Dad's Birthday

Today is my dad's birthday. He would have been 87 years if he had been alive today.

Dad, I've tried to bring you alive to my children, daughters-in-law,cousins, newphews and nieces through my blogs and I hope they now have a better picture of you.

I remember my everyday greeting to you "Hul Dad" and your response"Hul Hul".

Miss you a lot Dad.

Life in KGF in the 60s( contd)

When we moved to the new house, I had to make new friends. They were Patanjali, Kumar,Raguram and Priyan.The 5 of us used to meet regularly, more often in Kumar's house because it was sprawling ( around 3 acres or so) and there was space to play cricket. All of us were students of KGF School. Priyan and Raguram were one year senior to me, Patan was one year junior and Kumar was two years junior.
All my friends' parents were my dad's colleagues in the Mines and all of their bungalows were within cycling distance.

All my friends had cycles and I did not yet have one and so I pestered my dad.He promised to get me a cycle if I won all the 3 prizes that were to be awarded in 8th Std.One was for proficiency , one was for 100% attendance and one was for Hindi.Sure enough, I got all 3 prizes.The day after the school concert, Dad took me to Bapnah's Cycle Shop and I became the proud owner of my own cycle.The cycle cost Rs.125--- Rs.25 as down payment and the rest in instalments of Rs.25 each spread over 4 months.

While I now switched schools and went to KGF School, Rummy and Sandhya continued to go to St.Joseph's Convent.Rummy's friend was Jannavi ( Raguram's sister) and Sandhya's friends were Poorna ( Patan's sister) and Usha, Chitra, Veena, Latha---- 4 daughters born to Mr & Mrs.C.R.Ramachandra, our neighbours.

Mom's best friend was Prema ( Mrs.B.N.Raja Rao) as well as Pattu ( Mrs.G.V.Raghavan).She used to spend hours on the phone with them trading the latest gossip and recipes.

Mom used to suffer severe headaches those days.She had a standard remedy.She would apply Kemmannu ( Red Sand- for want of a better description) and tie a red and white checked cloth tightly around her forehead and go off to sleep.When she got up, the headache was gone.When we children saw her sleeping with that cloth, we knew better than to wake her.

Ajji ( Dad's mom) died on August 1962.I remember my dad waking me up in the middle of the night and telling me " Kesari, my mother died yesterday night. Mummy and I are going to Bangalore by the Bangalore Mail. Take care of Rummy". That was it.He, mom and Sandhya left by the 3 AM Bangalore Mail from Bangarapet and Rummy and I were under the care of Gangamma.

KGF was the place where my cousins and Bhagya used to come for long stays.It's fair to say that Kanthu ( before her marriage),Dodda Papacchi, Girija, Chikka Papacchi and Bhagya honed their culinary skills at our house.They used to stay for up to 3 or 4 months and used to be regulars at the shuttle court in Skating Rink as well as at the Club Tombola Nights ( Only children above 16 were allowed for Tombola and Rummy and I were not allowed).

Girija once won Rs.80 and promptly gifted a pressure cooker to mom.Girija also honed her tailoring skills in KGF on mummy's Merritt Sewing Machine.I remember her first blouse cutting.She cut it in such a manner that there was an opening both at the front and back and was staring at it ruefully. I remember telling her that she could still put on each half separately and button up both at the front and back--- a suggestion that was not received vey enthusiastically!!

I was by now a cricket enthusiast and used to avidly listen to the cricket commentaries on radio.The commentators used to be Pearson Surita, Anandji Dossa and Vizzy ( The Maharaja of Vizianagaram) who was a member of the Indian team on their 1936 tour of England.Vizzy would normally tell boring stories of his tour and then casually add " In the meanwhile, a couple of wickets have fallen".

The commentaries on BBC were more difficult to hear.The well-known commentators were Alan McGilveray and John Arlott.

