1986 was a very forgettable year--- a year of tragedy, health problems etc but also good in some ways.
We had been living in the Teynampet house since 1981.In the beginning of 1986, the house owner informed us that we should vacate since her daughter and son-in-law wanted to shift to this house.
We had already moved 4 times in 8 years and were quite fed up with the constant shifting.We now had to look for a new place all over again.
Sometime in January 1986, we saw an advertisement in "The Hindu" for a flat available for rent in Ramakrishna Nagar,Mandaiveli.I was already familiar with R K Nagar since Sachin's class mate Ashish Mangnani was living there and I used to drop him for birthday parties etc.
Sudha and I saw the house and liked it a lot.It was a 2 bedroom flat, spacious, with a verandah, a balcony, a spiral stairway at the back, a garage etc.The asking rent was Rs.1500.The owner was an elderly gentleman named Mr.M.A.Krishnaswamy who was running the M.A.Krishnaswamy Group of educational institutions.
We were paying Rs.550 per month for the Teynampet house and felt that Rs.1500 was too steep a jump.Sudha and I met Mr.Krishnaswamy in his office and told him that the flat was extremely good and worth Rs.1500 but we couldn't afford more than Rs.1200.Mr.Krishnaswamy regretted his inability to reduce the asking rent.We bid a pleasant goodbye and forgot about the matter.
Around Feb 15th, I got a call from Mr.Krishnaswamy asking me to meet him in his office.Sudha and I went there again.Mr.Krishnaswamy said that he liked us and would be willing to give it to us for Rs.1200.Sudha and I were overwhelmed.The only condition that Mr.Krishnaswamy put was that we should pay the rent regularly. Apparently, the previous tenant was irregular in paying the rent and hence this request.We assured him that we will be very prompt in paying the rent and even touched his feet while taking leave of him.
We moved into R K Nagar on 1st Mar 1986.This house was really good.It was south facing, had good ventilation and , best of all, there was a tennis court in the colony.There was a lovely playground and the compound made the colony safe and secure.The icing on the cake was that the DAV school bus was stopping right by the compound.
Our block had 6 flats--- 2 flats on each floor.Our neighbours were two brothers , Mr.Ramanathan with his wife Uma and Mr.Vaidyanathan with his wife Viji.Both of them had two sons each and the grandmother was also staying with them.They were a very lively family and Sudha soon became good friends with Uma and Viji and Sachin & Sandeep became friends with the 4 boys. Sachin also had his friend Ashish staying in the same colony, though in a different block and they settled in very quickly.
Meanwhile, I joined the tennis group.I used to play from 6 AM to 7 AM daily and then leave for the Office. I also used to represent the R K Nagar Colony in the Chennai City Inter-Club Tennis matches.
In May 1986, I took my annual 15 day vacation and went to Bangalore with the family.My Dad and mom were also there, but dad looked very tired. I took him to Dr.Shivaram for consultation.The X-Ray showed that daddy's heart had enlarged and Dr.Shivaram suggested that he be implanted with a pacemaker.
The operation took place in June 1986 in Dr,Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology which, at that time, was in Chamarajpet.
Meanwhile, we decided that dad should sell the house in Mysore and move to the Bangalore flat.
This was what was happening to daddy.Simultaneously, Sudha's brother Vinod was suffering from fever in Kanpur.He was staying there with Veena and his son Vinay.The fever did not go even after a month and BVN ordered Vinod to come down immediately to Bangalore with his family.When Vinod landed in Bangalore, we were all shocked because he looked so wasted and thin.He was straightaway admitted to Ratnam Nursing Home in Jayanagar and subjected to a battery of tests.Finally, he was diagnosed with meningitis, an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the brain and the spinal cord.
Vinod spent most of May 1986 in the Nursing Home.We used to visit him regularly and there was a slow but gradual recovery.Vinod was finally discharged in June 1986, just around the time my dad had to undergo his pacemaker implantation.This was a pretty horrible time for all of us and we were doing the rounds of various hospitals.
