Coming back to High School

 As mentioned before,my school " Hindu High School " was true to its name. That being very near to Parthasarathy temple at TP Koil street, all its principles & practices were based on Triplicane iyengar community.

When I joined the school in 1956, its head master was Sh  T P Srinivasa Varadan. Next year, when he retired, Sh T S Rajagopalan took over that position. Sh TSR was so proficient in Mathematics, he has authored the Mathematics book for high schools in Madras state (now Tamilnadu)

I would like to list down my class teachers' names :                                                                                          First form (VI std)Sh Doraiswamy Iyengar                                                                                                    Second form ( VII std)Sh Varadaraja Iyengar                                                                                                  Third form  ( VIII std) Sh C K Rao                                                                                                                Fourth form ( IX std )Sh Bhashyam Iyengar                                                                                                  Fifth form Sh Pitchumani                                                                                                                                X  std  ( earlier used to be sixth form )Sh Pitchumani                                                                                  That was the year the Madras government reorganized the school and pre degree system in colleges & introduced  PUC for one year instead of the earlier 2 year intermediate course and made degree course as      3 years.

My cousin Cheenu ( Mr B Srinivasan  ) did his Polytechnic course in civil engineering staying at my home & that has influenced me to undertake the engineering  option in the fifth form of schooling. As things were yet to get settled down(post India independence) our course syllabus was very fundamental in nature.           We were taught only the basic engineering drawings like Plan, Elevation  & End view and practical exercises in cotton spinning, basic carpentry like dovetail joints, iron metal fittings like hacksaw cutting, filing, polishing etc.  The funniest thing was- for our engineering classes only, the students have to walk 2 streets across and return back to the main school for all other subject classes.

Other than my class teachers, there were several champion teachers viz. M/S Narayanaswamy iyer, Swaminatha iyer, Ramachandran, Ramanujam ..... who were consulted by the management  for deciding any course of action, any financial decisions of the school matter. It is still green in my memory how Mr Narayanaswamy used to take the lead in the school morning prayers. During those 5 minutes, the whole school including all the teachers & students have to compulsorily stand in attention and listen to his singing.That was the discipline prescribed to the students . If any non compliance by any student is observed then that student has to bring his father to the school  next day for seeking an apology.

Here I would like to mention a specific point.Due to lack of space in the school grounds (2), students of fourth & fifth forms were asked to walk all the way to semman (red sand) beach next to Marina beach on Tuesday afternoons. That was instead of weekly drills/ PT exercise in the school grounds. Our PT masters used to accompany the students and students are free to play any game but will be allowed to leave the beach only at 4.30 PM.

Coming to my extra curricular activity, as NCC was still to come in that school, only boy cub & scout used to be there and I joined the cub at sixth standard itself. Later in the eighth standard I was promoted to Bharat Scouts & Guides. Mr Vaidyalingam for cub & Mr Sharma for Scouts were our masters. I still remember two specific events in my cub/ scout involvement.                                                                                                        a) During my cub days, Mr Vaidyalingam organized a one mile walk  in Marina beach road. With a mechanical stop watch he used to measure the time taken by each cub member &ensured that it took only 12 minutes for every one- jogging or walking but NO running.                                                                                  b) Another one- annual event.  Bharat Scouts & guides conducted 50M running race for small kids- relatives or brothers of Scouts. In one year, my younger brother Venkhatramani  then 3 years of age participated and won the first prize. He won a baby dog doll as his prize.

Coming to my schoolmates listing, they are                                                                                                      Jathavedam                                                                                                                                                      Ramanujam                                                                                                                                                        Bharadwaj                                                                                                                                                        Venkataraman                                                                                                                                                    Sundaresan                                                                                                                                                        Ragothaman                                                                                                                                                      Parthasarathy  ..........                                                                                                                                   Out of them, Mr Jathavedam was the most intimate friend for me who even used to come to my home. Among the others, there used to be personality differences, petty quarrels. There existed some basic issues like someone feeling that they hail from rich backgrounds  and have superiority complexes. Some used to boast about their pocket money  possessions.  As I was from a low middle income family I could not afford to have that at any time.

