1972-1974--- The Hubli Years

In many ways, the Directors of Akay Industries were ahead of their time.

They had a music system which played popular film songs in the shop floor. The favourites at that time were from "Hare Rama Hare Krishna", "Kati Patang", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon ki Baaraat", "Amar Prem" etc and the music was not a distraction but helped keep the employees in a good mood and improved their productivity.

The Directors had also arranged a benefit cricket match for Vijay Manjrekar and Rohan Kanhai from the West Indies had come down to Hubli to play the match in May 1972. Sunil Gavaskar was fresh from his debut tour of the West Indies and was a crowd favourite as were Ajit Wadekar, E.A.S.Prasanna, G.R.Vishwanath, Brijesh Patel etc.

Around July 1972, my Hassan classmate M.G.Nagaraja Setty came down to Hubli to take training in boilers , so he and I shifted to a room in Deshpande Nagar. This was a considerably longer distance to the factory from my previous lodgings but I did not mind this.

Rummy was now in the family way and delivered a baby girl ( Akhila) on 27th Nov 1972.Her own birthday was on 26th Nov so it was like a birthday gift for herself.

Meanwhile, daddy had had some problems in his official workplace.Kolar Gold Mining Undertaking ( KGMU) now became Bharat Gold Mines Ltd and there was a new Chairman & Managing Director in place.There was a proposal to stop pension benefits for employees of BGML and so a lot of senior people in KGMU resigned en masse( they were, in fact, allowed to retire). This included Priyan's dad and Raguram's dad. My dad also submitted his resignation but after a month of suspense, he joined back BGML on getting assurances that his pension would be protected.

I went to KGF to look up Rummy and Akhila during the Christmas holidays.

Meanwhile, my training was getting along fine. I had bought a transistor with the prize money I had got in the sports and this provided some entertainment.

Deepavali was celebrated in Bhadravati as usual.

In February 1973, Saraswathi's husband H.S.Subbukrishna Rao died.He was a very nice man but had usually kept to himself.Thammayya had gone off to Jamshedpur visiting dodda Papacchi and K.S.N.Swamy and they all rushed back to Bangalore by train.

Nagaraja Setty went back to Shimoga after his training and I shifted back to Hotel Anand . My KGF friend Len Ryder came to Hubli in March 1973 to write his M.A. in English and stayed with me.During his short visit, we went to Delhi Darbar Hotel and he introduced me to Paratha with Egg Curry.
I was so far used to Udipi or North Indian dishes but Egg Curry was a totally new dish and I simply fell in love with it.Fortunately, the hotel which I now frequently visit in Trichy ( Hotel Sangam) makes delicious Egg Curry and this is my dish of choice whenever I go there.Len, thank you for introducing me to Egg Curry which I've now been having for 37 years.

Saraswathi's daughter Chaya's wedding was fixed for Aug 1973 and this was the next family event I attended.Chaya's husband Somasekhar was in the Air Force and Chaya went to Ambala after her wedding.

My daily visits to Railway Institute continued and then Peter Soggee got married sometime in Dec 1973.

By now, I was earmarked for being posted to Delhi and my training had got intensified.In February 1974, I was called and told that I would instead be posted in Madras as a Sales Engineer.

The Madras Branch Office was being inaugurated on 23rd March 1974 and I was asked to report there and attend the inauguration.

I left Hubli on 21st March after giving a farewell cum birthday treat to my friends in colleagues and left for KGF with my baggage.

It had been an eventful 2 years in Hubli and I had made many friends both within the company and outside.

I reached KGF on 22nd Mar, spent a day there and then reached Madras on 23rd March which was a Saturday. I had around Rs.100 in my pocket.

My next blog will cover the events leading up to my wedding in 1976.