Entering College

 Entering College

In 1962 I completed my school life ( first batch new X standard) without any remarkable achievement. I have not even felt that I am going to give a public examination. I scored only 428 marks out of max 700. Just 61%.

With that aggregate I could get only Advance English & World History as special subjects in PUC at Loyola college, Nungambakkam. That was one of the most reputed institutions in the city.  I opted for French as a second language instead of Tamil or Sanskrit. Here I would like to mention some of my takes in PUC.

College Principal       Fr T N Sequira    ( Natarajan Sequira) 

My French lecturer was Mr Mario Gabriel. He used to project himself as if he was born French but he was an anglo indian only by origin.

My world history lecturer was  Mr Clarence Motha. A gem of a person & gentleman to the core. He used to take classes with interest &zeal to make the students feel that they are able to visualize the history of various cultures across the world.

Tuesday afternoon English Composition exercise at Bertram Hall ! A story & drama by itself.                        Fr Coyle assisted by Mr Periera ( a demonstrator) used to conduct composition exercises for entire PUC students of the college numbering about 400 students. Every student is instructed to dedicate  a 40 page ruled note book for that weekly exercise. The weekly assembly used to start by 2 PM and end by 4.30PM sharp.   At the start Fr Coyle used to go to the stage  and announce the day's topic, some subject either from English prose or non detailed text and narrate about its features. The precondition for every student is- no one should either open their notebook or the ink pen until he comes down from the stage. Once he is down the bell shall ring. Then each student is expected to write the PLAN first for that day's composition. By chance if anybody breaks and attempt to write the main composition straight and noticed either by Fr Coyle or Mr Periera, that student's note book shall be snatched and thrown out of the door of the hall and asked to go out for the day. That student has to bring his father to the college the next day morning; they shall be charged a fine of Re1/- and the father has to ask for a pardon for his son.Thereafter only that student shall be allowed to attend his regular classes.

There were  a few future literates & scholars who were caught in that fiasco! To name a few: Mr A Ramakrishna, who finally did his MA in English, functioned as News editor as well as English Newsreader of Doordarshan TV was one. Similarly, Mr A G Satwender Singh, the youngest of Singh brothers who played for India cricket was another one. These were the inculcating disciplines for youth. I shall say, an extremely useful lesson learnt- Advance Planning is a MUST. Rather this has helped me throughout my life so far.

Next I would like to add some extraneous subject. As India obtained independence in 1947, there was flair for youth to join the defense services immediately. I was one of them. The year I passed out from school i.e in 1962, Govt. of India formed NDA ( National Defence Academy) in Khadakvasla, PUNE. For that admission, they conduct a preliminary competitive All India examination followed by 3 day recruitment tests  at selected army centers- Bangalore, Miraj ..... As I was interested  in that, I participated in that entrance examinations. As I scored 90+marks, my name was shortlisted and called for recruitment tests at Bangalore. The authorities conducted  various psychological tests followed by physical endurance tests. As I was a very puny/weakly developed boy I could not perform many of the physical endurance tests  & miserably failed.

In spite of it, I had a keen interest to join NCC (National Cadet Corps) that too in the infantry wing.I enrolled myself as a cadet in our college NCC wing which fell under 13 Madras NCC Battalion commanded by  Lt Col Sridhar Menon. In the college the commanding officer was  Mr Jaishankar, a lecturer in English language. There used to be 2 drills and parade every week in the college. My seniors- M/S Thomas, Mathew, Padmanabhan, Unni were Sargent/ corporal/ lance corporal in that order  and they used to lead the drills. They invariably used to make  a big fuss every week  on the starched crease of uniform, shining black shoe polish, small tiny moustache/beard not shaved etc.  I had a hell of a time  facing them every week as I could not afford spending some sum to meet these requisites.

The Batallion command conducted the annual camp for the entire Madras State NCC at a place called Manimuthar near Tenkasi in Madras State- deep South.That was 15 day camp & around 150 cadets participated. I was assigned night sentry duty for several days;though I did not have any issue guarding the camp site, the fear of deadly blood sucking leech menace gripped us heavily. Luckily the NCC leather boots saved us. Since it was entire state colleges assembly we had the pleasure of meeting/ mixing with new faces in the camp.