Those were the days the ice cream brands viz. Arun, Rita & Vairam  came to the market and the shop run by a chettiar  opposite to the school had them for sale to the students at lunch break. They were sold either as candy or cup ice cream.  I used to witness the competition &clash between the students- who can afford to source a cup over the candy stick and enjoy.

The students over the years used to give pet names  for many teachers  and they themselves were aware of it. Some are :               

Drawing master Sh Thirunavukarassu-Ambattan (Barber) since he used to sharpen his H1B pencil that much smooth                                                                                                                                                      Mr Ramachandran- Cheetah. He was very tall  & he literally used to jump like a cheetah while walking    Mr Bhashyam Iyengar- Thoshi  He used to use that term while shouting at a mischievous student.

The handball cricket (using a tennis ball) came into vogue only during my school days. 

The school used to conduct annual 3 day programs including dramas enacted by teachers &students. My class teacher Mr Pitchumani was a very good drama actor. Additionally Mr Vichu ( who became a cinema director in later years), my junior in school used to regularly partake in drama acting. During one such festival, I had the honor of receiving a book prize for Tamil literature writing from the hands of  Sh.Rajaji      ( Chakravarthy Rajagopalachari ) Governor General of Independent India 

My school is also used to rent out the main prayer hall for carnatic music programs  conducted by Thiruvettiswara sabha. Almost all famous musicians like  M S Subbulakshmi, M L Vasantahkumari, Ariyakudi Ramanuja iyengar, Madurai Mani iyer, veenai Balachander ,,,,,,,used to give full programs on Saturday evenings. That only I used to attend with my mama,mami and their daughter Rani.

1956-62 Period

 1956-62 period

Especially the year 1956 is one of the important milestones in my life. That was the year many initiations have taken place. That listing is long. ...

a) That was the year I joined my high school education. Having successfully passed out my V th standard at Hindu Bala Patasala, I got admitted in first form at Hindu High School, Big Street,Triplicane.

b) My Upanayanam ( Cross thread ceremony for a brahmin) took place.

c) Actively participated & physically contributed for the terrace water proofing of my ancestral property.

d) Surprise travel to Calcutta

e) First time visit to Tirupathy Balaji Temple that too climbing the seven hills.

Let me attempt to write something about each  as there are background stories.

Going to High school at the age of 8 1/2 years of age was uncommon. About my 6 years of experience in that school I shall cover later.

My Upanayanam induction is a story by itself. When my eldest paternal cousin sister's marriage was fixed, my grandfather wished to combine the upanayanam ceremonies  of my two elder cousin brothers. So that it became three functions in one hall. Then came the role of the family purohit cum astrolger. He declated that it is not at all acceptable and uttered either you cancel one upanayanam candidate  or include the next child and make it four. That made my grandfather include me as the fourth  and he declared his decision to my parents. In our family his announcement was final in all matters. So I also became ' also ran' in that function!My upanayanam took place at 8 1/2 years of age itself.

Ancestral house terrace water proofing: My grandfather was a futuristic broad thinker. To ensure avoiding the property dispute among the brothers(4 sons), he ensured to build  properties for each in the same compound and earmarked them in a registered will- clearly defining which goes to whom. During my cousin sister's wedding occasion , one such property was under the completion stage. As all cousins have assembled together, my grandfather felt it would be wonderful if he engages  all his grandsons by assigning them a group task. His idea was that it will be fun for the boys  and they will enjoy doing a quality job of water proofing the shelter on that new house. We all enjoyed the water proof task using kadukkai/lime/ jaggery to develop the compound  and poured on the top surface. To ensure proper settling , once it started drying, we pounded the surface using wooden mallets and  foot steps in rhythm.No external labour was utilised. The workmanship was so good, there was no monsoon leak issue at all. It so happened that it was the house,  we( my father Arunachalam) got as his share.

