparing me my whole life. The tree was radiant and overflowing with gifts. The first photograph above is from our last Christmas Eve together and is unintentionally apt. Like the angel on the tree with the radiant lights—Mum was our Christmas Angel, always shining bright. She was the heart and soul of our family.

The second photograph is from Christmas 1979. I remember vividly, Mum asking my brother and I to wait for her to at least get out of bed before we ripped the carefully selected Christmas paper off of the gifts—just so she could see the joy on our faces. It was one of those rare moments where she sat still unencumbered by all the cooking, scripture/prayer activities, guest-welcoming and telephone handling duties that occupied her day. Three hundred and sixty five days a year she was busy but we always came first, especially on December 25th. We weren't greeted with just one or two gifts, there would be several beautifully wrapped packages waiting for us under the tree. How did my parents do it? It was beyond me. Mum was such a great planner and organizer. And never once did she spare a thought for herself. For Mum, Christmas was all about looking after her family and for the rest of us Christmas was and still is synonymous with my mother. She was Christmas. She made those happy times possible. She breathed them to life, just by being herself and trying so hard.

PS: Can you spot the Sacred Heart Jesus pic on top of the television set? That image, introduced to our family by my mother, has been with us from the very beginning (it was with Mum until the end in the hospital too) and still takes center stage in our living room. Also, Dad was our family photographer back in the day, it's why he rarely features in our childhood photos.

Posted by: Suhasini
© Anandaraju Family Archives

Dream Come True

Susee Mable age 6
(Flaiz Memorial Adventist School circa 1947)
© Anandaraju Family Archives

Ever since I was a kid, I have longed for a photograph of my beloved mother as a little girl. To have just one glimpse of her in childhood would have made my life. Of course, we had wonderful and iconic photographs of my mother during her teens and twenties but never one from her girlhood. Amid my desperate pleas, Mum would often lovingly console me:

"Not everyone had cameras back then, Amma. That's just how those days were."

Flash forward to October 2016: an inconspicuous visit by a family member living in the U.S. to an old friend paved the way for my lifelong dream to come true. My relative stumbled upon an old black and white school photo circa 1947 at the home of his friend. As school photos go, it was standard fare with rows of neatly groomed teachers and students in classic school day poses. As my uncle searched for familiar faces, the sweet-faced little girl at the bottom of the photograph made him stop in his tracks. My uncle excitedly exclaimed:

"That's Chanty! I remember that little face." 

 His old friend as it turned out was one of my mother's former teachers from her Adventist alma mater, Flaiz Memorial (grades 1-12) in Narsapur, India during the late 1940s. This retired school teacher had the holy grail that I had spent four decades looking for. 

My uncle, kindly made a copy and sent the priceless photograph to my dumbfounded family.

My brother, father and I wept tears of joy, and in one instant: felt such deep and abiding love for (and from) Mum and relived the heartache and immediacy of her loss. It was such a powerful moment, one that we shall never forget.

For me, receiving my mother's childhood photo was both a gift and a dream come true. An heirloom for the ages. It was like a message from my mother across time and space. I had spent decades praying, wishing and searching for her childhood photograph and it somehow found its way back to me.

Not only did I get to see what my mother looked like as a child but it confirmed what my mother has told me all my life:

"I looked just like you did, Amma!"

Suha on the left (first two photos), circa late 1970s
and Susee on the right, circa late 1940s

She truly did. The photograph above leaves me speechless. A carbon copy of how I looked in kindergarten. It's as if I existed in a photograph thirty years before my time.

My mother and I were so close. She was my best friend and the love of my life. It's as if heaven sent Mum back to me.

I waited over four decades for my dream to come true. It was worth the wait.


Posted by: Suhasini

Our Lovely Lady

Mum age 16, at the Godavari Bridge (1957)

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal,
love leaves a memory no one can steal."
—Old Irish proverb

Posted by: Suhasini
© Anandaraju Family Archives

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada 1976

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The Love of Our Lives

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Old Friends

Susee, Raju and Ramana Rao
Hyderabad, 1973

Posted by: Suhasini

Forty-Five Years Ago

Lutheran Transfiguration Church, Bhimavaram
August 2, 1971

See more photographs here.