In September 1986, my company gave me a white Maruti Omni and I sold the Ambassador Car.
In October 1986, we travelled to Mysore by car.Dad and mom were in Bangalore and we picked them up on our way to Mysore.We stopped at Ranganathittu on the way but dad was too tired to come out of the car.
Meanwhile, Vinod had again suffered complications since the spinal fluid was not getting drained. So the hospital had put a tube in his brain to drain out the fluid.He was admitted to Ratnam Nursing Home again in Oct 1986 .
We returned to Madras on 10th Oct 1986 and I had to leave for Mettur Dam immediately on official work on 11th Oct.I returned on 13th Oct, only to learn that K.N.Manjunath, an industrialist, a Vice-President of Kannada Balaga and , above all, a terrific human being had died in a car accident on 12th Oct while driving back to Madras from Bangalore.He was travelling with his wife Prabha and young daughters Ashwini and Archana.Ashwini and Archana escaped with minor injuries.
It was around this time that R.N.K.Prasad of Kannadigara Koota, Besant Nagar mooted the idea of celebrating Rajyotsava jointly by all the Kannada Associations.Each association was asked to present a program and Kiran Kumar of Kannada Balaga decided to present K.S.Narasimhaswamy's poem "Rayaru Bandaru Maavane Manege" from "Mysore Mallige" in the form of a playlet. I was the Rayaru and Shantha, Kiran Kumar's wife, played my wife.
We almost decided to drop our program in view of Manjunath's death but finally decided to go ahead. On 27th Oct, Venu's brother Vijayasimha met with an accident at Tirusoolam Railway station ( opp: Madras Airport) and died on the spot.He was around 45 and left behind his wife Rama, a young daughter and a son.
As if this was not enough, dad fell ill again .He had finally managed to find a buyer for the Mysore house and had to do a bit of running around in Mysore to get various document copies and fix up the registration.He was admitted to Jayadeva Institute again and I rushed to Bangalore to meet him.I had barely reached Sandhya's house when I got the shocking news that Vinod had passed away in the Nursing Home.I immediately rang up my neighbours in Madras and asked them to convey the news gently to Sudha and also requested them to arrange for a car to bring Sudha and the kids to Bangalore.
I then went to the Nursing Home where Vinod's body was lying and then also went to see my dad in Jayadeva since he was asking for me.Of course, I didn't mention about Vinod's passing away to him.
It was pathetic to see Veena and her young son Vinay who was just 31/2 years old.BVN took the news bravely.Vinod was just 32 years old and in the prime of life when death snatched him away.He was a handsome guy and he did superb sketches of buildings as a hobby.
Dad recovered and came back to Sandhya's house.But he still felt very weak.
In hindsight, I'm not really sure whether the pacemaker helped him since it is basically meant for arrythmia( irregular beating of the heart) whereas his problem was that the heart muscle was weak and the pumping efficiency had come down.
I'll cover 1987 ( a year of mixed fortunes) in my next blog.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Sandeep's admission to School & Other Lesser Events (1985)
I'm reminded by my nieces that I had forgotten to mention the
Gruhapravesha of Rummy and Nagaraj's house in June 1984, so I've added it here.
1985 dawned bright and clear with Rajiv Gandhi at the nation's helm after the tragic assassination of Indira Gandhi.
The young PM brought a breath of fresh air to the nation.I remember a Doordarshan TV program where he interacted with a group of young school children.He was absolutely at ease with them and answered their most inane questions.His Hindi wasn't as good as that of his mom's.I remember us mentioning that , under Rajiv, India had become a banana republic.That's because all his speeches were laced with " Hum yeh banana hai. Hum woh banana hai".
I had by now completed my Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management from Madras University and was now doing my Diploma in Management from AIMA.I had to attend classes 3 days a week and also manage my official tours.