Surprise Calcutta trip           One of my periappa ( amma's elder sister's husband) was working in Southern Railway at Trichy. He enjoyed the facility of bonus II class annual free travel with family for any destination in India. Utilizing the same he was planning to travel from Trichy to Calcutta  to call on his daughter  Balambal  at Sibhpur, Howrah. In TN, for anybody wishing to travel to the North or East, they have to necessarily pass through Madras city only. Invariably all our relatives - be it paternal or maternal halt a day at my house in Triplicane  and proceed forward to catch the train at Madras central. In those days as there were no en route food serving facilities in railways, people used to carry cooked food like tamarind rice, idlis in tiffin careers; My mother used to prepare them and help. On one such occasion, when my uncle came to my house he casually asked me - Ramu, are you interested in joining us as one of his sons was not accompanying them to Calcutta ? Without a blink I took his offer & accompanied them to Calcutta. The trip was only for 2 weeks. But as a 9 year old boy I could not relish that trip due to the very poor local atmosphere ! Early Sunset, Smoky surroundings due to coal burning chulas emitting continuous smoke etc. made me feel most unhappy.  I determined that I should never visit Calcutta once again. 

But it is a different matter- Draw of lots forcing me to undergo first year practical training for 6 weeks in Atlas Power Press co. in Rippon Street, Chowrangi. That too since it was in 1967, W Bengal had the worst period of labour strikes, public transport burning in the middle of the road etc. Later my marriage reception took place in 1975 at Lands down road, Calcutta as my father-in-law was staying at Lake gardens, Calcutta.

First visit to Lord Balaji temple at Thirumala     In my family there was a blind faith  that we should not spend our money to go to that temple; but can visit only if somebody else foot the expenses. Under that pretext, none in the family ever undertook that visit. In 1956, my aunty ( my father's younger sister- Mrs Seethalakshmi with her husband Ramaswamy & son SR Srinivasan ) was going to that temple via Madras. When she asked me whether you will be interested in joining us, gleefully I accepted that offer without knowing  what the efforts required & how much struggle one has to undergo. I accompanied them in  local  private transport bus up to the foothill . Thereafter, as per their prayers, they climbed the hills (seven hills)by foot to reach the main deity at the top. Being a small boy I did not feel tired  & enjoyed the full trip. I had good darshan of Lord Balaji, courtesy my aunt.                                                                                                        It is a different matter  , at later days when infrastructure developed, bus/ car plying facilities improved in reaching the top, I have undertaken the trips to visit the temple periodically & took darshan several times.

 Besides school

 Besides my schooling up to the Vth standard ( my age was only 8 years by then ), let us look into how I have been brought up in life. In general my mother was very social in nature and made friends around her circle.My parents used to give high importance to keep in touch with all our relatives- both paternal & maternal.

It was developed as a routine to go to our grandparents' home in Dharmapuri or Batlagundu in summer & winter holidays almost every year. Though I am 76 years old now,those memories of travelling by train  to these destinations are green in my memory.

For Dharmapuri, we used to board a passenger train at Madras central in the evening around 7pm, which will reach Morappur at around morning 5.30 am. Morappur station is beyond Jolarpet junction in Madras- Coimbatore line. At that time, Dharmapuri was a small town only  and there were no rail connectivity that existed then. At Morappur, we used to wait for Arur- Dharmapuri bus run by KRMS, a private party. In those days there were no government transport at all & KRMS was owned by one Sh Appavu Pillai, a Dharmapuri native. Invariably we used to reach our grandparent ( paternal) home around 9.30 am.. There all our cousins used to join together to enjoy our school holidays. My grand mother Mrs Lakshmi  ( famous owner of Lakshmi ammal chathram) used to entertain all her grandchildren by narrating stories & serve the food by hand to hand to each child ,all seated in semi circle. She used to dictate where each one has to sit on that day; her main motive was to ensure all cousins mix well and enjoy the holidays. Of course, in summer mango season we used to steal the mangoes from the stored gunny bags and relish them. Though she knew that she will not question anybody as if she has not noticed it.

Similarly when we go to Batlagundu ( my birth place & maternal grandfather home) we used to board the train at Madras Egmore which had only meter gauge line. We used to get down either at manapparai or Dindigul and catch the bus to Batlagundu. Batlagundu is at the downhill of Kodaikkanal hill station but I visited that place only after my marriage in 1975. The thrilling part of that journey used to be  the horse cart travel from the bus stand to home. The horse cart owner used to ask the passengers to move either front or shift back to ensure the load balance  for that 2 furlong distance  ( A furlong is 1/8th of a mile) It used to be thrilling for us. Once reaching home, only regular routine used to be there. So we children go to the temple at Koil street and spend most of the time. It was a Shiva temple.