I sailed thru 8th Standard and 9th Standard and entered 10th Standard (SSLC) in June 1964.I was all of 13 then.There was a pretty set routine when we had school.
Get up at 6.30 AM , have breakfast and walk to school at 8 AM.School used to start at 9 AM, but I went early to play. Walk back at 12 Noon for lunch and then return home by 3.30PM. Freshen up, play tennis at Nundydroog Club, come back home and then go to play shuttle at Skating Rink on Mondays,Tuesdays,Thursdays and Fridays.On Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays I would either play table tennis at Nundydroog Club or go to Ooregum Hall for tennis.

The usual visits to the library on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I would be back home by about 8 PM, do a bit of homework and then all of us would sit down for dinner at 9.15 PM.Dad was very particular about listening to the 9 PM news on All India Radio and wanted pin drop silence.

I can still hear the six pips at 9 PM followed by " This is All India Radio.Here is the 9 o'clock news read by Melville de Mello (or Pearson Surita)" or one of the other news readers.

I still remember Melville de Mello covering Jawaharlal's funeral procession when Nehru died in May 1964 and how he broke down when the cremation was about to take place.

When I came home for lunch from school, I was very particular that mummy should be at home. One one day, I came home and found that mummy was not at home.She had gone to Mrs.Narsappa's house ( which was a 5 minute walk)for some arashana kunkuma because it was some festival ( I think it was siriyala shrishti). I went to Mrs.Narsappa's house and called "mummy" loudly. She came out with both hands full of prasada and hoovu that Mrs.Narsappa had given her.I opened the gate, came out and then again closed the gate.She had to keep all the prasada and flowers down, open the gate, bring the prasada and flowers outside and then close the gate again.
When we came to my house, I did the same thing and poor mummy had to repeat the process all over again. Even today, mummy is fond of repeating this story to all her grandchildren to let them know what a "prachanda" I was.

By this time, I was discovering that girls were not such a terrible species after all, but I was terribly shy and didn't know how to approach them. More about this later.
Bye for now.

Life in KGF in the 60s

We moved to our new house opposite Nundydroog Club in 1961. I was 10 years old then and in 6th standard.Everything about this house was convenient.

Daddy's office was 2 minutes walk. My school was a 10 minute walk.The Club was across the road.The Oorgaum railway station was 5 minutes away and Robertsonpet ( town) was closer .

Daddy had funny office timings.He would go to Office by 7 AM after a cup of coffee and be back by 8.30 AM for breakfast.On days when he had to go the Office again, he would leave by 9.30 AM and be back by 12.30 PM.He would then have his bath, followed by lunch and then a short nap and go again at 3 PM and be back by 4.30 PM.
On days when he had to go Underground ( into the Gold Mines), he would leave by 9.30 AM and then come back at any time between 1 PM to 3 PM. If he came back really late, he wouldn't go to the Office again.On the days when he had to go Underground, his "teaboy" would come to collect his Underground dress-- white cotton shirt, white trousers, underground boots, helmet and a cyanide lamp which could be fixed to the helmet.

Daddy was a Mine Surveyor and his job was to make surveys to determine the direction of tunnelling. All the shafts in the Mining area were interconnected by tunnels at different levels---- 48 level meant 4800 feet below ground, 60 level meant 6000 feet below ground. It was quite common for daddy to get down at Henry's Shaft and come up at Edgar's Shaft which was probably about a Kilometre away. These shafts had cages which held about 10 or 15 people at one go and transported them up and down.

Every now and then, there used to be a sudden explosion called a rockburst underground and all families who had their husband/son/father underground at the time would wait with their hearts in their mouths till the person came back safely.
Occasionally, these rockbursts would cause fatalities. The other thing to fear was an underground fire and daddy was a trained firefighter who was also summoned occasionally to fight such fires.

During lunch or dinner, daddy would discuss a particularly difficult survey he was doing where teams had to dig tunnels from opposite directions and the grand feeling when the teams met.

Dad was also an amateur astronomer and would take the trouble to point out constellations such as the Great Bear ( Ursa Major). He showed me how two of these seven stars ( Saptharishi Mandala) always pointed to the North Star and even today I can determine the North just by looking at the Great Bear Constellation.