In  Feb. 1963 I attended the NCC 'B' certificate examination  and obtained it; but with an unfortunate incident. On that fateful day, after strenuous parade & drills around 1 PM we (self & my friend Ebanizer) were sitting at the ground &when the assembly whistle blew, I gave my left hand to him to lift me up. As he failed to grip me, I fell flat  and my left hand wrist cracked and resulted in fracture. I was taken to Royapettah hospital for X-Ray followed by plaster of Paris bandage. In fact we were worried whether I can sit for the ensuing PUC Public examinations in April? Somehow with God's grace I could give my exams but got only II class. That was one hurdle for my degree engineering admissions; added to it, by the time itself  the anti- brahminism environment has set in Tamil Nadu.

Looking at Home Front

 Looking at home front

Wish to share that my younger brother Sh.Sai Venkhatramani was born on 31st Oct. 1955 at Batlagundu. It is to be specifically noted that Ramani has got 6 fingers in his right hand. Everyone used to say that it is lucky not only for him but to the entire family.

Along with the child my mother returned to Madras by Feb. 1956.  During her physical absence  at Madras, my paternal parents- M/S Mookambeeswara Iyer & Lakshmi Ammal stayed with us to run the house. After my mother's arrival with the little baby, they returned to Dharmapuri. Unfortunately within 2/3 months later my mother fell sick with hepatitis and the doctor advised that she should not be close to the baby and should not feed the mother's milk to the child. Seeing the pitiable situation, our neighbor Mr & Mrs D P Prakash Rao, Telugu Christians carried the child to their home for care. Here it is to be noted that they did not have a child at all. It so happened that the day they carried Ramani to their home, that uncle who was in newspaper advertising  got 2 X Rs 1000/- ads to be published in Andhra Patrika & Andhra Prabha, Telugu dailies. In those days Rs 1000/- was a very big sum. That made them feel lucky  by bringing this child to their home & decided that they shall adopt him.  As our family did not look into the caste& community, my parents allowed that to continue  but ensured no religious conversion took place. So Ramani has been brought up in their home and he took care of them until their end. Mr  Rao died in 1986, just one month after our father's death and that aunt died at Ramani's house in Annanagar in 1994. In their old age Ramani was the guardian care taker. Ramani even inherited their immovable property after their death.

Under the above circumstances, Ramani used to spend most of his childhood days only in their house and used to visit our home once in a while only. Rather under Rao's influence he got admitted in Christ Church school and did his entire schooling there. It so happened that in 1956, my maternal cousin Cheenu ( Mr B Srinivasan), who stood state 2nd rank in SSLC ( ER High School, Trichy)joined the Govt. Polytechnic at Madras for his 3 year diploma course ( L C E ) in Civil Engineering. As his father was a clerk in Southern Railway at Trichy, he felt that he cannot afford to bear the engineering degree course fees for Cheenu and got him admitted in Polytechnic. In those days, Polytechnic institute existed only in Madras and that made Cheenu to move to Madras.  So he stayed in our house for these 3 year courses. From his merit scholarship amount of Rs 100 /- per month, he used to give Rs 20/- per month for his stay and food expenses at my home.Though that amount was a token sum, we used to feel that our elder brother has joined us at home. Seeing Cheenu staying at our home, my paternal uncle also wanted his second son Krishnan should study in some school at Madras. That was the year 1957  & Krishnan got admitted for his first form (VI Std.) at Kellet High School Triplicane.

So our house was filled with 3 boys  & a girl ( Cheenu, Viji, me & Krishnan) but Ramani's name is not included here, since he used to spend his time only in Sh Prakash Rao's home. Here I would like to specifically describe our reading habits !