Posted by Suhasini

Always Loved, Never Forgotten, Forever Missed

Mum's Jasmine plant blooms abundantly, as ever.

Sixty-four years ago today my mother's beloved elder brother Victor passed away after a fall from a tree, just three months shy of his twentieth birthday.

It was a tragedy that marked my mother's life in so many ways. It was the first time she had encountered a profound loss in her life. As a young child, she had to grapple with the harshness of the loss and the impact it had on her family. Her elder brother was a shining light of love and kindness. He was a protector, a comedian and a proud son. His presence filled up a room. Victor's passing created an immense and irreplaceable void. My grandparents Pastor M. Benjamin and Victoriamma bravely carried on but their hearts never recovered from the loss of their precious son—their firstborn. In 2009, my mother lovingly recounted some of her earliest recollections of her charming and enigmatic older brother.

It brings my family a measure of comfort to know that our beloved Susee Mable, her parents and loving elder brother Victor are at long last together again. RIP. You are always remembered.

October 24, 1932 - July 24, 1952

Morning Paper

Mum in 2014

My mother relished her morning papers. Even when her vision was failing, she'd still give it her all to peruse through each and every section with her magnifying lens. She was a news and politics junkie and a puzzle enthusiast (Word Searches and Jumbles, if you please). She enjoyed reading our horoscopes to us out loud (and chuckling over them too). Even as a child, Mum would gravitate towards any of the dailies on hand and cut out clippings of poetry or of inspiring special interest stories and paste them into her scrapbook. She had an honest and open curiosity about people and the world around her and a thirst for knowledge and enlightenment. Coupled with her compassion and playful sense of humour, she was such a delight to be around.

I miss my darling Mama.


Posted By Suhasini

Thousand Islands Gananoque 1977

Thousand Islands Gananoque, Ontario 1977

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Bavaiah (brother-in-law)

Susee with Solomon Injety (husband of Ethel)
SDA General Conference, Indiana, 1990
(photograph: Ethel Injety)

My acquaintance with (Chanty) Susee Mable Anandaraju was from her childhood. 

"IT IS NEVER EASY TO LET GO". Adjustment to the death of a loved one requires a recognition of the reality of the loss, even though it feels impossible. 

Her role as a wife and mother was second to none. Susee was an Angel from her childhood. A soft spoken, cool mind and her family was her world, and she trusted God in all her ways more than any one. 

Her journey was over on the rough roads of this world and looking forward to walk on the Golden path in Heaven where we should all strive to join her. God bless her. 

Bavaiah Solomon Injety

Update: Read the 2017 tribute by Solomon Injety

Proud Mama

Anil, Susee and Suha (June 17, 1997)
Convocation Hall, University of Toronto

Posted by Suhasini

Sangareddy 1973

Raju, Anil, Susee (with child: Suha) and Nanny Bibi

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Birthday Wishes

Vizag Studios, 1965

For as far as I can remember the 20th of May was both a solemn and joyous occasion in our home.

Revered as the day my darling mother Susee Mable entered this Earth and celebrated à la Christmas morning owing to her love, kindness and merriment which enveloped our world. As my Dad, brother and I mark the second May 20th without our beloved, the gulf of sadness is unbearable but continuously soothed by her endless and unforgettable love.

Happy Birthday Mummy. May God's light shine upon you. Love you always.

Posted by Suhasini

In Memoriam

Susee Mable (Chanty)
May 20, 1941 - April 13, 2015

 One year on. RIP beloved angel. Always remembered and cherished.

Forever, Pamula, Anil and Suha

True Elegance

"Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance."—Coco Chanel

Posted by Suhasini

Angel at Home

A photograph of my beautiful mother standing with her cane, dated August 3, 2007.


Posted by Suhasini