I had my final exams to complete and I had got the timetable.I had kept the exam timetable in the car and the guy who came to clean the car every day thought it was some scrap paper and threw it out.I didn't know if the exam the next day was Management Accounting or Business Law and I had no way of checking with my batchmates.Anyway, I thought it was Management Accounting and so went early to the exam hall so that I could check with the other candidates as to what the subject really was .
I had carried my Management Accounting Text Book and was pacing the corridor.One guy came in and nearly fainted on seeing my text book.He broke into a cold sweat and almost started crying.I asked him what's the problem.He said that he had though that day's subject was Business Law and didn't know it was Management Accounting. I said," Relax, you're right" and then went ahead and wrote the Business Law exam and --- wonder of wonders--- actually got the highest marks out of all subjects!!
That was around Feb 1985.The next major hurdle was Sandeep's admission to DAV School.I had nightmares at the thought of standing all night in a queue all over again.
In March 1985 , I was travelling to Hubli.Sudha made some enquiries and learnt that, since DAV School was run by Arya Samaj, it would help if we knew some senior members of Arya Samaj.She immediately rang up Jayalakshmi Chikkamma to ask if Chikkamma knew anybody in Arya Samaj.
Just at that moment, a person who used to sell Jewellery stones to Chikkamma for over 20 years was visiting her house to show her some diamonds.His name was, I think, Mr.Pillai. He overheard Chikkamma talking to Sudha and the words Arya Samaj and DAV School being bandied around.He asked Chikkamma what was the problem.Chikkamma dismissively told him," No, it's just my niece on the phone and she wanted to know whether I knew anybody in Arya Samaj for help in getting admission to DAV School and I said I don't know anybody." Mr.Pillai said , " Maybe I can help". Chikkama asked how and he said " Because I'm the President of Arya Samaj. Ask her to send someone to the School after a couple of days and I'll see that she gets the application form."
Sudha told me all this when I was in Hubli ( Oh yes, the other big event of 1984 was that we got our telephone-- No.453691--- on 18 Dec 1984 after 2 years of waiting---- a remarkably short waiting period for those times, I might add.).
The earth stood still for a couple of minutes while I digested this information.However,ever the cautious person, I still told Sudha to stand in the queue since Mr.Pillai had said that he would give us the form after the general public got it.Our heart was not in this and so we missed out on getting the form in the regular manner. On the appointed day, I went to the school.Mr.Pillai was there and gave me the application form. I'm pretty sure that half of our punya acquired in our previous janma was used up for the purpose of getting this application form.But it was worth it.
My father-in-law, in the meanwhile, had found a house in Jayanagar 8th Block and had set about constructing a new house on the 80ftx 50 ft plot.The Gruhapravesha was held in June 1985.
Thammiah, Saraswathi's son, committed suicide in Sep 1985. This was a major blow to me since he and I were very close from childhood.I got the news on a saturday when I was working in the Office. I immediately rushed to Bangalore and broke down on seeing his body. Such a promising life cut short in the prime of youth!! He left behind his wife Leela and a son ( Bharath) and a daughter.
The other notable event was the Gruhapravesha of Sethuram's house ( an addition to Sathya Chikkappa's house on the same plot of land) in Oct 1985.
Sudha, Sachin, Sandeep and I went from this function to Hubli. We stayed in the Akay Industries Guest House and the Khimjis were most gracious hosts. From there, we went to Goa and stayed there for a couple of days before returning to Madras.
Vinod was now working in Kanpur with J.K.Cements.He had come to Bangalore on an official trip and stayed with us for a couple of days in Madras on his way back to Kanpur.
The rest of the year passed off uneventfully and I'll cover 1986 in my next blog.
Bye for now.
Gruhapravesha of Rummy and Nagaraj's house in June 1984, so I've added it here.
1985 dawned bright and clear with Rajiv Gandhi at the nation's helm after the tragic assassination of Indira Gandhi.