While in Madras city, my mother used to be in close touch with three of her cousin brothers ( she had no brother at all) & their families.  In those days there were no telephone connectivity for a common man. So we used to call them at their homes periodically. Especially Chinna Mani, my uncle was staying 3 streets away from Vallabha Aghraharam. his wife was Mrs Gomathi and their daughter is Rani ( Muthulakshmi). That mama used to take me to carnatic music cutcheries organised by Thiruvateeswar sabha. I had heard many famous vidwans - MS, M L Vasanthakumari,Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar,, Veenai Balachander, Madirai Mani Iyer, & others. I used to enjoy hearing them but my music knowledge is zero even on date.

Coming to my health factor, as a child  I suffered with periodic ailments like fever, indigestion, loose motion etc. My mother used to take me  to Dr Acharya in initial days. Later she shifted to Dr Kamalakar Rao, MBBS at Krishnaswamy road. More than that doctor I used to like his compounder Sh Gundu rao who used to give me liquid mixture in glass bottle  struck with cut paper measurement stickers. As that mixture used to be tasty  I used to relish it more. For information the tablet culture did not set in by then.

As we were falling under the lower middle class family group,my mother used to struggle to make some monthly savings out of my father's monthly income for the rainy day. As the banking institutions were not grown, people used to source gold jewelry as treasure. My mother used to acquire some from one achari by name Sh Panchnatham, who used to stay near my mama's home. I am happy to share here that I still possess one gold ring with R in-scripted which was sourced in that process. That is one of the golden memories of my youth.

I would like to share some memorable events at that age.  

1. Standing in the queue at Gopal milk depot to get the first milked product in the early morning at 5 am. In those days there were no pocketed milk system in vogue and everyone has to depend on these milk depots only.

2.When my mother gets her monthly period, I used to go to Murudi's cafe at the road end and source idlis for breakfast. That was an Udipi restaurant which used to serve  very tasty sambar with little onions. The funniest thing was- I used to get 4 idlis for 4 annas ( 1/4 th of a rupee) but ask for and get one full bucket of that sambar as side dish. People used to wonder  whether that sambar is a side dish or main menu by itself!   

 3. Once I was given a Rs 10 note to collect  the ironed clothes from Shanmukha laundry which was 2 street away from my house. I went to that shop & picked up the clothes after the payment and they returned Rs6/- in some notes and coins. While walking back home,  one person interjected me cautioning that with the load in hand I may spill the balance cash and took me to a home in Nagappa Iyer street ( in between lane). There, as if helping me for safe handling of the cash, he used a newspaper to pack it safe and handed it over to me.  Can anyone imagine that after coming home, when me & my mother opened that pocket, it had only stone pebbles and no money at all !     

  4. There was  Star cinema theater near my home which used to run English movies generally and Hindi movie  on Sunday morning show. One Mr Rishi, my father's friend & commercial tax officer, father of Ms Usha , a classmate of my sister Viji , used to take all kids for that Hindi cinema shows in  Star theater. We picked up some Hindi speaking only by seeing those movies.

I was so naive in youth that I used to believe everybody on their face.

 We shifted our residence to 17 Vallabha Aghraharm, Triplicane Madras 600005. Here I would like to touch about our new address & its surroundings. The funniest thing- though the street is named as Aghrharam that too in Madras city, there were only a few brahmin families! The houses in that road were occupied by Muslims,  Christian,Mudaliars , Chettiars, Telugu speaking Naidus & several North Indians- Gujarathi & Marwaris. But there were no caste difference issues; but daily street fights due to corporation water taps occupancy as well as big queue. Coming to our house in particular, it was a store type-  8 ground level houses adjoining each other inside a compound. Here also, in the beginning, they were tiled roofing only and no electric power. So monsoon rain wrath was very much there. so the occupants used only power lamps  with kerosene. But we were fortunate to have a one hundred year old neem tree just in front of our house. That served us as the best air conditioner to overcome Madras summer.

