1986-------Annus Horriblis

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.