December and January were the months when Venus ( the evening star) was glowing bright. The night sky was usually brilliantly lit with stars and this is something I miss very much in Chennai now with all the urbanization.Everyday when I swim in the nights now at the Madras Boat Club,the last lap that I do what is called a Philosophy lap. This is when I float on my back and look up at the stars. The philosophy part comes where I contemplate how I am just a small speck in the Universe and it humbles me.On these occasions, I'm able to count not more than 25 to 30 stars in the Chennai sky and that's when I compare this to the night sky in KGF where there were literally thousands of stars.

I also remember an occasion when I had asked Dad how many stars there were in the sky.He told me some number like 6856987654 stars.I asked him how he was so sure.He said he had counted and said I could also count just to check if he was right.That was my Dad.

I started my tennis and shuttle in Nundydroog Club. Dad used to play with a Dunlop Maxply tennis racquet and he had given this to Prabhakara who used to play at the Chitaldroog Club.Prabhakara had also stopped playing and I still remember the excitement when he brought the racquet to KGF.I was waiting impatiently near Five Lights for the Suvarna Express to come from Bangalore and grabbed the racquet from Prabhakara just as he stepped off the bus.

Our new house was situated in a 1.5 acre compound and there were numerous fruit trees--- tamarind, custard apple ( sitaphal), wood apple, mango, banana, tamarind, a fruit called pannerale. There were also bamboo shoots ( which was supposed to shelter cobras),a sandalwood tree, a couple of silk cotton trees ( from which we got some mattresses and pillows made). There was a lovely bougainvilla tree near the front gate. Mom had also got the mali to plant various vegetables such as Brinjal, tomato, ladies fingers, cucumber etc.
Once in a week, mom would go on a "inspection tour" with the mali training behind. She would point out areas where "pathis" were to be made, new flower beds to be dug up , plants to be watered etc.The general feedback to the mali was that he was a lazy good for nothing guy.

Gangamma and Subramani had also moved into the new house with us and they had their own quarters.All of us used to speak to Gangamma in Tamil but Sandhya was the only one who spoke to her in Kannada and Gangamma learnt to speak in Kannada for Sandhya's sake.Gangamma was "dha" to Sandhya and remains so even to this day.

( To be continued)

USA Diary

Hi all,

Sudha has already left for USA and I'll be joining her on 11th Jun.

During our stay in the US, I plan to blog everyday on my experiences in America---- a kind of journal entry. I hope you'll find it interesting.
I'll be calling this blog "USA Diary" and it will be different from "The Story of My life".

Cheers
Kesari

My dad's siblingsand Bangalore Holidays ( contd)

Here are a couple more stories on the escapades of my dad and his brothers:-

The Chaluvaiya family was staying in Mysore where Ajja was the Secretary of Krishnarajendra Mills.

One day Ajja and Ajji were invited to a Cricket match where Ajja was to be the Chief Guest.So there was Ajja and Ajji seated in chairs in the pavilion watching the match going on. Meanwhile dad and his brothers were out on the grounds with their friends and watching the match. They came across a person selling cucumber slices to the spectators. The fare was very tempting but they were figuring out ways to get the cucumber without having to pay for it.

While they were hanging around him, the cucumber seller came up with a proposition.He offered to give them one cucumber slice for every one round of the ground that they did while selling the cucumbers.This was too tempting an offer to let go.

So here was Ajja and Ajji sitting in the comfort of the pavilion and watching the match while a couple of their sons were going around the ground shouting " Southekai, Southekai". As they neared the pavilion, Ajji told Ajja " I think I hear someone shouting "Sothekai" and it sounds very much like our children. Ajja shushed her and they continued watching the match. Sure enough, the children came into the pavilion shouting" Southekai" and were offering it to the spectators. I'm not really sure if they offered it to their parents also but Ajja got into a right royal rage when he saw them and berated them " Nanna maana thegithidira. Naan illi Chief Guest aagi bandidini. Neevu nodadre southekai maartha idhira. Nimmage naachke illa??" etc etc.Needless to say, that was the end of their cucumber selling campaign.

