The Story of my Life ( Early Days in KGF)

Our first house in KGF was in Balaghat. Balaghat was the first area of KGF as one would enter from Bangalore.There was a tree on the outskirts of KGF called Big Tree which stood like a sentinel guarding the approach to KGF.
Big Tree was a favourite picnic spot till the 50s.

It's amazing how memories come flooding back once you put your thought to it.

One of my supposedly early utterances was " Bhoomapaiya pencil edathikondu odipoyitan--- Bhoomapaiya took my pencil and ran away".Bhoomapaiya was probably my first friend and I have faint recollection of him coming to my house to play with his baggy knickers ( forerunner to the modern day Bermudas).Since KGF had an overwhelmingly Tamil population, it is probable that I learnt Tamil earlier than Kannada.

The next recollection was that I was very concerned about the "Isthli" --- crease--- of my ironed shirt and shorts. I would refuse to sit down because " isthli hogbidathe".

Our neighbour was Mr.G K K Nair, his wife and their children Uma, Mythili and Damodaran ( Damu). Mrs. Nair was the first friend that mummy had when she came to KGF and I recall that Mrs.Nair, Uma and Mythili would always be around with a wet Malabar towel wrapped around their hair after a bath.I also remember Mrs. Nair making a kind of sweet during festivals--- it was thick banana chips dipped in jaggery.--- Yummy and something I like to this day.

Mr.Nair was a fine tennis player and he continued playing tennis till he retired.He was known for his chop strokes and drop volleys and would make the best players run around the court.

Other people close to our Balaghat house were Mr & Mrs.V.R.Vinayagam and their children Uma,Usha and Udaya as well as Mr & Mrs.A.B Menon with their sons Prem and Priyan.

Mr.Menon's house was about 500 Metres away with open space in between and I distinctly remember hearing Mr.Menon's sneezes.It was always very loud and like a thunderclap.People have been known to faint when they were near him and he sneezed.

The Coromandel railway station was close to our house.Coromandel was on the branch line from Bangarpet to Marikuppam, the other stations being Oorgaum, Champion Reefs and Marikuppam.

Bangalore was 60 miles away and going by train was preferred since there were not many buses.People used to take the evening train to Bangarpet and then catch the Madras-Bangalore Express which came to Bangarpet ( or Bowringpet as it was then known) at 6.45 PM.The other option was to take the last train at 11 PM to Bangarpet and then wait in the waiting room till the Madras- Bangalore Mail trooped in at 3.30 AM.

One day , when I was around 3 years old,I went off by myself to Coromandel station to watch the trains. All hell broke loose at home and the servants were despatched to all corners to find me. My mali found me sitting on the bench at the station and took me back.
( To be continued)