The young PM brought a breath of fresh air to the nation.I remember a Doordarshan TV program where he interacted with a group of young school children.He was absolutely at ease with them and answered their most inane questions.His Hindi wasn't as good as that of his mom's.I remember us mentioning that , under Rajiv, India had become a banana republic.That's because all his speeches were laced with " Hum yeh banana hai. Hum woh banana hai".
I had by now completed my Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management from Madras University and was now doing my Diploma in Management from AIMA.I had to attend classes 3 days a week and also manage my official tours.
I had my final exams to complete and I had got the timetable.I had kept the exam timetable in the car and the guy who came to clean the car every day thought it was some scrap paper and threw it out.I didn't know if the exam the next day was Management Accounting or Business Law and I had no way of checking with my batchmates.Anyway, I thought it was Management Accounting and so went early to the exam hall so that I could check with the other candidates as to what the subject really was .
I had carried my Management Accounting Text Book and was pacing the corridor.One guy came in and nearly fainted on seeing my text book.He broke into a cold sweat and almost started crying.I asked him what's the problem.He said that he had though that day's subject was Business Law and didn't know it was Management Accounting. I said," Relax, you're right" and then went ahead and wrote the Business Law exam and --- wonder of wonders--- actually got the highest marks out of all subjects!!
That was around Feb 1985.The next major hurdle was Sandeep's admission to DAV School.I had nightmares at the thought of standing all night in a queue all over again.
In March 1985 , I was travelling to Hubli.Sudha made some enquiries and learnt that, since DAV School was run by Arya Samaj, it would help if we knew some senior members of Arya Samaj.She immediately rang up Jayalakshmi Chikkamma to ask if Chikkamma knew anybody in Arya Samaj.
Just at that moment, a person who used to sell Jewellery stones to Chikkamma for over 20 years was visiting her house to show her some diamonds.His name was, I think, Mr.Pillai. He overheard Chikkamma talking to Sudha and the words Arya Samaj and DAV School being bandied around.He asked Chikkamma what was the problem.Chikkamma dismissively told him," No, it's just my niece on the phone and she wanted to know whether I knew anybody in Arya Samaj for help in getting admission to DAV School and I said I don't know anybody." Mr.Pillai said , " Maybe I can help". Chikkama asked how and he said " Because I'm the President of Arya Samaj. Ask her to send someone to the School after a couple of days and I'll see that she gets the application form."
Sudha told me all this when I was in Hubli ( Oh yes, the other big event of 1984 was that we got our telephone-- No.453691--- on 18 Dec 1984 after 2 years of waiting---- a remarkably short waiting period for those times, I might add.).
The earth stood still for a couple of minutes while I digested this information.However,ever the cautious person, I still told Sudha to stand in the queue since Mr.Pillai had said that he would give us the form after the general public got it.Our heart was not in this and so we missed out on getting the form in the regular manner. On the appointed day, I went to the school.Mr.Pillai was there and gave me the application form. I'm pretty sure that half of our punya acquired in our previous janma was used up for the purpose of getting this application form.But it was worth it.
My father-in-law, in the meanwhile, had found a house in Jayanagar 8th Block and had set about constructing a new house on the 80ftx 50 ft plot.The Gruhapravesha was held in June 1985.
Thammiah, Saraswathi's son, committed suicide in Sep 1985. This was a major blow to me since he and I were very close from childhood.I got the news on a saturday when I was working in the Office. I immediately rushed to Bangalore and broke down on seeing his body. Such a promising life cut short in the prime of youth!! He left behind his wife Leela and a son ( Bharath) and a daughter.
The other notable event was the Gruhapravesha of Sethuram's house ( an addition to Sathya Chikkappa's house on the same plot of land) in Oct 1985.
Sudha, Sachin, Sandeep and I went from this function to Hubli. We stayed in the Akay Industries Guest House and the Khimjis were most gracious hosts. From there, we went to Goa and stayed there for a couple of days before returning to Madras.
Vinod was now working in Kanpur with J.K.Cements.He had come to Bangalore on an official trip and stayed with us for a couple of days in Madras on his way back to Kanpur.