As there was no electricity in the house, we had to depend only on kerosene lit lamps. In the main hall my mother used to place  a bright power lamp ( an open  glass top  with a wick having a kerosene container) in the middle. Three of us, Viji, me & Krishnan, used to lie flat at 120 Degree angle to each other with head high to read our text books.. As a discipline  we used to draft  our reading schedule  and have the books placed at our sides daily evening.  That was to ensure that nobody disturb the concentration and focus of others. The timing used to be 7PM to 9.30 PM  and our dinner will be served immediately after that. As for Cheenu, being in his higher class, used to occupy the Iruttu (dark) room exclusively and read standing; he used only a gada vilakku and read until late nights.

Like that 2 years passed by . Krishnan came to VIII standard & Cheenu has completed his Polytechnic course. Unfortunately Krishnan developed a strange disease- continuous uninterrupted hiccups combined with loose motion for several days. So we called his parents on SOS basis(from Dharmaouri). They arrived,  obtained TC from his school  and shifted him to the Govt. High school in Dharmapuri. Cheenu  joined as demonstrator at Tamilnadu Polytechnic, Madurai ; his intention was to pursue his AMIE studies while working there. There he completed AMIE part A successfully & for part B he wanted to join Sunderarajan institute at Kodambakkam , Madras. With that focus in mind, he changed his career to CPWD in Meenambakkam and joined that institute. Happy to share here that he has scored cent percent  in 3 subjects of AMIE and finished it in record time. He stood all over India first. After that he changed his job to function as divisional engineer  in M/S Burmah Shell, start with at Mangalore and then at Brunei. Somewhere in 1970 he shifted to IBM & worked at their system engineering department at Madras. In 1977, when the Govt. of India took a policy decision to evict all USA Head quartered undertakings in India, ( IBM, Coco Cola, Burmah Shell etc. ) Cheenu opted the choice of shifting to IBM Canada  and settled there. He is now living in Toronto.

Krishnan, after completing his school at Dharmapuri, studied his BE Civil Engineering at Govt. college of Technology, Coimbatore. Later he joined the Indian Army through Officer Training School. Madras. He served under Corps of Engineers ( Bengal) and retired as Lt.Colonel.  He has settled down in Bangalore and is living there.

My sister Viji, after her graduation in Chemistry worked in Tamilnadu Govt. Health department for 8 years.Then she migrated to France for higher studies, undertook  research as her life career. She has specialized in Chromatography and is one of the world experts in Pure Protein Research. She is the one who has developed Industry- Institute collaboration efforts in medicine base evolution. The Govt.of  India has recognized her specialization and made her initiate the formation of CBST lab ( Center for Bio Separation Technology)at VIT,Vellore.  On the date, she is still involved with her research ( at 80 years) & possesses several National & International Patents. She had performed as a professional guide for 66 PhD research scholars both in India & abroad. She has been rated as one of the top 2% of the world's Analytical Chemistry specialists by Stanford University, USA.

Coming to the subject of entertainment, affordability was the main restriction . In my school life I would have seen only 5/6 movies other than what Mr Rishi used to take us for  Sunday morning shows at Star theater. But one particular instance is still green in my memory. In the year 1956,  Madras A. G's office recreation club conducted their Silver Jubilee celebrations in a grand manner. As my father was that time secretary of that association, he took us there on that occasion.  There was one drama performed by Mr K Balachander's team. At that time KB was an employee of the AG's office  and he was directly reporting to my father. In that drama, famous cinema actors like Major Sunderarajan took part. Then, one could feel the inbuilt qualities of KB as the Director for cinema/ dramas. Rather KB resigned from the government services and formed Kavitalaya for cinema productions. Everyone knows about K B's competence in cinema directions and production.  Most of the Tamil cinema actors- M/S Kamalahasan, Rajnikant , Major Sunderarajan, Jaishankar, Nagesh, Manorama..... have been inducted by KB only.

Whenever  my grandfather Mookambeeswara Iyer  or Kandu periappa come down to Madras, they used to take me for  long walk to Marina beach. The one way walking itself will be about 2 miles.  On reaching there, they used to sit on benches to listen to All India News broadcast by AIR ( relayed in a central post) & I used to play around in beach sand. On completion of the news around 6.30 PM, we used to walk back home  reaching around 7.30PM.

