Blissfully Married

Deejay Dave, 55, of 101.9mhz is married to C. Usha Devi, 52, and the couple have 5 children.  Dave, who hails from Kluang now lives in Taman Damansara Aliff.

Dave and his wife, daughter and mother-in-law celebrating Onam at home.

by Dave A. Madhavan

I LIVE in Taman Damansara Aliff, Johor Baru, with my wife, youngest daughter and mother-in-law.

During festivals, all my sons and daughters will come back.

Like the Onam, for instance, a harvest festival widely celebrated only by the Malayalees, the house will be filled with merriment and joy.

My wife, C. Usha Devi, will prepare 11 vegetarian dishes for the occasion.

For Onam, we must always have either 11, 13 or 15 types of dishes.

The number of dishes must be in odd numbers.

The meal consists of payasam and pradhaman which are milk or coconut milk-based desserts made from bananas, jackfruit, rice, green-gram, dhal, broken wheat or other items.

Usha would start cooking the dishes from 8am and be done by 1pm.

The meal would then be served on a banana leaf.

My daughters would help out at the kitchen while I would be given the “hardest” task — peeling onions and garlic.

Usha, a nurse at the Johor Specialist Hospital, is a very good cook.

I love her cooking. We have been married since 1986, and we have five beautiful children — two sons and three daughters.

While we would be busy preparing the meals, my sons would be busy preparing a clay cone to be placed in the middle of the kolam design at the porch. Flower petals are also strewn on the kolam.

The boys would then make preparations for the ritual observed during Onam.

My sons have to dig the mud from the soil to make the clay figure. The clay cone symbolised the legendary King Mahabali.

The whole family then gathers at the porch to light the lamp which signifies the welcoming of King Mahabali who brings wealth into the household.

I joined Radio Televisyen Malaysia in 1982, where I was based in Johor Baru until 2007.

From 2007 to 2009, I was based in Kuala Lumpur.

During the three years I was based there, I missed my home so much even though I enjoyed my job.

Although my wife and I have been married for 28 years, our love for each other is as strong as the day we met. The secret to a blissful marriage is trust. Don’t hide anything from your spouse.

Being a deejay on JohorFM and KLFM, I have many fans. There were some who wanted to get to know me better.

I have fans asking me: “Abang Dave dah kahwin belum?” (Dave, are you married?)

My wife does not get jealous or angry when I tell her about them.

And that is because she trusts me.

I am also known as the “Unity Deejay”, being the only non-Muslim deejay of 101.9FM.

I am on air from 6am to 10am from Wednesday to Friday.

During my leisure time, I also work as an emcee.

I have been the emcee of the World Kite Festival annually for the past 18 years.

Being a deejay, it is essential to know several languages.

I can converse in Malay, English and Tamil and also speak a smattering of Mandarin.

My youngest son attends a Chinese school.

- sourced from NST online