Here's one more story, again when Ajja and Ajji were in Mysore.
Ajji was the President of the local Women's Club and had gone to attend one of the weekly meetings. Meanwhile my dad sat down for dinner and asked his brother Anti to serve him.When he came to the curd rice, he asked for pickles ( Dad wouldn't eat curd rice without either pickle ot chatnipudi). Anti said he couldn't find the pickles.Dad flew off into a rage and asked Anti to run to the Club and ask Ajji where the pickle jar was kept.

Picture this scene. Ajji is addressing the ladies from the podium ---- no doubt on some important issue such as women's emancipation or liberation or something like that. Anti reaches the club and yanks open the door to the meeting hall and in a breathless voice shouts " Amma","Amma". Ajji looks up from the speech she is reading and in a loud voice asks " Eeno?"( what?). Anti shouts back " Hiriyanniya wants to know where the pickle jar is kept". I'm told that my dad got a sound thrashing when Ajji returned from the club but I'm not able to verify this.

Now , it's time to go back to our holidays in Bangalore .These holidays were mostly in the late 50s when Sandhya was not yet born.We would travel from KGF by train--- usually the Madras-Bangalore Express which reached Bangarpet at around 6.45 PM.
We had a standard set of luggage--- 1 blue trunk, one holdall and one kit bag.

There was the inevitable argument with the porter at Bangalore City railway Station and the inevitable argument with the jutka driver for going to Gavipuram.The driver would demand Rs.3, dad would say Rs.2 and we would stand there staring at each other for around 30 minutes. It was like a Mexican standoff. Mom would periodically pitch in urging dad to pay what the driver demanded and that would only make dad more stubborn. Meanwhile , Rummy and I would cry plaintively because we were hungry but dad would be unmoved.

Anyway, we would finally troop into Gavipuram thoroughly exhausted and drained.

Ajja and Ajji had a room to themselves with this huge four-poster bed. The bed itself was around 3 to 4 feet high and just getting on it was a major feat.
Every morning, Ajji would lovingly comb Ajjas's hair and show him a mirror to get his OK. On most days, Ajja would walk to his office in City Market. He was a very fast walker and we would very often have walking competitions up to Gandhi Bazaar and back where he would outpace me. We also continued with our draughts sessions.

Meanwhile, dad would draw up a list of relatives to visit in Bangalore.We would hire a jutka and be on our way.Chaluvaiya's brother Anantharamiah in Berlie Street Cross, Cantonment was always on the list.Then there would be Ajji's sisters and a host of cousins.Much as we hated the visits those days, today I realize the value of maintaining family links and I try to visit as many people as we can during our trips to Bangalore.
In fact, during one of our recent vacations in Bangalore, I drew up a list of around 40 houses to visit and we did this in a period of 10 days.

Ajji knew that my favourite thindi was obbattu and would always make this when we visited Bangalore.I remember one Ganesh Habba when she had made obbattu and was told that I could have it only after the Pooja was over. I cried a lot and Ajja forced Ajji to give the obbattu to me saying that it was a shame to deny food to a child while doing Pooja.

Ajja died in June 1961 and Ajji followed him soon after in August 1962. An era ended with their passing away and I'll always cherish the love and affection that they showered on me.

Kanteerava and Kamala as well as Chubbadi & Indira and Papanni were the other occupants in the Gavipuram house. Lambi moved away in 1958 after she got married and I still remember the treat she gave me as well as her co-sister Balamba at MTR after she got married.We had masala dosa and ice-cream with fruit salad and the bill came to a princely Rs.10 !!!

During the summer vacations, Chambi and family, Sethuram & Seetha as well as Satya and Susheela would also come and there would be marathon cards sessions with much laughter and bonhomie.

Akka would frequently drop in with Omprakash, Suresh and Sheela ( Latha was too young then). Omprakash would then relate his trademark Prahlada story. I must have heard it around 20 times in those days and there was no variation in the narration.
( Chaluvaiya KithKin, we must all ask Omprakash to relate the story when we meet up this Jul in New Jersey for Anand's wedding!!).