The rest of the year passed off uneventfully and I'll cover 1986 in my next blog.
Bye for now.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The Story of My Life ( 1984 )
1984 was a momentous year in more ways than one.
It was the year when the World Heart Congress was held in New Delhi and the conference decided that salt was the single largest contributor to heart disease.
On reading this, I decided to stop having extra salt at the dining table---- a decision that I've stuck to till now.
I was 33 years old now and had not had much opportunity to indulge in physical exercises. I decided that I would touch my toes a 100 times in the bathroom before my bath and straightaway started.
Sudha and I were now looking at buying an apartment in Chennai though we had no idea how we would rustle up the money.We saw one 1000 sq ft apartment on Coats Road in Chennai ( near the Raghavendra Mutt). The going rate was Rs.140/sq ft, making the flat value Rs.1,40,000.We decided this was too expensive. We saw another apartment on TTK Road ( then Mowbray's Road), just behind Palki Restaurant.The going rate for a 1000 sq ft apartment was Rs.240/sq ft and I had even gone and paid the advance of Rs.10000.Then I had second thoughts and went to the builder and took back my advance.
Dad and mom were by now settled in Mysore and would occasionally drop in to Bangalore and to Chennai.Sometime in early October, dad woke up sweating.He immediately called Nagaraj and Ravi and they rushed to Mysore and brought dad and mom back to Bangalore with them. Dad consulted a doctor and was told that he had suffered a mild heart attack.
We immediately decided that dad and mom would shift to Bangalore. I rushed to Bangalore to see dad. Around this time, there was a vacant flat in the 3rd floor of South End Apartments where Ravi and Sandhya were staying.Before I went to Bangalore, Ravi was trying hard to contact the owner.On the day I landed, he managed to speak to the owner who told him to talk to a person in Bangalore and gave the contact number.
After seeing dad, Ravi and I met this person.Ravi said we were interested in buying the flat ( though I had no intention to buy a flat when I left for Bangalore). We struck a deal at Rs.225/sq ft and the person said " Hand over the money and take the keys".
I was in a daze.I said we would need to prepare an Agreement and another 3 months after the Agreement to take a loan and then do the final purchase.
It was agreed that I would pay Rs.30000 in 10 days time and then we would have the Sale Agreement.I didn't have Rs.30000 with me.Nagaraj, Ravi and my father -in-law helped out and the Agreement got done. Next I wrote to my company and they were kind enought to sanction an interest free loan of Rs.50000. I approached HDFC and got another loan of Rs.50000 and drew out whatever was eligible from my PF account.
We signed the documents in December 1984 and I was now the proud owner of a 820 sq ft flat in Bangalore.
Meanwhile , more momentous things were happening in the country.I was travelling in Trichy on 31st Oct 1984 when I got the news of Indira Gandhi's assassination.By a curious coincidence, I happened to be in Trichy when Sanjay Gandhi died in an airplane accident in June 1980.
All hotels immediately shut down and train and bus services were withdrawn.
There were no services to Madras and so I took a decision to travel further south to Tuticorin .Wrong decision.Things were equally bad here too.Thankfully, I got a room in a hotel but no offices were open.On 2nd Nov evening, I caught a train back to Madras.This train came up to Chingleput and was then detained again since the mmob would not allow the train to proceed till the funeral was over. The funeral got completed on 3rd Nov evening and then the train was allowed to go and I reached Madras on 3rd Nov night.
Sachin was now going to school regularly. I would drop him off in the morning on my way to Office and Sudha would pick him up in her moped in the afternoon.
My father-in -law had retired from service and had moved to Bangalore.He was staying temporarily at his ancestral house in Srirampuram and was looking to buy land and build his house.
Sudha and I were gearing up to now admit Sandeep in the same school ( DAV) as Sachin.This was another challenge and I had nightmares about spending another 10 nights in the queue as I did for Sachin.I was , in fact, dreading March 1985 when this exercise would commence.
