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)