In the beginning, the whole store was owned by a muslim & he used to visit once in a month only for collecting the rent dues from all tenants. Even that store also had cosmopolitan tenants. In beginning our neighbors were:

M/S   Prakash rao & Rajam mami    Telugu Christians

          Mahalinga Iyer & Rajalakshmi

         Srinivasa Iyer  & Kamalam

         Astrologer Ramanathan       Telugu bachelor

         Pudu Veetukaramma  & P' ORR& Sons Mudaliar

         Kuppamma& Kurup                 Malayali with Tamil mix

 In that DPP rao did not have any child & Astrolger was a bachelor. The rest had  children- some were  grown up and the majority were of my age group.

Durai & Dilli  were of working age. Kuppu & Vijayan- children of Kuppamma/Kurup had also helped the society in washing household utensils  for all the houses & earned. Mr Mahalinga iyer & Srinivasa  iyer children listing - Mani, Pattu, Vara, Savithri, Kumar, Nagarajan, Kalyanam & Vasanthi. In my house in 1951 only me & my elder sister Viji; my younger brother Ramani was born in Oct. 1955 only. As this was a small store type layout, there was no space for small children to play around. But luckily, Mr Mahalinga iyer's mother, very old lady ( patti) used to take all the children  to a nearby temple-Thiruvatteeswaran temple , 3 streets away in the evening around 5.30PM  and engage all children with telling stories about Hindu culture & spiritual aspects of life. That is how I grew up as a child until the age of 7 years. Additionally I used to stand in the queue in early mornings at Gopal milk depot  to collect the freshly  milked cow or buffalo milk for our home. In those days there was no pocket milk system in the country.

As the space and lighting at home was the issue, Mrs Prakash rao encouraged me to carry out my studies and home work at their house.  The daily compulsory routine used to be 7 to 9 PM. As a discipline, when the  clock chimes at  9 o' clock, my duty was to pick some cereal from the jar and feed the sparrows in the cage  and return to my home. After that only I shall be served dinner by my mother. This routine & discipline system only has molded my nature. This continued until my younger brother Ramani  was born; later he became their pet child and their relationship went to the extent of he  carrying out their last rites as well as inheriting their property.

My early schooling. In the early 1950s, there was no Montessori or kindergarten schooling system prevailed. It so happened  that our area corporator Mr PM Dowlatram  sponsored  a school  for primary education and named it as Hindustan Hiteishi Mandal; to start with, it had only first standard in the first year. My parents admitted me in that school. My headmistress  was Ms Saraswathi and my teacher was Ms Vijayalakshmi. There were about 25 children both boys& girls in the class. As the years passed subsequent standards were opened and students promoted on merits. Like that they could open upto 3rd standard only; financial & space constraints were the cause for the limitation. As I was the brightest student among all students I was given double promotion- promoted from 3rd standard to 5th standard directly ! So in life I have never attended 4th standard! They called my parents and advised them to seek admission for 5th standard in Hindu Bala Patasala, which school had only upto 5th standard. So I got shifted to that school only for my 5th standard. Here I would like to mention that the famous ghatam vidwan Sh Vinayakaram was my classmate in 5th standard.

 Guhalayam living

In Aiyanavaram we lived in Guhalayam, a large housing complex having 21 individual ground level only houses, all rental. In those days, Madras city did not have much electricity and all houses in Guhalayam were without any electric power ! Also since the city did not become a full corporation by then , there was no municipal water and all houses were depending on only a common well for water. The houses were of tiled roof and monsoon fury usually drench the interiors. As a child I used to see my mother placing metal buckets to catch those water . ( Plastic age did not start by then; so only metal buckets were in use). As a small kid I was unaware of what is happening in newly independent India. The only thing I am aware of was  the poor living conditions, weekly rations for rice and kerosene.

As things were not clear to anyone, people from all 21 houses used to mingle freely. As poverty was the order of the day, nobody thought of any luxury. The growing children used to assemble at the center where there was a large grown up peepal tree and play around, mostly pebble games. As I was very small and not active, they used to tease me often and my sister used to threaten them to leave me alone.

In those days, there was no  other scope for entertainment like cinema/drama as entertainment and people were confined to Guhalayam only. Elderly ladies used to join together for swami poojas and the children used to relish the prasadams.

When I became 3 1/2 years old i.e by the end of first quarter of 1951, considering the tedious and tiresome cycling distance involved to reach office& back  for my father  ( Aiyanavaram to Chepauk & back), we shifted our residence from Aiyanavaram to Triplicane in 1951.