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.