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.