[After I wrote Part IV, my cousin Ramesh visited me. I remember he came to Irving, Texas, straight from Srirangam. So please read the LHS of the equation I proposed in Part IV, for those who agree with the predicted downfall of Srirangam after the building of the Raja Gopuram, as "Everybody in 1985 minus two."

Wait a minute, I even spoke to Bharath, my schoolmate from Srirangam. He is now in Atlanta. And there is Mrs. Bhu, Mr. Li, Mr. G… all within the USA, all from Srirangam! For the time being, please change the LHS of the equation as "Everybody Circa 1985 minus Their Sons and Daughters." Proceed.]

If you are presently inside Srirangam and don't agree with the predicted downfall of Srirangam in Part IV, you are probably one of the retired newcomers with his pot of gold, who came after the 1985 census. You should now be sitting in an easy chair, sipping decoction-coffee, in the mosaic-floored hall of the third floor of an apartment, built over the culture of Srirangam. You read The Hindu and not The Express - they are extremists. You probably were in the crowd watching the famous cricket match in the 1960s, between Srirangam and Tanjore 'A' Team, as related by Sujatha, a worthy relic from the Glory Days of Srirangam, in his Srirangathu Devathaigal (Angels of Srirangam).

Aren't you one of the lamentable Believers of Srirangam (or whatever is left of it) as a Short Route to Vaikunta, who has the son in Chennai, grandson in Cincinnati and eventually, a great-grandson in Mars?

As an additional curiosity, the apartment complex you live in is probably named Jayashree Gardens. If not, some such "Gardens." I wonder what a kid in Srirangam would answer around 2010, in reply to the question, "What is a garden?"

If it is a "5 mark" big-question in his/her muzhu paritchai (final exam), the answer would begin something like this: A garden is a tall, compartmentalized structure made of concrete and brick. It has lots of people and clothes hung as decoration. It is protected by a wall with arranged kids over it. A small grill gate covers the entrance, the floor of which is usually one-half in steps and the other half as a "slope." There will usually be people on the "steps" half of the entrance, most of who are from the next garden. The wall-corner of the "slope" side of the entrance would always remain chipped, by the nervous two-wheeler traffic, in and out of the garden. There is an old watchman - the common maatru-pen (daughter-in-law) for all families residing in the garden - who switches on the common light by 6 p.m. everyday and who is scolded for not switching it off in the morning.

To make the above technically incorrect description more sober, I implore the apartment builders to have at least a Tulasi chedi (auspicious and curative herb called Tulasi or Tulsi) planted inside Jayashree Gardens.

Else, before my next visit to Jayashree Gardens, at least make sure to grow (reside) inside it a good-looking dame of age twenty to twenty-three, christened Tulasi.

To be continued…