What really happened? Watch out for my next blog which will detail the events of 1985.
It was the year when the World Heart Congress was held in New Delhi and the conference decided that salt was the single largest contributor to heart disease.
On reading this, I decided to stop having extra salt at the dining table---- a decision that I've stuck to till now.
I was 33 years old now and had not had much opportunity to indulge in physical exercises. I decided that I would touch my toes a 100 times in the bathroom before my bath and straightaway started.
Sudha and I were now looking at buying an apartment in Chennai though we had no idea how we would rustle up the money.We saw one 1000 sq ft apartment on Coats Road in Chennai ( near the Raghavendra Mutt). The going rate was Rs.140/sq ft, making the flat value Rs.1,40,000.We decided this was too expensive. We saw another apartment on TTK Road ( then Mowbray's Road), just behind Palki Restaurant.The going rate for a 1000 sq ft apartment was Rs.240/sq ft and I had even gone and paid the advance of Rs.10000.Then I had second thoughts and went to the builder and took back my advance.
Dad and mom were by now settled in Mysore and would occasionally drop in to Bangalore and to Chennai.Sometime in early October, dad woke up sweating.He immediately called Nagaraj and Ravi and they rushed to Mysore and brought dad and mom back to Bangalore with them. Dad consulted a doctor and was told that he had suffered a mild heart attack.
We immediately decided that dad and mom would shift to Bangalore. I rushed to Bangalore to see dad. Around this time, there was a vacant flat in the 3rd floor of South End Apartments where Ravi and Sandhya were staying.Before I went to Bangalore, Ravi was trying hard to contact the owner.On the day I landed, he managed to speak to the owner who told him to talk to a person in Bangalore and gave the contact number.
After seeing dad, Ravi and I met this person.Ravi said we were interested in buying the flat ( though I had no intention to buy a flat when I left for Bangalore). We struck a deal at Rs.225/sq ft and the person said " Hand over the money and take the keys".
I was in a daze.I said we would need to prepare an Agreement and another 3 months after the Agreement to take a loan and then do the final purchase.
It was agreed that I would pay Rs.30000 in 10 days time and then we would have the Sale Agreement.I didn't have Rs.30000 with me.Nagaraj, Ravi and my father -in-law helped out and the Agreement got done. Next I wrote to my company and they were kind enought to sanction an interest free loan of Rs.50000. I approached HDFC and got another loan of Rs.50000 and drew out whatever was eligible from my PF account.
We signed the documents in December 1984 and I was now the proud owner of a 820 sq ft flat in Bangalore.
Meanwhile , more momentous things were happening in the country.I was travelling in Trichy on 31st Oct 1984 when I got the news of Indira Gandhi's assassination.By a curious coincidence, I happened to be in Trichy when Sanjay Gandhi died in an airplane accident in June 1980.
All hotels immediately shut down and train and bus services were withdrawn.
There were no services to Madras and so I took a decision to travel further south to Tuticorin .Wrong decision.Things were equally bad here too.Thankfully, I got a room in a hotel but no offices were open.On 2nd Nov evening, I caught a train back to Madras.This train came up to Chingleput and was then detained again since the mmob would not allow the train to proceed till the funeral was over. The funeral got completed on 3rd Nov evening and then the train was allowed to go and I reached Madras on 3rd Nov night.
Sachin was now going to school regularly. I would drop him off in the morning on my way to Office and Sudha would pick him up in her moped in the afternoon.
My father-in -law had retired from service and had moved to Bangalore.He was staying temporarily at his ancestral house in Srirampuram and was looking to buy land and build his house.
Sudha and I were gearing up to now admit Sandeep in the same school ( DAV) as Sachin.This was another challenge and I had nightmares about spending another 10 nights in the queue as I did for Sachin.I was , in fact, dreading March 1985 when this exercise would commence.
What really happened? Watch out for my next blog which will detail the events of 1985.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)