That's it for now and in my next blog, I'll bring you all back to KGF for life in our house opp Skating Rink. Sometime later in the blog, I'll introduce the Chaluvaiya Kith Kin---- my cousins on my father's side and their spouses.
Bye for now.

My dad's siblings and Bangalore holidays

My name is Arkalgud Hiriyanniya Kesari Prasad
My father's name is Arkalgud Chaluvaiya Hiriyanniya
My grandfather's name is Arkalgud Narasimhaiya Chaluvaiya
My great grandfather's name is Arkalgud Chandrasekhar Narasimhaiya.

That's as far back as I can go.

So here's the family on my dad's side.

Chaluvaiya and his wife Gowramma.They had seven sons and three daughters.

Chaluvaiya was a Chartered Accountant and worked in various places including Mysore ( Secretary, Krishnarajendra Mills) and at MISL ( Mysore Iron & Steel)Bhadravathi before finally settling down in Gavipuram, Basavangudi after retirement and starting his own CA firm A.N.Chaluvaiya & Co.

Their children:-


Kanteeravaswamy married Kamala.They had no children.They lived in Gavipuram till the early 60s and later moved to their own house " Cheluvu" in Vyalikaval.Kanteeravaswamy was a Cost & Works Accountant and worked in ITL,Malleswaram.
Kanteerava & Kamala were inveterate travellers.Today's backpackers were not a patch on them.They would suddenly decide that they wanted to see the sunset in Agumbe and catch the next bus.Or if their bus or train was passing through a particular town or city and they liked what they saw, they would get down and explore the place before moving on to the next destination.They travelled all over India in this fashion.
Kanteerava had an abiding passion in the stock market at a time when the stock market fever was yet to catch on.
Kanteerava died in 1983 and Kamala bravely lived on till she too passed away in 2003.
Both of them were a model couple on how to live in this world and depart in a dignified manner and still live eternally in our hearts.
Kamala , before she died, willed all her wealth in stocks and shares to her nieces and nephews on her side and on her husband's side and the administration of the estate was left to Canara Bank , Bangalore. Canara Bank did a meticulous job in contacting each one of the cousins.A complete list of all the shares with the market value as on date was sent and consent was obtained from every one to dispose of the shares and distribute the money equally. Truly a great couple !!!

Hiriyanniya ( my dad) was the next. He married Rajamani ( my mom) and their children are Kesari Prasad ( me), Ramadevi( Rummy) and Sandhya.

Satyanarayana ( Satya)married Susheela and their children are Nalini and Badri Prasad.Satya worked with his dad for some time in A.N.Chaluvaiya & Co in Bangalore and then moved on to Shahabad ( Gulbarga Dist) to work with ACC.They moved back to Bangalore after Satya's retirement in 1984 and settled down in Jayanagar 4th Block.
Nalini was and is a maths wizard.She was called junior Shakuntala Devi because she could do mental multiplication, division, square root, square--- you name it--- of humungous numbers in a matter of seconds.She actually held demonstrations of her prowess on a couple of occasions. The worst part was that she did very badly in maths in her school because she would simply write the answer without going through the detailed steps and her teachers thought she was cheating!!
Badri was so named because he was born after Satya and Susheela went on a pilgrimage to Badrinath.

Lakshmidevamma ( fondly called Akka) married K.V.Chandrasekhar.Chandrasekhar was a tall man with a fine athletic figure---- no wonder, since he played cricket for Mysore State. He was a Civil Contractor and was engaged in the business of building houses, mainly in the up and coming Jayanagar area in Bangalore.

Their children are Omprakash ( a doctor settled in USA for the last 33 years), Suresh ( now in Sydney), Sheela and Latha ( both in Bangalore).

Akka was fondly called the family reporter by my mom since she used to write fairly long letters detailing the happenings within the family and also upcoming events.
( Latha has taken after her mom in this respect--- keep it up, Latha).

Subrahmanya ( Chubbadi to all of us) married Indira
and their children are Rajani, Nandini and Anil.Chubbadi and Indira stayed in Gavipuram before moving to their own home in Hanumanthnagar in 1969.