As said earlier, my mother was the one who wanted to keep close association with all relatives. Courtesy that cause, I have visited Trichy,  Bangalore, Kanchipuram,  Chinnalapatti Athoor, Vellore,  Gobichettipalayam, Kumarasamipatti, Paparapatti etc. where my paternal/ maternal uncles/aunts used to live. Each visit is a story by itself. These are over & above Dharmapuri and Batlagundu trips. I still remember that my uncle Sh Sethupathi Iyer ( Krishnan's father) who was the post master at Kumarasamipatti used to ask one of his office assistant Mr Dorai to teach all children about swimming fundamentals  by throwing us into water wells with a dried pumpkin tied at the back. His main objective was to remove the fear of immersing in water.

Sometime in 1959, 17 Vallabha Aghraharam stores was sold to one Chettiar family and the old muslim owner informed all the tenants to look for their new accommodation. The new owner had the intention to completely rebuild the entire complex and bring electric power to homes. At that time, excepting Arunachalam & Mahalinga Iyer family , all others  vacated and shifted to new locations. In case of Mr Prakash Rao, he purchased a small apartment in Kuppu Muthu Mudali street ( three streets away) and shifted So Ramani's base camp also got shifted. These two families struck a deal with the new owner. They requested the new owner to construct two new apartments in the vacant area on top priority, so that they can shift there and the new construction can go on even when they are occupying the two newly built homes. That owner was considerate to accept that deal and built the two flats first. Then these two families occupied the new flats. Here it should be noted that the entire new construction of the revised complex was carried out in a flat 1 1/2 years.

The new occupants  of the society had different orientations ! They were:

M/S Rama rao /Susheela,   Naidu family, Sehgal & his wife, Chidambaram Iyer & his daughters, Arora & his wife. The front portion with upstairs construction was occupied by the new owners' family. Somehow the original cohesion and togetherness was missing ! There were several petty politics and misunderstandings. Rather the original two occupants ( Arunachalam & Mahalinga Iyer families ) started feeling bad  and felt like leaving the place.

My induction to non- vegetarianism. When I was in the final year of my school days, my paternal cousins- Balan & his brother Krishnan visited Madras. One day, three of us went to the beach to enjoy some time.  After standing in the sea front, we moved to the famous Buhari restaurant in the Marina beach. There , my two cousins teased me that I am my mother's obedient child  and shall not even touch the egg. I took that as a challenge and said it is not so at all. Then they boosted my ego to prove it. I accepted and said- get me a chicken plate and I shall eat that. That is how I got initiated into eating non-vegetarian dishes. It is a different matter that I was driven to eat even a beef streak at East Germany on arrival.

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.

AR 1947-69

 My birth

I A.Ramanathan was born on 5th December 1947 at Vathalakundu (now known as Batlagundu) in Tamil nadu (then Madras State).

That was my maternal grandfather  Prof.Krishna Sharma's house, where all his grand children were born. I happened to be the eighth among my siblings and cousins to be born in that same delivery room of that house. My time of birth was 10.16 hours on a Friday morning.

Typical of my grandfather, he had no patience to hear anything from my paternal grand parents and even before my father arrived to see his child(son), the old man went ahead in my namakaranam (child christening) under the name  Mahadevan. His reasoning was that I was born on the day, the lord at Vaikkam in Kerala annual festival day. So that became my  name for doing all rituals in life. But my paternal grand parents had the wish to name me as Ramanathan, since my father visited Rameswaram when my mother was pregnant carrying me- and that is the Lord's name- Ramanatha Swamy (Lord Shiva). Fortunately, there was no misunderstanding between families and mutually settled as follows:

Ramanathan as official name for all government/ school/ birth certificate etc.

Mahadevan  only for all Hindu rituals including pithru tharpanam!

That is strictly abided all time to come.

My mother brought me to Guhalayam when I was 4 months old. I have my elder sister Viji , who is 4 years elder to me. So in a small home in Guhalayam the family of 4 settled down.