Sethuram was next.He married Seetha.They had no children.Sethuram worked in FCI( Fertilizer Corporation of India),Chembur and Sindri before eventually moving on to Namrup in Assam and then settling down in Bangalore after retirement.

Sharadamba ( Chambi to all of us) married M.S.Krishnaswamy and their children are Srinivas ( Seeni) and Jyotsna ( Josi). MSK worked for Esso in Madras before moving on to Mumbai and working with HPCL .They stayed for a brief while in Sringeri after MSK's retirement before eventually settling down in the USA with their children who had gone there earlier.MSK passed away in USA and Chambi now stays with Jyotsna and her family.
Chambi is a great devotee of Sringeri Sharadamba and there is something mystical about her.She travels constantly all over the world and is much in demand in places like Bahrain.More about Chambi later.

Lalithamba ( Lambi to all of us) married H.G.Prasanna and their children are Pradeep and Deepali.Prasanna was employed with IOC and then ONGC and they stayed in Barauni, Sibsagar,Baroda and finally Dehradun before eventually settling down in Bangalore after Prasanna's retirement.

Ananthaswamy ( Anti) married Padma and their children are Ravi and Gowri.Anti worked in BALCO,Korba for along time before his untimely demise in 1987.

Ramaswamy ( Papanni to all of us) married Girija and their children are Tejaswini and Shalini.Papanni and Girija now stay in Gavipuram,Bangalore.

Among all the 10 children, Kanteerava was the strict one even though he had his own sense of humour.The others were hilarious and great fun to be with.They were always cracking jokes and always treated their nephews and nieces as adults.

They all loved playing cards ( a game called 28 among the brothers and Rummy among the men and women).In fact, during family weddings ( and even distantly related weddings), Sethuram and Satya used to requisition a room in the wedding hall just for playing cards and these were all-night sessions.On most occasions, it really didn't matter to them as to who was getting married to whom so long as they got the coffee, thindis, lunch and dinner coming in steadily.Sethuram and Satya used to first make friends with the cook and lay out the instructions on what food item should be sent up at what time.

They were also very good at relating their experiences and even the most minor incident would be magnified in full humorous detail. Satya was particularly known for relating such stories with a straight face while others were cracking up all around him.

Family get-togethers were occasions when we children got to know about the escapades of the brothers.Chubbadi's daughter Rajani is the acknowledged expert in recounting these stories and our cousin's get-togethers have now become occasions where Rajju is the star attraction with her wonderful mimicry and way of recounting these stories.

Here are just a couple of them and I'm hoping that Rajju will add more as she reads this blog.In fact, this is a request to everyone who reads this blog to add their comments so that everyone else gets a fuller picture.

The 7 brothers were perpetually hungry and were always waiting for a big festival or special occasion when their mother made nice thindis.One such occasion was when Chandrasekhar had got engaged to marry Akka.Since he was also in Bangalore, he would come visiting regularly to see Akka and they would sit by themselves in the front room and chat ( under the gaze of about 10 pairs of prying eyes).Anyway, one of these occasions happened to be on Gowri & Ganesh Habbi and Ajji had made Chakli, kodbale, thengolu etc etc.The boys were strictly told that these would be distributed to them only after Chandrasekhar departed.

Chandrasekhar came and a plateful of these thindis were laid before him.He was chatting with Akka not knowing that there were many pairs of eyes watching---- not the pair of Akka and Chandrasekhar, but the thindi that was tantalisingly close to them but yet out of reach.As soon as Chandrasehar left, there was a mad scramble to get at the thindis.While this mad scramble was going on, the doorbell rang and who should come in but Chandrasekhar again !!!!!--- he had forgotten his hat and had come back to get it.

( To be continued)

A few pictures ( Blast from the Past)

Before I get on to my next blog on my dad's side cousins and holidays in Bangalore, I'm attaching a picturethat has been sent by Bharath ( Chik Chaya's son) and shows the Bhadravathi cousins--- all six of them.Thank you Bharath and keep the photos coming.